A01=Theresa Levitt
Author_Theresa Levitt
Category=NHD
Category=TRLN
Category=TTB
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_tech-engineering
Product details
- ISBN 9780393350890
- Weight: 223g
- Dimensions: 140 x 211mm
- Publication Date: 10 Feb 2015
- Publisher: WW Norton & Co
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Augustin Fresnel (1788–1827) shocked the scientific elite with his view of the physics of light. The lens he invented was a feat of engineering that made lighthouses blaze many times brighter, further and more efficiently than they had before. As secretary of France’s Lighthouse Commission, he planned and oversaw the lighting of the nation’s coast. Although Fresnel died young, his brother Léonor presided over the spread of the new technology around the globe. The new lights were of strategic importance in navigation and the Fresnel legacy played an important role in geopolitical events. Levitt’s scientific and historical account, rich in anecdote and personality, is a compelling read.
Theresa Levitt held the McDonnell-Barksdale Chair of History of Science at the University of Mississippi and is associate professor of history there. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has a master’s degree in history from Iowa State University and a PhD from Harvard University. She was the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant and a Fulbright IIE Graduate Research Fellowship, among other honors. She is the author of numerous articles and papers on a variety of scientific subjects.
