Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Now in paperback: The thrilling history of the brilliant minds behind the most revolutionary ideas in physics--quantum theory, relativity, and more The world may never see another era of science like the first half of the twentieth century, when a peerless cast of physicists--Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schr dinger, and others--came together to uncover the quantum world, a concept so outrageous and contrary to traditional physics that its own founders rebelled against it until the equations held up and fundamentally changed our understanding of reality. Tobias H rter takes us back to a harrowing time when war upended the lives of these renegade scientists who were forced to crisscross Europe as they worked together to topple classical physics.
Too Big for a Single Mind resurrects old letters, notes, research, diaries, and memoirs, recasting these trailblazers as friends and rivals, lovers and loners, intellectuals and dreamers. Readers will witness the birth of ideas that not only revolutionized physics and our world but attest to the boundless potential of genius in collaboration.
Synopsis
Now in paperback: The epic story of how, amid two World Wars, history's greatest physicists redefined reality--and ignited the atomic age "A new, exciting approach to the literature about this momentous era."--The Wall Street Journal
There may never be another era of science like the first half of the twentieth century, when a peerless cast of physicists--Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, and others--came together to uncover the quantum world, a concept so outrageous and contrary to traditional physics that its own founders rebelled against it until the equations held up and fundamentally changed our understanding of reality.
In page-turning chapters, Tobias H rter takes us back to this momentous time in science history, when the creation of quantum theory demanded the combined efforts of friends and rivals, lovers and loners, straight-edged intellectuals and freethinking dreamers--and when, with the Nazis in pursuit of an atomic bomb, the stakes couldn't be higher. In this stirring, grand narrative, brought to life by letters, notes, research papers, diaries, and memoirs, we witness the birth of an idea that revolutionized both physics and our world at large and unleashed the profound and terrifying power of the atom--and that ultimately stands as a testament to the boundless potential of genius in collaboration.
Synopsis
"A new, exciting approach to the literature about this momentous era."--The Wall Street Journal
There may never be another era of science like the first half of the twentieth century, when a peerless cast of physicists--Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, and others--came together to uncover the quantum world, a concept so outrageous and contrary to traditional physics that its own founders rebelled against it until the equations held up and fundamentally changed our understanding of reality.
In page-turning chapters, Tobias H rter takes us back to this momentous time in science history, when the creation of quantum theory demanded the combined efforts of friends and rivals, lovers and loners, straight-edged intellectuals and freethinking dreamers--and when, with the Nazis in pursuit of an atomic bomb, the stakes couldn't be higher. In this stirring, grand narrative, brought to life by letters, notes, research papers, diaries, and memoirs, we witness the birth of an idea that revolutionized both physics and our world at large and unleashed the profound and terrifying power of the atom--and that ultimately stands as a testament to the boundless potential of genius in collaboration.