Seeing Foucault's Pendulum Between Science, Politics, and Art
33,99 €
inkl. gesetzl. MwSt.,
Beschreibung
Produktdetails
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Erscheinungsdatum
30.09.2025
Verlag
Zone BooksSeitenzahl
320
Maße (L/B/H)
23/15,2/2,8 cm
Gewicht
704 g
Übersetzt von
Robert Savage
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN
978-1-945861-06-2
An investigation of a cosmic experiment
In 1851, the physicist Léon Foucault performed an unforgettable experiment. By suspending a large pendulum inside the dome of Paris’ Pantheon, Foucault provided the first simple, direct empirical evidence of the Earth's rotation—an undeniable demonstration of heliocentrism. This experiment, conducted long after the Copernican Revolution and using a laboratory apparatus rather than astronomical observation, visually confirmed what had previously been accepted as theory. The pendulum’s motion clearly illustrated the Earth's rotation. But Foucault’s experiment did not end there. It sparked a range of subsequent reenactments and interpretations, each adding new layers to its meaning. Repeated over and again, its afterlives were many as were its ramifications.
Historian Michael Hagner revisits this epoch-making experiment and its reception from the nineteenth century to the present day and follows how cosmological questions conjoined political and aesthetic judgments about the public staging and history of science. The pendulum experiment, Hagner argues, is more than just a mere scientific demonstration. It contains within it the histories of technological innovation, ideological conflicts, and the rise of popular culture and visual media. In a series of insightful studies of literary, artistic, and scientific reenactments, Hagner uses both words and images to narrate the rich and complex legacy of this experiment.
Seeing Foucault's Pendulum includes among other fascinating tales, a short but stunning history of the Copernican Revolution, the paradigm-shifting work of the nineteenth-century astronomer Camille Flammarion, and the reenactments of Foucault’s experiment at the Smithsonian Institution and New York’s United Nations building. Linking nature to culture and calling for world unity, the experiment’s legacy extends beyond science. It has been reimagined in Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum and in Gerhard Richter’s 2018 installation, enchantments of the postmodern world theater where the relationship between knowledge and sensory experience is problematized anew. A complex symbol in the history of ideas—challenging our assumptions, inspiring artistic expression, and prompting philosophical reflection on our place in the cosmos—Foucault’s experiment serves as a powerful reminder that both the Earth and the universe should never be reduced to a disposable mass of human hubris and of irresponsible manipulation.
Kundinnen und Kunden meinen
Verfassen Sie die erste Bewertung zu diesem Artikel
Helfen Sie anderen Kund*innen durch Ihre Meinung
Kurze Frage zu unserer Seite
Vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback
Wir nutzen Ihr Feedback, um unsere Produktseiten zu verbessern. Bitte haben Sie Verständnis, dass wir Ihnen keine Rückmeldung geben können. Falls Sie Kontakt mit uns aufnehmen möchten, können Sie sich aber gerne an unseren Kund*innenservice wenden.
zum Kundenservice