Buy Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics on the Miracle year of when nuclear physics was born, .. leading to the A-bomb, H-bomb .
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- Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics
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- Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics by Gino Segrè
The Moon Is Down. Rosalind Franklin and DNA. Genius in the Shadows: Review a [A] fascinating story, insightfully told and consistently engaging. Penguin Books May 27, Language: Related Video Shorts 0 Upload your video. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention quantum understanding science bohr theory segre personal mechanics gino physicists fascinating einstein brilliant parody skit heisenberg early pauli miracle historical. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
In "Faust in Copenhagen", Gino Segre takes the reader through the history of the development of the theory of quantum mechanics by looking at the people and their work that made the revolution possible. The book wisely focuses more on the personalities and lives of the young and brilliant minds that reshaped humanity's understanding of the world of the very small than on the specifics of the highly technical and mathematic science done by those minds. The centerpiece of the narrative is the meeting at Neil Bohr's Copenhagen Institute in what is called by many the "Miracle Year" of science and the the touchstone of this narrative is the parody of Goethe's Faust written and performed by the junior attendees at the conference.
It is through the lines of this parody that Segre introduces us to the principle players in the narrative and shows us the issues facing them as they passed from being the young, upstart visionaries they came into the story as to becoming the wisened old hands so to speak.
Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics
The central figure in the story is Neils Bohr and I can honesty say that I've never read an account that is as good at revealing the deep character of the man who shepherded physics through a tumultuous time by nurturing and encouraging the brightest young mind around the world in peering into unknown. Additionally, much time is spent discussing the other great figures, Heisenberg and Pauli. The final thing that sets the narrative apart is the deep sense of poignancy the story has as the events unfold in the shadow of Hilter and that Nazi party's growing power and rise within Germany.
Segre's personal connections to the events and times are shared which adds a deep richness and familiarity to what is related so that I never felt like I was reading some dry, cleaned up version but instead a more personal "fireside" recollection.
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The only drawback of the book is that I would love to have seen a complete copy of the Copenhagen Faust as an appendix to the book. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this book to any student of physics, history of science or the culture of Europe in the period between the two world wars. This book is a great way to understand the events of the Miracle year of when nuclear physics was born, Gino Segre writes very well, and his synthesis is at just the right level for someone like me, who studied physics in the 50s and 60s.
He reminds me a little of Dennis Overbye, who wrote a related book on cosmology "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos". Published July 3rd by Pimlico first published June 14th To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Faust In Copenhagen , please sign up.
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This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Maddie Freeman rated it did not like it Nov 21, Stumblebum rated it did not like it Oct 22, Excellent review of the history of 20th century physics with an emphasis on the personalities more than on their science.
Another excellent book on the development of Quantum Mechanics, easy to read.
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I loved that this book was not so technical but still gave the reader a good basis for understanding what quantum physics is all about. This book was easy to read and was very endearing toward each of the greats. It was a nice change to feel similar to the greats rather than confused by their works. See all 19 reviews. Most recent customer reviews.
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Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics by Gino Segrè
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