| View Larger Image | Gravity's Shadow: The Search for Gravitational Waves | Paperbackby Harry Collins (Author)
| List Price: | $42.00 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | University Of Chicago Press | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 870 Pages | | Publication Date: | October 01, 2004 | | Sales Rank: | 398,699th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
According to the theory of relativity, we are constantly bathed in gravitational radiation. When stars explode or collide, a portion of their mass becomes energy that disturbs the very fabric of the space-time continuum like ripples in a pond. But proving the existence of these waves has been difficult; the cosmic shudders are so weak that only the most sensitive instruments can be expected to observe them directly. Fifteen times during the last thirty years scientists have claimed to have detected gravitational waves, but so far none of those claims have survived the scrutiny of the scientific community. Gravity's Shadow chronicles the forty-year effort to detect gravitational waves, while exploring the meaning of scientific knowledge and the nature of expertise.Gravitational wave detection involves recording the collisions, explosions, and trembling of stars and black holes by evaluating the smallest changes ever measured. Because gravitational waves are so faint, their detection will come not in an exuberant moment of discovery but through a chain of inference; for forty years, scientists have debated whether there is anything to detect and whether it has yet been detected. Sociologist Harry Collins has been tracking the progress of this research since 1972, interviewing key scientists and delineating the social process of the science of gravitational waves.Engagingly written and authoritatively comprehensive, Gravity's Shadow explores the people, institutions, and government organizations involved in the detection of gravitational waves. This sociological history will prove essential not only to sociologists and historians of science but to scientists themselves. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 3 reviews)
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Excellent and Most Comprehensive by Ralph (Southern California, USA)  5 Stars
August 17, 2006
The research involved in complex sciences and in particular the study of delicate signals which emanate from the edge of our galaxy are not something for the faint of heart to pursue. Collins does a remarkable job of accurately and objectively telling the story of how four decades of intense research unfolded in search of Gravitational Waves by more than a dozen qualified scientists. His perspective is rare as we often are not told about the heartache and miscalculations which inevitably punctuate the search for new knowledge. This book is valuable from the perspective that the reader is shown the effort, dedication and pain that many people endure in the name of science. this is a story that happens time and again but rarely is told with such glaring accuracy to this level of detail and objectivity. Best hundred dollars I have spent on a book in some time and it certainly has aided me in my research
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Gripping account of a controversial field by Daniel Kennefick (Arkansas, USA) 5 Stars
February 17, 2005
This book covers two related stories, each fascinating in its own right. It is first of all the definitive account of the controversy surrounding Joe Weber's claimed detection of gravitational waves, told by someone who has met and interviewed all of the leading participants since the origins of the controversy in the 1970s. Weber was a remarkable character whose story is one of considerable pathos and Collins gives a sympathetic and incisive account of his career and its ramifications that no one else is qualified to give.
The second part of the book covers the dramas that shaped the more recent efforts to detect gravitational waves, a remarkable story with important insights into the way big science projects evolve, sometimes to the point of near implosion. I was a graduate student at Caltech while some of these events occured, and was later a colleague of Collins while he conducted many of his interviews, and can only say that he does an amazing story full justice. As readers of the Golem will know he has a clear, direct style of writing which carries the reader along through a long book, partly for the intrinsic interest of the material, and partly for the engaging style. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in physics.
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2nd half an interesting study of g. waves detection politics by Karen Zukor (Berkeley, CA USA)  3 Stars
October 27, 2004
Skip the first 400 pages, unless you're obsessed with Joe Weber. But read the second 400 for an interesting take on the politics and people involved in gravity wave detection. Also a decent presentation of the issues in gravity wave detection for non-physicists.
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Traveling at the Speed of Thought: Einstein and the Quest for Gravitational Waves
by Daniel Kennefick (Author)
Since Einstein first described them nearly a century ago, gravitational waves have been the subject of more sustained controversy than perhaps any other phenomenon in physics. These as yet undetected fluctuations in the shape of space-time were first predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, but only now, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, are we on the brink of finally observing them. Daniel Kennefick's landmark book takes readers through the theoretical...
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| Rethinking Expertise
by Harry Collins (Author), Robert Evans (Author)
What does it mean to be an expert? In Rethinking Expertise, Harry Collins and Robert Evans offer a radical new perspective on the role of expertise in the practice of science and the public evaluation of technology. Collins and Evans present a Periodic Table of Expertises based on the idea of tacit knowledge—knowledge that we have but cannot explain. They then look at how...
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| The Golem: What You Should Know about Science (Canto)
by Harry M. Collins (Author), Trevor Pinch (Author)
Through a series of intriguing case studies including the study of relativity, cold fusion, the "memory" in worms, and the sex life of lizards, this book debunks the view that scientific knowledge is a straightforward outcome of competent theorization, observation, and experimentation. The first edition generated much debate and controversy. This second edition contains a substantial new Afterword that responds to some of the criticisms made by scientists. A distinction is made between the...
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| The One Culture?: A Conversation about Science
by Jay A. Labinger (Editor), Harry Collins (Editor)
So far the "Science Wars" have generated far more heat than light. Combatants from one or the other of what C. P. Snow famously called "the two cultures" (science versus the arts and humanities) have launched bitter attacks but have seldom engaged in constructive dialogue about the central issues. In The One Culture?, Jay A. Labinger and Harry Collins have gathered together some of the world's foremost scientists and sociologists of science to exchange opinions and ideas rather than insults....
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| The Golem at Large: What You Should Know About Technology
by Harry Collins (Author), Trevor Pinch (Author)
In the widely discussed first volume in the Golem series, The Golem: What You Should Know About Science, Harry Colllins and Trevor Pinch likened science to the Golem, a creature from Jewish mythology, a powerful creature which, while not evil, can be dangerous because it is clumsy. In this second volume, the authors now consider the Golem of technology. In a series of case studies they demonstrate that the imperfections in technology are related to the uncertainties in science. The case studies...
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