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person1978–present

James Gleick

Disciplines:
history of science
journalism
science writing

Summary

James Gleick is an American science writer best known for 'Chaos' (1987) and for making complex scientific ideas accessible to general readers.

Core Contribution

Gleick's 'Chaos' (1987) introduced chaos theory to a mass audience and created the popular science narrative genre in its modern form; 'The Information' (2011) provided the definitive cultural history of information theory.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Chaos as narrative (told the history of chaos theory as a detective story of scientific paradigm shift, making it the template for subsequent popular science books)
  • Information as universal medium (argued in 'The Information' that information is more fundamental than matter or energy as the substrate of reality)

Notable Works & Achievements

Chaos: Making a New Science

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

Faster

What Just Happened

Isaac Newton

The Information

Time Travel: A History

Historical Influences

John McPhee Stephen Jay Gould

Intellectual Lineage

Popular science writing New Journalism

Contemporaries & Peers

Kurt AndersenTom Wolfe Richard Feynman

Minds Influenced

Malcolm Gladwell Michael Lewis

Intellectual Posterity

Popular chaos theory narrativeHistory of information

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