Physics Department Faculty:
Peter L. Galison
Joseph Pellegrino University ProfessorDirector, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments
PhD 1983, Harvard University
The central component of Peter Galison's work involves
the exploration of twentieth century microphysics (atomic,
nuclear, particle physics). In particular, he examines
physics as a closely interconnected set of scientific
subcultures: experimenters, instrument makers, and
theorists. For example, in How
Experiments End (Chicago, 1987), he examined
the ways in which experimenters come to the decision
that they have an effect, not an artifact of the apparatus
or environment. What role does theory play in the establishment
of data reduction strategies, in triggering, or in
the experimental set-up itself? How do large groups
decide something is real? More recently, he has been
interested in the long-standing competition between
image-producing instruments such as bubble chambers,
cloud chambers, and nuclear emulsions on one side,
and the "logic" devices such as counters,
spark chambers, and wire chambers on the other. Image
and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics (Chicago,
1997) examines this duality and seeks to locate specific
experimental technologies in the wider scientific and
nonscientific world. Professor Galison is now turning
to a history of postwar quantum field theory, in which
he views QFT as a "trading zone" between
different domains of physics (e.g. particle cosmology,
mathematics, condensed matter physics).
On the side, he has tried to examine links between
the history of science and neighboring fields - how,
for example, historians of science and historians of
art share methods and strategies.
- P. Galison, How Experiments End. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1987
- P. Galison, Image and Logic: a Material Culture of Microphysics. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1997
- P. Galison and B. Hevly (eds.), Big Science. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992
- P. Galison, "Aufbau/Bauhaus: logical positivism and architectural modernism." Critical Inquiry 709 (Summer 1990).
- P. Galison and C.A. Jones, Picturing Science, Producing Art. New York: Routledge, 1998.
- P.Galison and E. Thompson, The Architecture of Science. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2000.
- P. Galison and A. Roland (eds.), Atmospheric Flight in the 20th Century, Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, 2000.
- P. Galison and M. Biagioli (eds.), Scientific Authorship. New York: Routledge, 2003.