The Physicist and the Philosopher

Jimena Canales holds the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in the History of Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

"Fascinating."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer --- "This is a book that offers a wealth of historical information and political and philosophical analyses, while also covering the more technical aspects adequately. . . . A volume that any person, not just a philosopher of science or historian, would find both valuable and instructive."---Antonio A. P. Videira, Science and Education --- "A gripping critique of Einstein's thought and a convincing rehabilitation of Bergsonian time, freed from the tyranny of mathematics."---Hilary Davies, The Tablet --- "It's hard to imagine that any single author will ever outdo this account of the recent history of our concepts of time."---Chris Nunn, Journal of Consciousness Studies --- "A masterwork of cultural forensics."---Maria Popova, Brainpickings --- "Brilliant."---James Gleick, Bits in the Ether --- "The Physicist and the Philosopher . . . is at least three things: a monument to precise scholarship, an exemplar of logical clarity, and a fine example of excellent writing. I have rarely learned more from a book."---Peter A.Y. Gunter, Physics in Perspective --- "[General and professional readers] will learn much from a study that is accessible and edifying to a great diversity of readers." --- "A book remarkable both for its profound research and for its elegance in presentation. Intellectual history should always be so accessible."---Benjamin Franklin Martin, Key Reporter --- "In The Physicist and the Philosopher, Canales recounts how Bergson challenged Einstein's theories, arguing that time is not a fourth dimension definable by scientists but a 'vital impulse,' the source of creativity. It was an incendiary topic at the time, and it shaped a split between science and humanities that persisted for decades--though Einstein was generally seen as the winner and Bergson is all but forgotten."---Nancy Szokan, Washington Post --- "Canales does sterling work investigating these engagements . . . [A] stimulating book."---Graham Farmelo, Nature --- "This fascinating book traces a debate about the nature of time. . . . Canales has done a masterful job of research and explication. Her account of the debate is lively, the background of it is interesting, and the debate's ramifications as filtered through other minds are downright exciting. Anyone interested in physics or philosophy will have a field day with this book."---Kelly Cherry, The Smart Set --- "[Canales] weaves a tale around Europe and to America. . . . [Her] subject raises important core philosophical issues, like the scope of philosophy itself."---Michael Ruse, The Chronicle of Higher Education --- "Whether or not you agree, this humane and melancholy account of how two talents misunderstood each other will linger in the mind." --- "This fascinating, scholarly, readable look at physics and epistemology will interest readers of science, history, philosophy, and biography." --- "Sparks--both incendiary and illuminating--fly from the collision of two giants!" --- "In illuminating a historic 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson about the nature of time, Canales marks a turning point in the power of philosophy to influence science." --- "The Physicist and the Philosopher is an extraordinarily rich and wide-ranging work. Canales has rescued from near oblivion a fascinating, highly significant debate that is still relevant in an age which has begun uneasily to question the hegemony of science and its uncontrollable child, technology."---John Banville, London Review of Books --- "One of Brainpickings’ The Best Science Books of 2015" --- "One of The Independent.ie Irish Writers’ Top Reads 2015" --- "One of Science Friday’s Best Science Books of 2015, chosen by Maria Popova"