Margaret Wertheim
Encyclopedia
Margaret Wertheim is a science writer and the author of books on the cultural history
of physics
.
Wertheim is the author of three books that collectively consider the role of theoretical physics in the cultural landscape of modern Western society. The first, Pythagoras' Trousers http://www.amazon.com/Pythagorass-Trousers-God-Physics-Gender/dp/0393317242/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317507295&sr=1-3, is a history of the relationship between physics and religion. The second, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace http://www.amazon.com/Pearly-Gates-Cyberspace-History-Internet/dp/0393320537/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317507338&sr=1-4, charts the history of scientific thinking about space from Dante to the Internet. The third book in this series, Physics on the Fringe http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Fringe-Circlons-Alternative-Everything/dp/0802715133, looks at the idiosyncratic world of "outsider physicists", people with little or no scientific training who develop their own, alternative, theories of the universe.
As a journalist, Wertheim has contributed to the New York Times and Los Angeles Times
and is a contributing editor to Cabinet magazine, the international arts and culture quarterly. From 2001 to 2005,she wrote the Quark Soup science column for the LA Weekly
, sister paper to the Village Voice. In 2006, her writing was awarded the print journalism prize from the American Institute of Biological Sciences
, and in 2004, she was the National Science Foundation
visiting journalist to Antarctica. Her work was included in Best American Science Writing 2003, edited by Oliver Sacks
.
, an organization based in Los Angeles
that promotes the public understanding of the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science and mathematics. Christine is a faculty member of the Department of Critical Studies at CalArts. Through their work with the IFF, the Wertheim twins have curated exhibitions on scientific and mathematical themes at art galleries and science museums around the world, including Santa Monica Museum of Art
, Art Center College of Design
, Machine Project
, the Museum of Jurassic Technology
, the Science Gallery
at Trinity College in Dublin, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. The IFF's Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project is perhaps the biggest art/science community project in the world. More than 5000 people from New York and London, to Riga and Cape Town, have actively contributed pieces to Crochet Reef exhibitions. As of mid-2011, more than 3 million people had seen these shows. The "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" offers a unique intersection between mathematics, science, handicraft, environmentalism and community art practice.
Cultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
of physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
.
Wertheim is the author of three books that collectively consider the role of theoretical physics in the cultural landscape of modern Western society. The first, Pythagoras' Trousers http://www.amazon.com/Pythagorass-Trousers-God-Physics-Gender/dp/0393317242/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317507295&sr=1-3, is a history of the relationship between physics and religion. The second, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace http://www.amazon.com/Pearly-Gates-Cyberspace-History-Internet/dp/0393320537/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317507338&sr=1-4, charts the history of scientific thinking about space from Dante to the Internet. The third book in this series, Physics on the Fringe http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Fringe-Circlons-Alternative-Everything/dp/0802715133, looks at the idiosyncratic world of "outsider physicists", people with little or no scientific training who develop their own, alternative, theories of the universe.
As a journalist, Wertheim has contributed to the New York Times and Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and is a contributing editor to Cabinet magazine, the international arts and culture quarterly. From 2001 to 2005,she wrote the Quark Soup science column for the LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
, sister paper to the Village Voice. In 2006, her writing was awarded the print journalism prize from the American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Institute of Biological Sciences
The American Institute of Biological Sciences is a non-profit scientific association that is dedicated to advancing biological research and education.-Overview:...
, and in 2004, she was the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
visiting journalist to Antarctica. Her work was included in Best American Science Writing 2003, edited by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
.
Organization
In 2003, Margaret and her twin sister Christine Wertheim founded the Institute For FiguringInstitute For Figuring
The Institute For Figuring is an organization based in Los Angeles, California that promotes the public understanding of the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science, mathematics and the technical arts...
, an organization based in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
that promotes the public understanding of the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science and mathematics. Christine is a faculty member of the Department of Critical Studies at CalArts. Through their work with the IFF, the Wertheim twins have curated exhibitions on scientific and mathematical themes at art galleries and science museums around the world, including Santa Monica Museum of Art
Santa Monica Museum of Art
The Santa Monica Museum of Art is an independent non-collecting art museum located in Santa Monica, California. It exhibits the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists....
, Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design is a private college located in Pasadena, California, and was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the 60 best design schools in the world. The college’s industrial design program is consistently ranked number one by both DesignIntelligence and U.S...
, Machine Project
Machine Project
Machine Project is a Los Angeles based not-for-profit arts organization and community event space dedicated to making specialized knowledge and technology accessible to artists and the general public...
, the Museum of Jurassic Technology
Museum of Jurassic Technology
The Museum of Jurassic Technology is an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the lower jurassic...
, the Science Gallery
Science Gallery
The Science Gallery is a public science centre at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Opened in 2008 and housed in Trinity's Naughton Institute, it holds various exhibitions and lectures with a view to science outreach and art-science collaborations. Unlike most science centres, it has no permanent...
at Trinity College in Dublin, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. The IFF's Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project is perhaps the biggest art/science community project in the world. More than 5000 people from New York and London, to Riga and Cape Town, have actively contributed pieces to Crochet Reef exhibitions. As of mid-2011, more than 3 million people had seen these shows. The "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" offers a unique intersection between mathematics, science, handicraft, environmentalism and community art practice.
Books
- Pythagoras' Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars (1995)
- The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet (1999)
- A Field Guide to Hyperbolic Space (2005)
- A Field Guide to the Business Card Menger Sponge (2006)
- Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons and Alternative Theories of Everything (2011)
External links
- Institute For Figuring - dedicated to aesthetic dimensions of science and mathematics
- Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef - international science+art project
- Margaret's presentation at TED
- and a deeper discussion with TED editor Kari Mulholland
- Video of interview/discussion with Wertheim by George JohnsonGeorge Johnson (writer)George Johnson is an American journalist and science writer. He is the author of a number of books, including The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments and Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics , and writes for a number of publications, including The New York...
on Bloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tv is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast online to viewers... - The New York Times - Wertheim Op-Ed - Faster-than-light shadows
- LA Weekly - archived articles and columns
- Faith, Reason, Gender from Soka Gakkai InternationalSoka Gakkai Internationalis a lay religious movement within Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism derived from the teachings of the thirteenth-century Japanese monk, Nichiren Daishonin....
- Wertheim article on women and science from The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Wertheim article on quantum pseudo-mysticism from LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
- Cosmos, the Australian-based literary science magazine
- Wertheim Twins Crochet A Coral Reef from The Los Angeles Times