A collection that confronts the reality of experimental gravity, which is different from the conventional—and overly simplistic—understanding.Investigating just over a century of experimental relativity, the individual essays in this volume place the process of experimental relativity within its historical contexts as an interdisciplinary endeavor. Testing Einstein embraces not only the individual tests of general relativity but also the fundamental nature...

"More than a history of science; it is a tour de force in the genre." —New York Times Book ReviewA dramatic new account of the parallel quests to harness time that culminated in the revolutionary science of relativity, Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps is "part history, part science, part adventure, part biography, part meditation on the meaning of modernity....In Galison's telling of science, the meters and wires and epoxy and solder come alive ...

For much of the twentieth century scientists sought to explain objects and processes by reducing them to their components—nuclei into protons and neutrons, proteins into amino acids, and so on—but over the past forty years there has been a marked turn toward explaining phenomena by building them up rather than breaking them down. This collection reflects on the history and significance of this turn toward “growing explanations” from the bottom up. The essays show how this strategy—based on...

Between the disciplines of art history and the history of science lies a growing field of inquiry into what science and art share as both image-making and knowledge-producing activities. The contributors of Picturing Science, Producing Art occupy this intermediate zone to analyze both scientific and aesthetic representations, utilizing disciplinary perspectives that range from art history to sociology, history and philosophy of science to gender studies, cultural history to the philosophy ...

Since the seventeenth century our ideas of scientific authorship have expanded and changed dramatically. In this ambitious volume of new work, Mario Biagioli and Peter Galison have brought together historians of science, literary historians, and historians of the book. Together they track the changing nature and identity of the author in science, both historically and conceptually, from the emergence of scientific academies in the age of Galileo to concerns with large-scale multiauthorship...

The role of aerial photography in the evolution of the concept of social space”and its impact on French urban planning in the mid-twentieth century.In mid-twentieth century France, the term “social space” (l'espace social)—the idea that spatial form and social life are inextricably linked—emerged in a variety of social science disciplines. Taken up by the French New Left, it also came to inform the practice of urban planning. In The View from Above

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 3 explores th...

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 3 explores th...

**A Science News Favorite Book of 2019An earth scientist reveals the dynamic biography of the most resonant—and most necessary—chemical element on Earth.**Carbon. It’s in the fibers in your hair, the timbers in your walls, the food that you eat, and the air that you breathe. It’s worth billions of dollars as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity, but there are still mysteries about the element that can be both diamond and coal. Where does it come from, what d...

Thermodynamics has never been easier to understand than in this non-mathematical account revealing the simplicity, principles, and key players of this fascinating branch of physics.Students of physics, chemistry, and engineering are taught classical thermodynamics through its methods—a “problems first” approach that neglects the subject’s concepts and intellectual structure. In Thermodynamic Weirdness, Don Lemons fills this gap, offering a nonmathematical ...

One of Smithsonian's Favorite Books of 2018One of Forbes's 2018 Best Books About Astronomy, Physics and MathematicsOne of Kirkus's Best Books of 2018The intellectual adventure story of the "double-slit" experiment, showing how a sunbeam split into two paths first challenged our understanding of light and then the nature of reality itself--and continues to almost 200 years later.

The unmatched guide—and perfect gift—for stymied scribes and working wordsmiths everywhere, now expanded and updated.A singular and indispensable reference tool, The Describer's Dictionary—now expanded and updated—has served for over twenty years as the go-to resource for writers who are determined to capture the world in just the right words.The dictionary uses a unique reverse definition-to-term format that makes it easy to zero in on the term yo...