The Fire within the Eye

by David Allen Park

In The Fire within the Eye , scientist and author David Park helps us reconceive the everyday phenomenon of light in profound ways, from spiritual meanings embedded in our culture to the challenging questions put forth by great scientists and philosophers. Park, who is both a gifted teacher and physicist, takes us on a tour through history spanning ancient Greek, Neoplatonic, and Arabic philosophy together with astrology, the metaphysics of Galileo and Kepler, and the role of mathematics and experimentation in modern physics. By creatively synthesizing a broad sweep of historical events and intellectual movements around the theme of light, the author offers readers of all backgrounds a unique perspective on Western civilization itself. Readers will find themselves immersed in lively discussions conducted by a physicist equally at home exploring the invention of perspective by Brunelleschi and Alberti, the writings of Goethe, or the mathematical models inspiring Maxwell's electromagnetic theory.


Plato made light the earthly counterpart of the Good; the early Christians believed the command "Let there be light" unleashed a power that shaped and energized the world. Park follows the connotations of spirituality and power attributed to light in religion, philosophy, art, and literature. At the same time he enables us truly to feel the excitement surrounding scientific discoveries and debates about the nature of light throughout history --Isaac Newton's scientific explanation of color and the raging battles between proponents of light as particles and light as a wave. Park traces the attempts to define light, beginning in the nineteenth century with the proposal that light is a wave motion in a field that unites electricity and magnetism. How this theory was reconciled with the particle theory of light is one of many paradoxes that Park guides us in understanding.


Park writes eloquently of the physical, aesthetic, and spiritual aspects of light, making this book an invaluable guide for all readers wishing to explore the fascinating relationship between science and culture.

Genres: Science, History, Philosophy, Nonfiction

550 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 1997

About the author

David Allen Park (often cited as David Park) was Professor of Physics Emeritus at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

He graduated from Harvard in 1941, and earned his Ph.D. from University of Michigan. He also was associated with the Harvard Radio Laboratory and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton before returning to Williams as an assistant professor in 1952.

Reviews

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real tour de force of the history of ideas surrounding light and vision. I enjoyed the early greeks ideas of little copies of objects, idola, flying through the air and into one's eye. Empedocles, Democritus - our society hasn't generated many ideas radically different than those of these men.

[kylie (allegedly) · Rating 2 out of 5]

HUGE snoozefest

[Jason Andrus]

This book is taking me forever. It isn't a page turner by any means, but light fascinates me so this has been a good one for understanding how light has been perceived and studied throughout history