The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science

by Robert P. Crease

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400061318
• ISBN13: 9781400061310
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Beauty prizes

The "war" of the humanities against science has been long and arduous. According to Crease, the revelations of science in the 18th and 19th Centuries led the Romanticists to claim nature's wonders had been diluted or destroyed by the "mechanics". He refutes those assertions with an expressive study of ten "beautiful" experiments. Crease isn't arguing for a redefinition of "beauty" in this book. On the contrary, he shows how beauty's normally accepted role in human life can be suitably applied to science's accomplishments.He admits outright to his own surprise at a researcher's exclamation over a "beautiful" experiment. The novelty of the assertion led him to query many scientists on which experiments might be so considered. The responses both surprised and gratified him. The result of his survey is this excellent book. The ten selected range from the means to first measure the earth to the realization that electrons can be in two places at once. A combination of good science and fine writing, coupled with an astute historical sense make this book a treasure.What makes an experiment "beautiful"? Crease sets three criteria: depth, efficiency and definitiveness. "Depth" implies something fundamental about the world is revealed by the experiment. Certainly, measuring the globe using shadows in sunlight qualifies that criterion. "Efficiency" means the result is general enough to preclude having to do the experiment in a different manner to gain the same results. "Definitiveness" suggests that anyone can understand both the experiment and its value. Clearly, his ten choices show how these criteria work. Following the descriptive essay, Crease then explains the "beauty" aspect of it in the appropriate scenario, whether music, graphic art or theatre. Of the ten, the two of the title are symbolic: Newton's breakdown and recombination of sunlight with prisms and Foucault's use of a pendulum to verify the Earth's rotation. Newton's demonstration has probably been castigated by the humanities more than anything else in science. "Unweaving the Rainbow" was the causus belli of the Victorian Romanticists their assault on science. Crease readily dismisses such obscurantism in explaining how valuable an exercise Newton's analysis of light proved. By extending the experiment from breaking down light to recombining it, Newton showed how research, like creating a painting, must reach beyond first results. There is, Crease notes, even a moral lesson in the exercise.Foucault's pendulum conveys a reality about our world we cannot perceive otherwise. Awed by the realization that only our planet's rotation can force the pendulum to describe a circle while swaying from its mount, Crease applauds the teachers who bring their students to observe it. The experience is so profound, Crease describes it as a manifestation of "sublime beauty". It is clearly an experiment beyond an exercise in either pure mechanics or reasoning. Seeing the swinging or

Beautiful Book...Beautiful Minds...Beautiful Experiments

+++++ The author, Robert Crease, a professor of philosophy and historian, sums up this entire book (that has ten chapters with a separate introduction and conclusion) by telling us to "think of this book as a special kind of gallery [of science experiments]." He goes on to say that "this gallery contains [ten experiments] of rare beauty, each with its own [experimental] design, distinct materials, and unique appeal. You will not like everything equally, for your background, experience, education, and personal taste will incline you to prefer some [experiments] over others." These experiments were chosen by conducting a poll. The author asked readers of a certain international science magazine what they thought were the most beautiful science experiments. Then the author selected the ten most frequently mentioned candidates. (By the way, the author admits that his "poll, to be sure, was unscientific.") The ten experiments, from oldest to more recent, are as follows: (1) An ancient experiment that uses a shadow, a measuring tool, and junior high school geometry. ("It is so simple and instructive that it is reenacted annually, almost 2,500 years later, by school children all around the globe.") (2) A 400-year-old experiment that was demonstrated on the surface of the Moon in August of 1971 by one of the Apollo 15 astronauts. (3) "The first modern scientific experiment [done by the same person of (2) above], in which an investigator...planned, staged, and observed a series of actions in order to discover a mathematical law." (4) A three-centuries-old experiment that the author describes as "a landmark in the history of science [since it reveals a new aspect of nature] and a sensational demonstration of the experimental method." (5) "A measurement experiment that stood out by [its] extreme degree of precision." (The laboratory where this experiment was first performed was in the same lab where Watson and Crick discovered - many years later - the structure of DNA.) (6) This experiment was "a classic example of the successful use of analogy in science." (7) An experiment that uses "one of the simplest devices in science" and enables you "to watch the Earth turn." (8) A century-old experiment (actually a series of experiments) that was "a defining moment in our electronic age." (This experiment, in my opinion, was rather messy and not really that beautiful.) (9) An experiment that "marked the birth of modern particle physics." (This is my favorite experiment of these ten.) (10) This experiment's result "is one of the most awesome and arresting human experiences." (This was the most frequently selected experiment in the poll.) Throughout the book, two main questions are indirectly answered. These questions are as follows: (i) "What does it mean for experiments, if they can be beautiful?" (ii) "And what does it mean for beauty, if experiments can possess it?" (Both these questions, as well, are given thorough treatment in the boo

Scientific and Philosophical

The author of this book is a professor of philosophy as well as a science historian. This is clearly reflected in this book. Although several "beautiful" science experiments are discussed, i.e., one per chapter, these are interspersed with mainly philosophical digressions on the meaning of "beautiful" with regards to science experiments, as well as additional philosophical musings related to the preceding chapter, science and experimentation in general. The experiments themselves are well described at just the right level for a general audience and the related historical and biographical information complements the scientific discussions very well. Overall, an interesting read.

Fascinating stuff

Sooner or later, anyone who takes a college science class hears their professor talking about this or that "beautiful experiment". Ever wonder how on earth they could think that a bunch of equipment and numbers was beautiful? I did, but never thought much more about it. But this author decided to find out. He polled hundreds of physicists to learn what were the most beautiful experiments in history, and then set out to tell their story, and why they are beautiful. Amnazingly, the ten stories all weave together into something like a pocket history of physics -- and a wry, enjoyable discussion of what we mean by "beautiful," which is one of those words that everyone uses all the time and nobody could define if their lives depended on it. Add to this his vivid portraits of a gallery of quirky, amazing scientists and you have what has got to be one of the best non-technical books on science published for a really long time. Fun reading for smart people of all sorts.