A01=Harry Collins
american laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory
astronomy
astrophysics
Author_Harry Collins
big dog
black holes
Category=PDX
Category=PHN
cosmic waves
einsteins theories
energy
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
equinox event
experiments
general relativity
methodology
nuclear engineering
parameter estimation
philosophical choices
pioneering science
ripples in space-time
scientific discovery
sociological fieldwork
space
statistical tests
theory
thought-provoking study
Product details
- ISBN 9780226052298
- Weight: 567g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 14 Jan 2014
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Gravity's Ghost and Big Dog brings to life science's efforts to detect cosmic gravitational waves. These ripples in space-time are predicted by general relativity, and their discovery will not only demonstrate the truth of Einstein's theories but also transform astronomy. Although no gravitational wave has ever been directly detected, the previous five years have been an especially exciting period in the field. Here sociologist Harry Collins offers readers an unprecedented view of gravitational wave research and explains what it means for an analyst to do work of this kind. Collins was embedded with the gravitational wave physicists as they confronted two possible discoveries - "Big Dog," fully analyzed in this volume for the first time, and the "Equinox Event," which was first chronicled by Collins in Gravity's Ghost. He records the agonizing arguments that arose as the scientists worked out what they had seen and how to present it to the world, along the way demonstrating how even the most statistical of sciences rest on social and philosophical choices.
Gravity's Ghost and Big Dog draws on nearly fifty years of fieldwork observing scientists at the American Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory and elsewhere around the world to offer an inspired commentary on the place of science in society today.
Harry Collins is the Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology and director of the Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise, and Science at Cardiff University and a fellow of the British Academy. Among his numerous books are Gravity's Shadow, Rethinking Expertise, and Tacit and Explicit Knowledge, all published by the University of Chicago Press.
