Product Description

In "Empire of Light", Sidney Perkowitz combines the expertise of a physicist with the vision of an art connoisseur and the skill of an accomplished writer to offer a unique view of the most fundamental feature of the universe: light. "Empire of Light" discusses the nature of light, how the eye sees, and how our understanding of these phenomena have emerged over the ages, including the role of light in the development of quantum physics. The author examines the making of electrical light and its integration into commerce, telecommunications, entertainment, medicine, warfare, and every other aspect of our daily lives. And he presents the role of light in the search for the beginning and the end of the universe, as astronomers with their instruments penetrate ever deeper into the sky. Visible light spans the spectrum between infrared and ultraviolet, but this book reaches across many other spectra as well - from the cave paintings at Lascaux to Mark Rothko's stark blocks of color in today's art museums, from Plato's speculation that the eye sends out rays to Ramon y Cajal's discovery that vision actually works in the opposite way, from Tycho Brahe's elegant antetelescope measurements of planet positions to the Hubble telescope's exquisite sensitivity to light from billions of light years away. What are the biological and neurological processes of perceiving visible light? How does a person typically scan a scene? Do you see red or blue the same way I do? What are our physiological reactions and emotional responses to light? Perkowitz explores these and many other fascinating questions, drawing together the experiences, achievements, and perspectives of a diverse cast of characters, including Galileo, Einstein, Newton, Van Gogh, and Edison. "Empire of Light" is written so that lay readers will readily grasp the scientific principles and science professionals will readily appreciate the human experience. It will impart new wonder to the daily experience of light in our world. Sidney Perkowitz is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Physics at Emory University. His work has appeared in national publications such as "The Sciences", "The Washington Post", "The Los Angeles Times", "The American Prospect", and "Technology Review".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1118224 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .74" h x 5.59" w x 8.42" l, .91 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Light is fundamental. Photons, massless particles, live forever, never coalescing into bigger units as do protons and electrons. The human eye's retina is a light-sensitive outgrowth of the brain. Infrared light is linked to cosmic background radiation, the most compelling evidence that the Big Bang occurred billions of years ago. In a wondrous, mind-expanding tour of the visible world, Perkowitz, a physics professor at Emory University in Georgia, gracefully weaves science and aesthetics as he discusses the role of light in medical technology and warfare; the laws of light that underlay the telescopes and microscopes of Galileo, Newton, Anton van Leeuwenhoek; light as a determinant of the shape of the universe in Einstein's relativity; and the expressive use of light by artists such as van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Degas, Dan Flavin and James Turrell. Along with charting the history of lighting from Phoenician wax candles to lasers, he takes us inside the Brookhaven National Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source in Long Island, New York, a football-field-size device using which he ran experiments to determine the properties of superconductors.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this history of light, Perkowitz, a condensed-matter physicist (Emory Univ.), uses the term in the broad scientific sense of the full electromagnetic spectrum, but much of his discussion focuses on its visible portion. He traces humanity's understanding of light from both scientific and artistic viewpoints. Later portions of his text deal with light in contemporary physics research and in astronomy and cosmology. This well-written, well-rounded work will be accessible to educated lay readers, with comments on some artists' use of light adding a pleasant touch not usually found in popularizations by professional scientists. The historical portions are generally, accurate, with just the occasional minor lapse. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.?Jack W. Weigel, Univ. of Michigan Lib., Ann Arbor
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Perkowitz is a physics professor with a passion for art, and his aesthetics enrich his science and vice versa in this cogent overview of our complex responses to light. Light is the most complex and paradoxical phenomenon in our universe. Perkowitz deftly explains light's amazing properties: its consistent velocity; how it can take the form of either particles or waves; and its ability to infiltrate all things organic and inorganic. Light is so powerful, mysterious, and pervasive, it has always been emblematic of spirituality, a cosmic metaphor that has shaped language, art, and religious traditions. Perkowitz delves into all these aspects of light, offering, in the process, one of the best explanations of what happened immediately after the Big Bang found in popular science, an informative summary of various theories of light over the ages, and illuminating insights into such topics as how and why color evokes emotion and the still unfathomable, quite miraculous mechanics of visual comprehension. Outstanding. Donna Seaman