Uncertainty

Fülszöveg

Advance praise lor
David Cassidy kas written tke definitive Liograpky of a great and tragic pkysicist. UNCERTAINTY is tkorougk, judicious, and reveakng.
Rickard Rkodes, autkor of THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
A comprekensive exploration of tke kigks and lows in tke life of one of tke most fertile minds of our time. Cassidy succeeds in illuminating kotk tke joys of a great scientist tkriving in a congenial society tkat ke so loved and tke sorrows of tke pkysicist lakoring un der tke callous controls of a totalitarian regime. . . .Tkanles to Cassidys well-documented exposition, we kegin to understand wky tke German atomic endeavors in World War II failed.
Manfred Sckroeder Universität Göttingen
IS
An important kook on an important sukject. Among muc kelse, UNCER-TAINTY provides a new look at tke controversy over Nazis and atomic komks. Tke autkor forges tkrougk tkis minefield witkout a false step, using important new source materials and faultless judgment.
Cassidy... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Advance praise lor
David Cassidy kas written tke definitive Liograpky of a great and tragic pkysicist. UNCERTAINTY is tkorougk, judicious, and reveakng.
Rickard Rkodes, autkor of THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
A comprekensive exploration of tke kigks and lows in tke life of one of tke most fertile minds of our time. Cassidy succeeds in illuminating kotk tke joys of a great scientist tkriving in a congenial society tkat ke so loved and tke sorrows of tke pkysicist lakoring un der tke callous controls of a totalitarian regime. . . .Tkanles to Cassidys well-documented exposition, we kegin to understand wky tke German atomic endeavors in World War II failed.
Manfred Sckroeder Universität Göttingen
IS
An important kook on an important sukject. Among muc kelse, UNCER-TAINTY provides a new look at tke controversy over Nazis and atomic komks. Tke autkor forges tkrougk tkis minefield witkout a false step, using important new source materials and faultless judgment.
Cassidy uncompromisingly places Heisenkerg s scientific tkinking at tke core of kis kiograpky, yet ke skows us Heisenkerg not just as a scientist, kut as a modem man responding to turkulent and intense political and social forces. Tke enduring value of tkis kook is akove all in its demonstration of kow elegant equations and devices could emerge from Heisenkergs situation, like flowers in a dark jungle.
THE LIFE AND SCIENCE OF
Werner Heisenberg
David C. Cassidy
Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) was one of the most brilliant and renowned physicists of his day. A Nobel laureate at the age of 32, he is ranked among the greatest geniuses of this or any century. Heisenberg's extraordinary scientific accomplishments include his seminal work in the development of quantum physics, elementary particles, and nuclear physics. But his masterpiece was his articulation of the Uncertainty Principle, a scientific insight so profound that it has become a metaphor for our understanding of all human phenomena.
Heisenberg's life was one of dramatic controversy as well as spectacular triumph. Unwilling to leave his beloved homeland, he remained in Germany during the rise and rule of the Third Reich—and made the personal and professional compromises such a choice entailed. During World War II, he played a major role in conducting nuclear research under the Nazis, even as Robert Oppenheimer and his colleagues strove to develop the atom bomb at Los Alamos. The actions and motives of Heisenberg and his fellow researchers are to this day a matter of heated debate.
Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg is the first full-scale biography of this towering figure—an elegant, finely observed, intensively researched portrait by the noted science historian and Heisenberg scholar David G. Gassidy.
(continued from front flap)
In rich detail, Cassidy delineates Heisenberg's brilliant body of work in the context of this turbulent century, demonstrating just how much his enormous contributions transformed the way scientists understand the physical universe. In addition, Cassidy delves deeply into Heisenberg's personal and political ^
motivations, providing a fascinating pro- ® 1
file of this extraordinary genius and his
complex responses to the evil of Nazism. . ^
Î -i
Living and working through a time of in- | '
tense political upheaval in Germany and y ^ throughout Europe, Werner Heisenberg played a central role in some of the most ^
far-reaching scientific events of the | ^
twentieth century. His story is essential ^ *
reading for anyone wishing to under- ^^^ stand not only the development of quan-
turn physics, but also the rise of Nazism, f f
the role of science in World War II, and J |
the dawning of the atomic age. f
About the Author
David C. Cassidy has devoted much of his academic career to Heisenberg, modern German science, and the study.of the development of quantum mechanics. He has published extensively on Heisenberg and related topics and has compiled the definitive bibliography of Heisenberg's works. In addition, Cassidy served as associate editor of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein for Princeton University Press.
Cassidy received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from Purdue University and is associate professor at Hofstra University, Long Island, New York. Vissza