Einstein's Generation: The Origins of the Relativity Revolution by Richard Staley

by Richard Staley

Why do we celebrate Einstein’s era above all other epochs in the history of physics? Much of the history of physics at the beginning of the twentieth century has been written with a sharp focus on a few key figures and a handful of notable events. Einstein’s Generation offers a distinctive new approach to the origins of modern physics by exploring both the material culture that stimulated relativity and the reaction of Einstein’s colleagues to his pioneering work.Richard Staley weaves together the diverse strands of experimental and theoretical physics, commercial instrument making, and the sociology of physics around 1900 to present the collective efforts of a group whose work helped set the stage for Einstein’s revolutionary theories and the transition from classical to modern physics that followed. Collecting papers, talks, catalogues, conferences, and correspondence, Staley juxtaposes scientists’ views of relativity at the time to modern accounts of its history. Einstein’s Generation tells the story of a group of individuals which produced some of the most significant advances of the twentieth century; and challenges our celebration of Einstein’s era above all others.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published April 15, 2009

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was only really interested in the Michelson section, chapters 1 and 2 (of 10). I kept reading because maybe I'd learn something cool later, but eh.

I wasn't a huge fan overall. Obviously this was meant solely as an academic book, but because it spends so much time replying to other works it can't really stand on its own. I had to pull out some textbooks for the optics and relativity stuff, but I'm willing to blame that on me not being in academics any more.

Halfway through, when the focus shifted to relativity, Staley started just quoting German papers wholesale, and I'm not sure why he didn't just reference them in the footnotes of his attempts at translation. Kind of a waste of page space.

It would probably be more cohesive if I kept up with physics as it was accepted in 1900, but with only an undergrad education I would have liked more context.

[Shinynickel]

Off this review:

Einstein’s Generation: The Origins of the Relativity Revolution
By Richard Staley (University of Chicago Press)
Richard Staley, a historian of science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has taken a novel approach to presenting the origins of the relativity revolution. His book reads not as a biography of Albert Einstein, but instead as a considered account of the technological and scientific innovations upon which Einstein’s groundbreaking theory was founded. Einstein’s Generation exposes readers to an era of turn-of-the-20th century scientists whose contributions have too often gone overlooked in histories of modern physics.