Ordinary Geniuses: How Two Mavericks Shaped Modern Science

by Gino Segrè

A fascinating tribute to the forefathers of two of today’s most exciting scientific fields

Thanks to Max Delbruck and George Gamow, today we have mapped the human genome and understand the ramifications of the Big Bang. In his characteristically inviting and elegant style, Gino Segre brings to life the story of these two great scientists and their long friendship and offers an accessible inside look the people behind the scenes of science—the collaboration and competition, the quirks and failures, the role of intuition and luck, and the sense of wonder and curiosity that keeps these extraordinary minds going.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Physics, Biography, History Of Science, Biology

368 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2011

About the author

Professor emeritus who started teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in 1967. Pursued with enthusiasm and considerable a career as a high-energy elementary particle theorist with a side interest in astrophysics.

A long-term interest in history led to his first book, a tale of temperature in all its broad ramifications.

Reviews

[Hind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biographical book telling the stories of George Gamow and Max Delbrück, two pioneering scientists who shared the ability to jump between fields whenever they find an interesting question. The stories behind scientific breakthroughs I find very important, especially to the aspiring scientist. This book is a reminder to all that there are many paths to success, and that it’s never too late to do something.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up with George Gamow's popular science books so I was very interested in this look at his personal and scientific life. Pairing him with Max Delbruck provides an overview of the development of cosmology and molecular biology.

[Mag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well written portrayals of Delbruck and Gamov- only 'ordinary geniuses'- as Segre playfully calls them, yet far from ordinary scientists and human beings. Max Delbruck is best known for his work on macrophages (how bacteria become resistant to viruses through mutation) which paved the road for genetics and genetic code discovery, and for which he got the Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine. Gamov is a flamboyant Russian physicist who is the father of the Big Bang theory. Both of them were proteges of Niels Bohr, knew each other and lived roughly at the same time. Both came from countries that became oppressive for freethinking scientists in the thirties of the twentieth century and both of them found asylum in the States during the Second World War. They both had the audacity to propose extraordinary theses and spur research that would open new areas in science and then abandon it when they were becoming too comfortable in it and start to work in completely different fields.
3.5/5

[Dmytro Samoilov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Про фізику 20 століття, та дві дисципліни, які виникли тоді: космологія та молекулярна генетика. А ще про Макса Дельбрюка та Георгія Гамова (уродженця Одеси), які долучились до формування цих дисциплін у зародку. Викладання науково-популярне, формул немає, але щоб нагадати як розвивалась наука в 20 столітті - саме те.

Бонусом цікаві замальовки на тлі "епохи": як Гамов та його жінка намагались перепливти Чорне море біля Алушти аби втекти від комуністів (нічого не вийшло), про Гетінген 20-х років, та згадки про Гамова та Ландау, що на одному мотоциклі подорожували Шотландськими селами. А ще про Паулі, Бора, Бете, Вотсона, Кріка та ще багатьох фізиків та біологів.

[Lina Zadorozhnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чудовий екскурс у життя передових науковців!

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book centers around the lives of two scientists, but really reads like a partial history of many of the most important scientific discoveries and works that took place during their lives. Especially interesting were the effects of World War II on science due to scientists relocating to different countries. I particularly enjoyed the pieces about the conferences that Gamow put together and the importance to these men of collaboration between professionals of different disciplines, which was not common at the time.

[Sant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Така неймовірна кількість геніїв на друкований лист не може залишити байдужим. Дельбрюк, Гамов, Дірак, Айнштайн, Вотсон, Крік ...
З мінусів - або автор або переклад, не дуже легко читається.

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspired choice to do a paired biography of George Gamow and Max Max Delbrück. They were both born at the turn of the century, one in Russia and one in Germany, both started in quantum mechanics and then branched out -- Gamow to nuclear physics and cosmology and Delbrück much further afield to biology. And hovering over both of them from the beginning to nearly the end of the book is Niels Bohr and the "spirit of Copenhagen".

One of the things this book conveys most beautifully is how Gamow and Delbrück in their different ways created new circles of scientists in their adopted country of the United States, bringing together different disciplines that rarely worked together and pushing them forward onto new questions that had never been asked before. The results were breakthroughs in the nuclear physics of the creation of atoms in the big bang (in Gamow's case) and the forerunners of DNA theory (in Delbrück's case).

What is particularly interesting about focusing on Gamow and Delbrück, as opposed to say Einstein or Heisenberg or Watson, is how much they got wrong. But they got it wrong in interesting ways that led to new discoveries and theories that were right.

Gino Segre does a good job of shifting between the two and shifting between biography, historical context, and science. Highly recommended -- although not as good as Segre's earlier book Faust in Copenhagen, which also portrays the way scientists think and work together, in that case in producing the ensemble production we know as quantum mechanics.

[Jim Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting and enjoyable book. The lives of Delbruck and Gamov were woven together and the two old friends lived remarkable lives. Gamov come across as involved in many of the breakthroughs in physics in the first half of the 20th century but his "flightiness" meant the concentration needed to get a Nobel Prize was missing. Delbruck did get a Nobel Prize, however, and after deciding that physics was not going to be a career for him, went on to excel in the early development of genomics.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable and entertaining book about these two scientists, who both started as particle physicists and took divergent paths. There was time that I knew Gino Segre, a most charming fellow, and I'm glad he has become a charming writer. This is a book that non-scientists can read even though I got a bit lost in molecular biology, but that can't be helped when one is so ignorant of such things.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This definitely lost a star for the last three chapters. it was quite good up until then...Gamow and Delbruck didn't seem very ordinary to me! The end seemed to go away from following Max's and Geo's lives and got into some philosophical bits I didn't bargain for.

[Mark Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating stories of cosmology and DNA, and the interplay between Gamow and Delbrück. But Gino isn't as good a write as his father, Emilio, was, so the story lags at times. Not as good as 'The Double Helix" nor "My World Line" by Gamow, but still interesting. As always, I learned something.

[Ino · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best books i have ever read. it gives insight on how science used to work. as someone who studied genomics but who works for cosmologists i am convinced that this book picked me rather than the other way round.

[Art · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up to read since I really enjoyed his "Matter of Degrees" book. I guess I am not into his bibliographic style however. I put this down after a chapter due to disinterest.

[Manuel Sánchez]

I read this in 2012

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great example of the interesting stories behind science. The lives of the scientists reveal they are people who made things happen by dedication and perseverance while remaining normal people.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a biography than I was expecting. Not what I was looking for, though probably my bad for overlooking it in the overview.

[Darko Doko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more of biographie than science left me dissapointed. But it did intrigued me for further reading on DNA.

[Barry Mann · Rating 3 out of 5]

ordinary stories

[Omar El-Etr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordinary? I'd rather say not!

[Atamas Natalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дуже яскравий час для науки і дуже цікаві люди у книзі, особливо Гамов. Прочитала з великим задоволенням.