[Sci-tech-public] Peter Galison talk at MIT: Thurs, 21 October

[David Kaiser]

Hi, all,

Peter Galison will be giving the MIT Physics Colloquium this coming 
Thursday (21 October) at 4:15pm in room 10-250.  He will be talking 
about his recent book, "Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps."  All are 
invited to attend!

best,
Dave

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Subject: 10/21/2004 Physics Colloquium: Peter Galison
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Physics Colloquium Series at MIT
10/21/2004

Peter Galison, Harvard University

"Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps"

In the standard picture of the history of special relativity, 
Einstein's reformulation of simultaneity is considered a 
quasi-philosophical intervention, a move made possible by his 
*dis*-connection from the standard physics and technology of the day. 
Meanwhile, Einstein's engagement at the Patent Office enters the 
story as a lowly day job, offering him some technical training but 
essentially irrelevant to his work on relativity.  On the contrary, 
Einstein's patent work located him squarely in the middle of a wealth 
of technological developments, cultural discussions about the meaning 
of time, and important patents that accompanied the coordination of 
clocks along railway lines and throughout the cities of central 
Europe. 

And Henri Poincare, far from being lost exclusively in the far 
reaches of mathematics, was at the same time profoundly involved with 
the use of precision coordinated clocks for long-distance longitude 
determination. --Indeed, at a crucial moment in the development of 
his own thoughts on relativity theory he was presiding of over the 
Paris Bureau of Longitude. By understanding the history of
coordinated clocks, Einstein's and Poincare's work on the 
synchronization of clocks in relativistic physics shines in a very 
different light: the "modern" of "modern physics" stood at the 
intersection point of physics, technology, and philosophy.

Time: 4:15pm
Place: Room 10-250
Refreshments will be served in the Physics Common Room (4-339) at 3:45pm

For a complete list of upcoming colloquia, please visit the Physics 
website: 
http://web.mit.edu/physics/newsandevents/physics_colloquia_sched_fall_04.html

___________________________________
Gretchen Poehlman
Events & Major Projects Assistant
Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 6-113
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307

(617)253-6259 FAX (617)253-8554
<http://web.mit.edu/physics/>http://web.mit.edu/physics/



_______________________________________
David Kaiser		dikaiser at mit.edu
Associate Professor
Program in Science, Technology, & Society
and Lecturer, Department of Physics
Building E51-185
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
Phone: 617 452-3173	Fax: 617 258-8118