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Revision as of 20:45, 27 November 2006
Contents
Page 58
Michelson-Morley experiment
The Michelson–Morley experiment, one of the most important and famous experiments in the history of physics, was performed in 1887 by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at what is now Case Western Reserve University, and is generally considered to be the first strong evidence against the theory of a luminiferous aether. Primarily for this work, Albert Michelson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. Wikipedia entry
Particle or Wave? "...one finds in the devout aetherist a propensity of character evertoward the continuous as against the discrete"
aether is the medium that light would move in, if it were a wave. This enters the question of whether light is a particle or a wave into the discussion. Pynchon sets up the dichotomy: (aether/wave/continuous vs. empty space/particle/discrete) (also, see page 61)
Töpler influence machine
A machine for producing electrical charges.
Page 59
Ohio
Harks back to M&D's visit with George Washington.
Northern Ohio Insane Asylum
Full of light enthusiates who invented light-powered bicycle (see p 76,) beleive light to have consciousness and personality, and who eat light.
Page 60
Aether reports
Associations of light with "wind."
Roswell Bounce
The mentions of cosmic space, balloons, a US Bureau "in charge of reporting," and his occupation as a photograper seem to allude to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, an alleged alien crash that the US government insisted was a downed weather balloon. Wikipedia entry
Page 61
"Somehow Merle got the idea in his head that the MIchelson-Morley experiment and the Blinky Morgan manhunt were connected."
Vaguely recalls the use of John Dillinger in Gravity's Rainbow (741), insofar as they both read a surprising amount of metaphysical meaning into the death or final apprehension of a notorious criminal.
It also ties the criminal underground (out of the light) with the properties of light.
"Blinky" a "walking interferometer"
Wikipedia entry on Interferometers
Page 62
Blinky "emerges from invisibility" thus dooming the existance of aether. Aether is then "Against the Day" undetectable, unknowable, invisable.
Page 63
O.D. Chandrasekhar
Perhaps a nod to Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995), an Indian-American physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, known to the world as Chandra, who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He calculated and discovered the Chandrasekhar Limit which is the maximum mass possible for a white dwarf star (one of the end stages of stars that have exhausted their fuel) supported by electron degeneracy pressure, and is approximately 3 × 1030 kg, around 1.44 times the mass of the Sun.
Page 64
Photography
Light tied to silver and chemestry.
Page 67
Beast Without Shame
Inexplicably recalls the epithet earlier used to denounce Lew Basnight on page 36: "the Upstate-Downstate Beast."
Merle and Dally
Merle's family situation (single father, smart aleck daughter, mother who took off) is identical to that of Vineland's protagonist Zoyd Wheeler.
Page 68
"...have you ever felt that you wished to suddenly disappear...?
While Merle is getting obsessed with revealing images from darkrooms and chemicals, Zombini comes and makes Erly "disappear."
Page 69
"some larger plan"
May be talking about writing Against the Day itself.
Page 70
'seng
Ginseng. Panax sp.
File:Example.jpg
Page 74
Skip
Obviously recalls Byron the sentient lightbulb from Gravity's Rainbow.
Aslo recalls Insane Asylum where he told that light has "consciousness and personality"
Page 76
Electric Generator hooked to an old bicycle
Don't know if this is that important, but similar to Insane Asylum light-bicycle.
Page 77
Webb Traverse
The character is introduced mere paragraphs after the description of spiderwebs "that when the early daylight was right cause you to stand there just stupefied." As "traverse" means to travel across or through, perhaps the character's name signifies his ability to navigate the complicated webs off.. I dunno, society, the establishment or something?
Webb and Merle
Photography as alchemy. Murcury and the Philosopher's stone
Wikipedia entry on Silver Fulminate
Page 78
The Anti-Stone
not clear what it does: turns gold into lead, i.e. explosives/weapons?
Page 80
gravity
Ties into the central scientific metaphor of GR, that the laws of physics and fate are somehow connected.
