Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything - Softcover

Wertheim, Margaret

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802778720 ISBN 13: 9780802778727

Publisher: Walker Books, 2013

Synopsis

In 1993, Jim Carter, a trailer park owner in Enumclaw, Washington, sent out to a select group of scientists a letter announcing the publication of a book in which he proposed a complete alternative theory of physics. Gravity and matter, the periodic table, and the creation of the universe-all these Carter explained through wildly creative ideas perfected through backyard experiments using garbage cans and a disco fog machine to make giant smoke rings.

For the past fifteen years, acclaimed science writer Margaret Wertheim has been collecting the works of Jim Carter and other mavericks and outsiders who invent alternate theories of the universe. By considering the motivations behind their do-it-yourself theories and homemade experiments, Wertheim raises the question of what role an amateur can play in relationship to science. Deeply human, literally fantastical, infused with wit and humor, Physics on the Fringe challenges our conception of what science is, how it works, and who it is for.

About this title

About the Author

Margaret Wertheim is a science writer who has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wired, and many other publications, and is the author of Pythagoras' Trousers and The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace. She founded the nonprofit Institute For Figuring, through which she created the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" project, which is now the largest participatory art/science project in the world. She lives in Los Angeles, California. Visit her website: www.theiff.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802778720
• ISBN 13: 9780802778727
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336