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Sidney Perkowitz

Sidney Perkowitz, Candler Professor of Physics Emeritus, Emory University, is the author of Empire of Light: A History of Discovery in Science and Art and other writings about science in art and culture.

Art and Science in a Grain of Sand

Filmmaker Mark Levinson on the kinship between disciplines

July 7, 2025

The Part-Time Climate Scientist

A humble steam engineer put humans in the driver’s seat.

April 16, 2024

The Physics of Crowds

Why dangerous crowds behave the way they do.

September 19, 2023

5 Amazing New Discoveries About Light

Invisible cloaks. Ghost imaging. Scientists are manipulating light in ways that were once only science fiction.

July 11, 2023

What Does ChatGPT Know About Science?

AI-powered chatbots get science facts basically right, but their reasoning is still shallow.

March 28, 2023

We’ve Got News for You About Supercharging Your Brain

Today’s brain-computer interfaces perform medical miracles. Beyond the clinic is another story.

October 19, 2022

Gravitational Waves Continue to Astound

Seven years after their discovery, the ripples in spacetime have opened new windows on the universe’s deepest secrets.

June 7, 2022

If Only 19th-Century America Had Listened to a Woman Scientist

Where might the US be if it heeded her discovery of global warming’s source?

June 18, 2020