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Apr. 2nd, 2003 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotnik2004Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time, by Peter Galison
OK, OK, so I didn't actually write it, but I was Professor Galison's research assistant on this book, and I dug up a lot of stuff for him. It's a brilliant book, and I do say so myself. Galison shows how a very nuts-and-bolts technical preoccupation of the 19th century (the synchronization of clocks) was directly linked to a great theoretical revolution of 20th century physics (relativity). As above, so below.
The book jacket quotes James Gleick saying "This is how twentieth-century science really began....Engaging, original, and absolutely brilliant," and then goes on to say, "Esteemed historian of science Peter Galison has culled new information from rarely seen photographs, forgotten patents, and unexplored archives to tell the fascinating story of two scientists whose concrete, professional preoccupations engaged them in a silent race toward a theory that would conquer the empire of time." I agree with Gleick's praise absolutely, but I'm here to tell ya, that wasn't esteemed historian of science Peter Galison doing all the culling of photos and patents and documents in them "unexplored" archives. :)
(Note cheerful smiley. I liked being an RA. Working on that book was a terrific experience and Prof. Galison's been great to me.)
OK, OK, so I didn't actually write it, but I was Professor Galison's research assistant on this book, and I dug up a lot of stuff for him. It's a brilliant book, and I do say so myself. Galison shows how a very nuts-and-bolts technical preoccupation of the 19th century (the synchronization of clocks) was directly linked to a great theoretical revolution of 20th century physics (relativity). As above, so below.
The book jacket quotes James Gleick saying "This is how twentieth-century science really began....Engaging, original, and absolutely brilliant," and then goes on to say, "Esteemed historian of science Peter Galison has culled new information from rarely seen photographs, forgotten patents, and unexplored archives to tell the fascinating story of two scientists whose concrete, professional preoccupations engaged them in a silent race toward a theory that would conquer the empire of time." I agree with Gleick's praise absolutely, but I'm here to tell ya, that wasn't esteemed historian of science Peter Galison doing all the culling of photos and patents and documents in them "unexplored" archives. :)
(Note cheerful smiley. I liked being an RA. Working on that book was a terrific experience and Prof. Galison's been great to me.)
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Date: 2003-04-03 03:41 am (UTC)Your avoiding working on your dissertation again aren't you?
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Date: 2003-04-03 03:58 am (UTC)Rob, you and I need some of our own flunkies.
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Date: 2003-04-03 04:10 am (UTC)Rob, how much to be a flunky and do my research for me? I promise it will defintiely be interesting research.
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Date: 2003-04-03 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-03 05:35 pm (UTC)