(2019)

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Sure, Erwin Schrödinger could be accused of animal cruelty for his famous thought experiment, but Edwin Hubble had a cat named Copernicus, who sprawled across the papers on the astronomer’s desk as he worked, purring contentedly.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that there is a long, rich history, spanning some 300 years, of scientists pondering the mystery of how a falling cat somehow always manages to land on their feet, a phenomenon known as “cat-turning.”

A professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Gbur gives a lively, entertaining account of that history in his recent book, Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.

Nineteenth century physicist James Clerk Maxwell offered a “falling figure skater” explanation, whereby the cat tweaks its angular momentum by pulling in or extending its paws as needed.

Ars: You also discuss a 2003 paper by physics philosopher Robert Batterman, in which he examines falling cats in terms of geometric phases, which in turn connects to a Foucault pendulum.

In basic physics classes, we’re often taught a very abbreviated and abridged version of the history, where you’re given the straight line path that leads to the end.

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