Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics

Book Details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press

• Author: Peter Galison

• Language: English

• Edition: 1

• ISBN: 9780226279176

• Pages: 982

• Cover: Paperback

• Dimensions: 9.0 x 6.1 x 2.6 inches

About the Book

This study engages with the impact of modern technology on experimental physicists. Peter Galison's book delves into how the scale and complexity of modern experimental physics have dramatically changed the way physicists conduct their research. Once a discipline done by lone researchers working with benchtop apparatus, physics has now transformed into a massive, collaborative effort that involves large, city-block-sized experiments, vast teams of scientists and engineers, and interdisciplinary cooperation with industries.

Galison explores how this shift from solo experiments to large-scale collaborations has led to the formation of "trading zones" — dynamic spaces where experimentalists, instrument makers, and theorists come together to share knowledge, coordinate efforts, and negotiate the diverse technical and conceptual challenges of modern physics. These changes have fragmented microphysics into different technical traditions, with physicists increasingly distanced from the very science that once drew them into the field.

A landmark in the history of science literature, the book provides profound insights into the changing landscape of modern physics and the role of teamwork, technology, and politics in the cutting-edge work that shapes today's scientific breakthroughs. Ideal for those interested in the history of science, technology, and experimental physics, Galison's work is both a historical account and a critical reflection on how scientific practices evolve with technological progress.