Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps

Adramaticnewaccountoftheparallelqueststoharnesstimethatculminatedintherevolutionaryscienceofrelativity，Einstein'sClocks，Poincaré'sMapsis"parthistory，partscience，partadventure，partbiography，partmeditationonthemeaningofmodernity....InGalison'stellingofscience，themetersandwiresandepoxyandsoldercomealiveascharacters，alongwithphysicists，engineers，techniciansandothers....Galisonhasunearthedfascinatingmaterial"(NewYorkTimes).Clocksandtrains，telegraphsandcolonialconquest：thechallengesofthelatenineteenthcenturywereanindispensablereal-worldbackgroundtotheenormoustheoreticalbreakthroughofrelativity.Andtwogiantsatthefoundationsofmodernsciencewereconverging，step-by-step，ontheanswer：AlbertEinstein，anyoung，obscureGermanphysicistexperimentingwithmeasuringtimeusingtelegraphnetworksandwiththecoordinationofclocksattrainstations;andtherenownedmathematicianHenriPoincaré，presidentoftheFrenchBureauofLongitude，mappingtimecoordinatesacrosscontinents.Eachfoundthattounderstandthenewlyglobalworld，hehadtodeterminewhetherthereexistedapuretimeinwhichsimultaneitywasabsoluteorwhethertimewasrelative.EsteemedhistorianofsciencePeterGalisonhascullednewinformationfromrarelyseenphotographs，forgottenpatents，andunexploredarchivestotellthefascinatingstoryoftwoscientistswhoseconcrete，professionalpreoccupationsengagedtheminasilentracetowardatheorythatwouldconquertheempireoftime.，Tracesthebirthofmoderntwentieth-centurysciencethroughtheworkofGermantheoreticalphysicistAlbertEinsteinandHenriPoincarâe，amathematicianresponsibleformappingtimecoordinatesacrosscontinents.