About the Book
Modern science has changed every aspect of life in ways that cannot be compared to developments of previous eras. This four volume set presents key developments within modern physical science and the effects of these discoveries on modern global life. The first two volumes explore the history of the concept of relativity, the cultural roots of science, the concept of time and gravity before, during, and after Einstein's theory, and the cultural reception of relativity. Volume three explores the impact of modern science upon global politics and the creation of a new kind of war, and Volume four details the old and new efforts surrounding the elucidation of the quantum world, as well as the cultural impact of particle physics. The collection also presents the historical and cultural context that made these scientific innovations possible. The transformation of everyday concepts of time and space for the individual and for society, the conduct of warfare, and the modern sense of mastering nature are all issues discussed in these four volumes. The thematically organized volumes in this collection reprint in facsimile the most influential scholarship published in this field.
Table of Contents:
Einstein, Albert. 'Notes on the Origin of the General Theory of Relativity.' In Carl Seelig, ed., Ideas and Opinions (New York, NY: Crown, 1982). Stachel, John. 'Einstein's Search for the General Convariance, 1912-1915.' In Don Howard and John Stachel, eds., Einstein and the History of General Relativity (Boston, MA: Birkhauser, 1989). Norton, John. 'Einstein and Nordstrom: Some Lesser-Known Thought Experiments in Gravitation.' In John Earman, Michel Janssen, and John Norton eds., The Attraction of Gravitation: New Studies in the History of General Relativity (Boston, MA: Birkhauser, 1993). Hoefer, Carl. 'Einstein's Struggle for a Machian Gravitation Theory.' Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 25 (1994). Renn, Jurgen and Tilman Sauer. 'Heuristics and Mathematical Representation in Einstein's Search for a Gravitational Field Equation.' In H. Goenner, J.Renn, J. Ritter, and T. Sauer, eds., The Expanding Worlds of General Relativity (Boston; Birkhauser, 1999). Pais, Abraham. 'Subtle is the Lord...' In The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1982). Earman, John and Clark Glymour. 'Relativity Eclipses: The British Eclipse Expediation of 1919 and their Predecessors.' Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 11 (1980). Hentschel, Klaus. 'Einstein's attitude towards experiments: Testing Relativity Theory, 1907-1927.' In Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 23 (1992). Graham, Loren. 'The Reception of Einstein's Ideas: Two Examples from Contrasting Political Cultures.' In Gerald Holton and Yehudah Elkana, eds., Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982). Eisenstaedt, Jean. 'The Low Water Mark of General Relativity, 1925-1955.' In Don Howard and John Stachel, eds., Einstein and the History of General Relativity (Boston, MA Birkhauser, (1989). Kaiser, David. 'A Psi is just a Psi? Practice, Pedagogy, and the Reconstitution of General Relativity, 1942-1975.' Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 29 (1998).
About the Author :
Peter Galison is Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University and a premier authority in the field. In 1997, he was named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow; in 1999, he was a winner of the Max Planck Prize given by the Max Planck Gesellschaft and Humboldt Stiftung. His is author of numerous works, including, most recently, Picturing Science, Producing Art (Routledge, 1998) and The Architecture of Science (MIT, 1999). Michael Gordin and David Kaiser are both at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
