Crelinsten, Jeffrey 1947-

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Crelinsten, Jeffrey 1947-

PERSONAL:

Born June 3, 1947; married. Education: McGill University, B.Sc.; University of Toronto, M.Sc., postdoctoral research in astronomy, c. 1981-82; University of Montreal, Ph.D., 1981. Hobbies and other interests: Music, swimming, traveling, and skiing.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

CAREER:

Historian, science writer, and publisher. Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, science teacher; The Impact Group (science and technology consulting firm), cofounder, 1987; copublisher of RE$EARCH MONEY and Canada Research Horizons; president of Research Infosource, Inc.; former director, Youth Science Foundation.

MEMBER:

Canadian Science Writers Association (past president), Science and Technology Awareness Network (founding member).

WRITINGS:

To the Limit, Gulliver Books (San Diego, CA), 1992.

(With Jean de Boerr and Glen Aikenhead) Measuring Students' Understanding of Science in Its Technological and Social Context: A Research Study Commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Education and Training (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 1993.

Einstein's Jury: The Race to Test Relativity, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2006.

Also author of science documentaries for radio and television, including two radio documentaries on relativity for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Albert Einstein: The Human Side of Genius, CBC, 2005, and an animated film about special relativity for the National Film Board of Canada.

SIDELIGHTS:

A science writer and historian who has specialized in writing for the general public, Jeffrey Crelinsten is also the author of To the Limit and Einstein's Jury: The Race to Test Relativity. In the former, which is based on an IMAX film of the same name, Crelinsten explains how the human muscular, circulatory, and respiratory systems work and how they are affected by the extreme demands of exercise. The author also explores the demands placed on the body by such diverse sports as mountain climbing, downhill racing, marathon running, and classical ballet. He presents several notable athletes in these fields and describes their personal efforts to reach the maximum of their endurance and performance capabilities. He also discusses the importance of exercise and pushing oneself to a higher level of fitness. The book includes numerous photos and diagrams. Noting that To the Limit is "best for browsing," a Publishers Weekly contributor went on to predict that the book "should appeal particularly to scientifically minded readers."

Einstein's Jury was called "crisply written and impressively researched" by Suman Seth in the American Scientist. Here the author focuses on the story of how astronomers in Germany, England, and America competed to test Albert Einstein's then-untested theory of relatively in the early twentieth century. Looking at the theory of relativity through the eyes of astronomers, the author recounts the difficulty that many noted astronomers at the time had in dealing with the theory. Crelinsten explores the history and development of relatively and how Einstein's renown slowly grew via the work of American astronomers at the Lick and Mount Wilson observatories in California. Ultimately, it was these astronomers who verified Einstein's work. Seth noted: "There is no dearth of literature on Einstein, but two elements make Einstein's Jury stand out: First, it looks at astronomers, rather than physicists or mathematicians, providing a focus that comparatively few others have offered. Second, and even more important, Crelinsten's book crosses the Atlantic to offer a genuinely novel perspective on the question of relativity's reception." Jeff Foust, writing on the Space Review Web site, commented that the author "does a fine job explaining the effort involved in finding evidence for relativity, and why it continues to be a topic of interest even today."