Margaret Wertheim

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Margaret Wertheim (born 1958, Brisbane, Australia) is a science writer and the author of books on the cultural history of physics.

These books include Pythagoras' Trousers, a history of the relationship between physics and religion in Western culture, and The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet. From 2001-2005 Wertheim wrote the Quark Soup column for the LA Weekly and is currently a contributor to the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, as well as a contributing editor to Cabinet magazine, the international arts and culture quarterly, and Cosmos, the Australian-based literary science magazine. In 2006 her writing was awarded the print journalism prize from the American Institute of Biological Sciences and in 2004 she was the National Science Foundation visiting journalist to Antarctica. Her work was included in Best American Science Writing 2003, edited by Oliver Sacks. In 2003, she and her twin sister Christine Wertheim also founded the Institute For Figuring, an organization based in Los Angeles that promotes the public understanding of the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science and mathematics. Christine is a faculty member of the Department of Critical Studies at CalArts. Through their work with the IFF, the Wertheim twins have curated exhibitions on scientific and mathematical themes at galleries and museums, including Apexart, Machine Project, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Art Center College of Design, and the Museum of Jurassic Technology. In 2007, Margaret curated the First Fridays series of public discussions with scientists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

[edit] Books

Pythagoras' Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars (1995)
The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet (1999)
A Field Guide to Hyperbolic Space (2005)
A Field Guide to the Business Card Menger Sponge (2006)