Overview

In the late fifteenth century, clocks acquired minute hands. A century later, second hands appeared. But it wasn’t until the 1850s that instruments could recognize a tenth of a second, and, once they did, the impact on modern science and society was profound. Revealing the history behind this infinitesimal interval, A Tenth of a Second sheds new light on modernity and illuminates the work of important thinkers of the last two centuries. Tracing debates about the nature of time, causality, and free will, as well as the introduction of modern technologies—telegraphy, photography, cinematography—Jimena Canales locates the reverberations of this “perceptual moment” throughout culture. Once scientists associated the tenth of a second with the speed of thought, they developed reaction time experiments with lasting implications for experimental psychology, physiology, and optics. Astronomers and physicists struggled to control the profound consequences of results that were a tenth of a second off. And references to the interval were part of a general inquiry into time, consciousness, and sensory experience that involved rethinking the contributions of Descartes and Kant. Considering its impact on much longer time periods and featuring appearances by Henri Bergson, Walter Benjamin, and Albert Einstein, among others, A Tenth of a Second is ultimately an important contribution to history and a novel perspective on modernity.

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9780226093185

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Reviews

A thoughtful look at the all-too-human perceptual complications facing objective observation. (New Scientist) This is an interesting, entertaining, and well-written book. (Choice)

In the past, the history of the personal equation and of reaction time has been mainly an interesting topic for historians of astronomy and psychology. In her fascinating and innovative study, Canales convincingly argues that the tenth of a second plays a much more important role in modern science. A novel contribution that will find readers beyond the history of science. - Michael Hagner, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich

Author Information

Jimena Canales is associate professor of the history of science at Harvard University.

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