Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives

Gerald James Holton, Yehuda Elkana

Courier Corporation, Jan 1, 1997 - Science - 439 pages

One of the 20th century's most profound thinkers not only transformed the direction of scientific endeavor but also influenced other fields such as psychology, linguistics, and ethics. This volume comprises 23 papers delivered at a 1979 symposium and includes examinations of Einstein's impact on scholarship, culture, and more.

About the author

Born in Berlin, Germany, Gerald Holton received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1946. Shortly afterward, he launched into what has become a major part of his career---directing a well-known program that originally was developed to teach physical science to liberal arts majors at Harvard. This program, called Harvard Project Physics, became the model for an ambitious program to teach physics in a similar historical manner in colleges and high schools throughout the United States. Later, Holton used this model in a somewhat different manner, establishing a program for the public understanding of science that eventually grew into a journal, Science, Technology and Human Values. For many years, Holton was a coeditor of Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also gained recognition as a biographer of Albert Einstein, and he has worked tirelessly to demonstrate that science requires as much creative imagination as do the arts and humanities.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives; Dover science books
• Authors: Gerald James Holton, Yehuda Elkana
• Edition: illustrated, unabridged, reprint
• Publisher: Courier Corporation, 1997
• ISBN: 0486298795, 9780486298795
• Length: 439 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology; Science / Essays; Science / History; Science / Physics / General