STEPHEN N. LYLE
I live in the mediaeval town of Foix in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, about 80 km south of Toulouse. I work from home as a freelance science editor, doing everything from translation, usually of physics from French to English, to language editing when the author is a non-native speaker of English, to formatting using LaTeX, and of course copy-editing. A short CV is available in portable document format. It lists authored and translated books. I have always been interested in mathematics and physics. A brief summary of my position with regard to science and religion is also available in portable document format. I also give public lectures on scientific subjects, including quantum physics, stellar nucleosynthesis, and cognitive science, a new area for me. More details can be found on this site, including summaries of those talks in portable document format.
RESEARCH
Although I earn my living with often rather mundane tasks of scientific editing, I spend an equal amount of time studying various aspects of physics and mathematics in the hope that I will one day understand issues I have encountered in the past, and answer questions they have raised for me. Presumptuously, I refer to all this as my research. In this context, I have published two peer-reviewed books with Springer in Heidelberg and given four talks to scientists and philosophers, one of which was published in the relevant conference proceedings. The aim in each case was exactly the same as the aim of this website, namely to air ideas and receive criticism.
I translate physics books from French to English. These books are usually research level, but not always. A full list is available on my CV. Since I read a wide range of subjects, I would also translate other areas of science, philosophy, natural history, archaeology, and history, but so far have not had the opportunity.
I translate only from French to English, not the other way round. The art of translation is above all the art of writing one’s own language well. Understanding the source language is a relatively minor task. I also language edit books and papers written by scientists whose mother tongue is not English, and I thoroughly sympathise with scientists who must publish papers in a language that is not their own.
Please contact me on the contact page if you think I could help you. Fees are negotiable.