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For those interested, Peter Galison has written a bit about his thoughts on how Einstein's work at the patent office influenced his work on physics. This inter

• rrss 7y ago
  There's also this NYTimes article (paywalled, unfortunately) discussing Galison's research for "Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Map." > Einstein's relativity has long been regarded by scholars as a monument to the power of abstract thought. But if Dr. Peter Galison, 48 -- a Harvard professor of the history of science and of physics, a pilot, art lover and nascent filmmaker -- is right, physics and Einstein have flourished more in their connections to the world than in any ivory tower aloofness. And one clue to the origin of relativity can be found in something as mundane and practical as a 19th-century train schedule. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/science/science-historian-work-peter-galison-clocks-that-shaped-einstein-s-leap-time.html%20paywall https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/science/science-historian...
  • throwqwerty 7y ago
    > Harvard professor of the history of science and of physics, a pilot, art lover and nascent filmmaker lol why is this at all relevant to einstein