Hawking incorporated : Stephen Hawking and the anthropology of the knowing subject / Helene Mialet.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mialet, Hélène.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hawking, Stephen, 1942-2018.

Hawking, Stephen.

Communication in science.

Mind and body.

People with disabilities in science.

Physicists--Great Britain.

Physicists.

Self-help devices for people with disabilities.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (278 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

These days, the idea of the cyborg is less the stuff of science fiction and more a reality, as we are all, in one way or another, constantly connected, extended, wired, and dispersed in and through technology. One wonders where the individual, the person, the human, and the body are-or, alternatively, where they stop. These are the kinds of questions Hélène Mialet explores in this fascinating volume, as she focuses on a man who is permanently attached to assemblages of machines, devices, and collectivities of people: Stephen Hawking. Drawing on an extensive and in-depth series of interviews with Hawking, his assistants and colleagues, physicists, engineers, writers, journalists, archivists, and artists, Mialet reconstructs the human, material, and machine-based networks that enable Hawking to live and work. She reveals how Hawking-who is often portrayed as the most singular, individual, rational, and bodiless of all-is in fact not only incorporated, materialized, and distributed in a complex nexus of machines and human beings like everyone else, but even more so. Each chapter focuses on a description of the functioning and coordination of different elements or media that create his presence, agency, identity, and competencies. Attentive to Hawking's daily activities, including his lecturing and scientific writing, Mialet's ethnographic analysis powerfully reassesses the notion of scientific genius and its associations with human singularity. This book will fascinate anyone interested in Stephen Hawking or an extraordinary life in science.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. The Assistants and the Machines

II. The Students

III. The Diagrams

IV. The Media

V. The Reading Haw king's Presence. An Interview with a Self-Effacing Man

VI. At the Beginning of Forever. Archiving Hawking

VII. The Thinker. Hawking meets Hawking

Conclusion-A Recurring Question. From Exemplum to Cipher

Epilog

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613676658

9781280699672

1280699671

9780226522296

0226522296

OCLC:

795128615