Faust in Copenhagen
Subtitle: a struggle for the soul of physics
By: Gino Segrè
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2007
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 310
ISBN-13: 9780670038589
Subjects: Physicists -- Psychology; Physicists -- Intellectual life -- 20th century; Quantum theory -- History -- 20th century
Description: Known to physicists as the "miracle year," 1932 saw the discovery of the neutron and the first artificially induced nuclear transmutation. However, while physicists celebrated these momentous discoveries--which presaged the era of big science and nuclear bombs--Europe was moving inexorably toward totalitarianism and war. In April of that year, about forty of the world's leading physicists--including Werner Heisenberg, Lise Meitner, and Paul Dirac--came to Niels Bohr's Copenhagen Institute for their annual informal meeting about the frontiers of physics. Physicist Gino Segrè brings to life this historic gathering, which ended with a humorous skit based on Goethe's Faust--little knowing the Faustian bargains they would face in the near future. Capturing the interplay between the great scientists as well as the discoveries they discussed and debated, Segrè evokes the moment when physics--and the world--was about to lose its innocence.--From publisher description
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-297) and index