Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Peter Galison

Professor of History of Science and PhysicsCambridge, MA

Expert
Listen to Peter Galison's Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Peter Galison is the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in History of Science and Physics at Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in both Physics and the History of Science in 1983. The central component of Galison’s work involves the exploration of twentieth century physics, including atomic, nuclear, and particle physics. In particular, he examines physics as a closely interconnected set of scientific subcultures: experimenters, instrument makers, and theorists.

Galison has published a number of books, including Big Science: The Growth of Large-scale ResearchImage and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics, and Einstein for the 21st Century: His Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture.

Galison courses include: “History and Philosophy of 20th-Century Physics;” “History and Philosophy of Experimentation;” “Fascism, Art and Science in the Interwar Years;” “Scientific Realism;” “The Einsteinian Revolution;” seminars on Critical History and on the History and Philosophy of Theory in 20th Century Physics; and “Filming Science.”

Peter Galison's Timeline
1955 Born in New York.
1983 Received Ph.D. in Physics and History of Science from Harvard University.

Related Profiles

Martyl Langsdorf

Chicago, IL

Martyl Suzanne Langsdorf was born on March 16, 1917. Her mother was a painter and her father was a photographer.

Leon D. Smith

Wendover, UT

Leon D. Smith joined the Manhattan Project in 1944 and was assigned to the 509th Composite Group at Wendover Airfield in Utah.

Bruno Rossi

Los Alamos, NM

Bruno Rossi (1908-1993) was an Italian physicist. Rossi was a promising young scientist when his career was redirected by politics.

Martin J. Sherwin

Washington, DC

Martin Jay Sherwin is an author and historian specializing in the development of atomic weapons and nuclear policy.