The Prism and the Pendulum by Robert Crease

The Prism and the Pendulum by Robert Crease

Is science beautiful? Yes, argues acclaimed philosopher and historian of science Robert P. Crease in this engaging exploration of history's most beautiful experiments. The result is an engrossing journey through nearly 2,500 years of scientific innovation. Along the way, we encounter glimpses into the personalities and creative thinking of some of the field's most interesting figures.

We see the first measurement of the earth's circumference, accomplished in the third century B.C. by Eratosthenes using sticks, shadows, and simple geometry. We visit Foucault's mesmerizing pendulum, a cannonball suspended from the dome of the Panthéon in Paris that allows us to see the rotation of the earth on its axis. We meet Galileo--the only scientist with two experiments in the top ten--brilliantly drawing on his musical training to measure the speed of falling bodies. And we travel to the quantum world, in the most beautiful experiment of all.

We also learn why these ten experiments exert such a powerful hold on our imaginations. From the ancient world to cutting-edge physics, these ten exhilarating moments reveal something fundamental about the world, pulling us out of confusion and revealing nature's elegance. The Prism and the Pendulum brings us face-to-face with the wonder of science.

Crease is a historian at Brookhaven National Laboratory and a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University in New York. He contributes a monthly column to Physics World magazine called Crucial Point. Creating Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, The Drama of Nature: Experimentation as Performance, and The Second Creation: Creators of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics (co-authored with Charles C. Smith) are among his books. Mann); and Peace & War: Reminiscences of a Life on the Boundaries of Science, co-authored with Robert Serber. American Philosophy of Technology: The Empirical Turn is one of Crease's translations.

His writings and reviews have appeared in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, and others. He currently resides in New York City.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780812970623
ISBN 10	0812970624
Title	The Prism and the Pendulum
Author	Robert Crease
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2004-10-12
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.