The Genius of Science: A Portrait Gallery of 20th Century Physicists Book

Physics might seem part of an alien culture to most people but it has touched all our lives and its by-products, in the form of nuclear fission, are going to remain with us for many generations to come. It could be argued that the 20th century was the century of theoretical physics. The Genius of Science is, as its subtitle tells us, a portrait gallery of 16 of the most interesting and eminent of the international physicists, from Niels Bohr to Eugene Wigner, who helped change our view of the world. But the character list is much, much larger and interweaves most of the international network of physicists and other prominent scientists of the last century. Abraham Pais is an eminent American theoretical physicist and professor at the Rockefeller University who has previously written well acclaimed biographies of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, two of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. He has been personally acquainted with many of the people he is writing about and often appears as a shadowy figure in the background. Anyone can dip into The Genius of Science anywhere and be immediately grabbed by both the extraordinary and ordinary aspects of the lives of these scientists. Pais provides plenty of anecdotes, from those about Bohr's pipe-smoking to Oppenheimer's reaction to the first successful atomic bomb test "...some lines of the Bhagavad Gita went through his mind: I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.". Pais wants to bring life back to these people but not in any salacious way for as he admits he has "never been interested in entering others' bedrooms". If you want psycho-biography or scandal you will not find it here but the general reader will get a sense of the trials, tribulations and excitement of the scientific life. There are plenty of references for those that want to follow up the details and a useful index of names of the characters mentioned in the text.--Douglas PalmerRead More