Einstein: A Life in Science

by Michael White, John Gribbin

A biography of the archetypal scientist traces Einstein's monumental advances in thermodynamics and physics and offers a detailed appreciation of his profound influence on the direction of all subsequent scientific inquiry

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

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Michael White was a British writer who was based in Perth, Australia. He studied at King's College London (1977–1982) and was a chemistry lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College, Oxford (1984–1991).
He was a science editor of British GQ, a columnist for the Sunday Express in London and, 'in a previous incarnation', he was a member of Colour Me Pop. Colour Me Pop featured on the "Europe in the Year Zero" EP in 1982 with Yazoo and Sudeten Creche and he was then a member of the group The Thompson Twins (1982). He moved to Australia in 2002 and was made an Honorary Research Fellow at Curtin University in 2005.
He was the author of thirty-five books: these include Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science; Leonardo: The First Scientist; Tolkien: A Biography; and C. S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia. His first novel Equinox – thriller, an occult mystery reached the Top Ten in the bestseller list in the UK and has been translated into 35 languages. His non-fiction production included the biography Galileo: Antichrist. Novels following Equinox include The Medici Secret, The Borgia Ring and The Art of Murder.
White wrote under two further names, Tom West and Sam Fisher. He used the latter pseudonym to publish the E-Force trilogy, State of Emergency, Aftershock, and Nano.
A further novel by White, The Venetian Detective, features characters including Galileo and Elizabeth.
White wrote a biography of Isaac Newton, The Last Sorcerer. He was both short-listed and long-listed for the Aventis prize. Rivals was short-listed in 2002, and The Fruits of War long-listed in 2006. He was also nominated for the Ned Kelly Prize for First Novel (for Equinox in 2007).

Reviews

[Paul Brogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two authors — one to cover Einstein's science and another to deal with his personal history — made for an interesting read. They also served to highlight that Einstein was a complicated, almost dualistic person. He was an atheist, but fought for a Jewish homeland; he hated regimentation, yet revelled in the rigour of mathematics; he loved humanity, but wasn't very fond of people; he believed in peace, yet urged Roosevelt to develop the bomb.

We're all a mass of contradictions, but we raise our eyebrows when the greatest mind since Isaac Newton demonstrates mixed opinions. Upon his death his brain was removed for examination, but nothing out of the ordinary was discovered. I liked this especially about the book — an account of a person so accessible it made me feel that, but for the name and the time and a few other changes, it could have been you or me.

As for the science, everything from Brownian motion to relativity to quantum mechanics was explained with clarity, giving us an insight to how simple it really was.

By the time I'd finished the book I was sure that the one true talent of Einstein was not so much the mathematics — he wasn't great at it and used other, better mathematicians to help formulate his theories — or even the physics, but the enormous scope and fearless audacity of his imagination. And that's not something you will find by digging into his grey matter.

[Lachlan Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book outlines the life of one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. Einstein's contributions brought about a new era in physics, from the intuitive classical physics into the two huge fields of relativistic and quantum physics. One of the most surprising things about this, is that he developed some of his most influential ideas in his own time while working an unrelated day job at a patent office.

This book succinctly and comprehensibly describes Einstein's scientific contributions in a non-technical fashion. The authors also give a broader picture of the life of the great scientist, as he was born in Germany, studied in Switzerland, worked across Europe and eventually moved to the United States with the backdrop of rising fascism in Europe. Without speculating (too much) about the details of his personal life, the authors also present anecdotes and sometimes letters or speeches, which give an insight into his personal and professional relationships as well as his political views.

Some things I learnt from this book which I didn't know previously include that Einstein renounced his German citizenship almost as soon as he moved to Switzerland (but technically regained it when he took up a position in Germany); that he also had contributions to the understanding of Brownian motion; and that he had a child out of wedlock in his early twenties who was put up for adoption.

Overall this was a good book, presented at an approachable level for a non-technical audience and gave a good overview of Einstein's life and impact on modern science.

[Tefo Mohapi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable book that looks wholistically at Einstein's. The book goes into detail into his scientific work as well as his personal life outside science. This is because it has two authors, one looking at the science, another at his personal life. I don't think I've ever read such a well rounded biography before that neither flatters nor attacks the subject but presents events as they happened. Having said that, the book doesn't discount how important Einstein was and is to our understanding of the universe.

[Shane Rajiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly excellently written. Not too long, good explanation of ideas.
Though I follow these things, I hadn’t fully realised electricity is a property of the universe. If feels so much like something on earth, like fire (which needs oxygen, that we have on earth). But electricity really is a universal thing.
Also I hadn’t thought of light being an electric field and magnetic field oscillating, it just doesn’t feel like light is electricity and magnetism. But our intuition, being based on our lived in experience, I suppose, is really tuned to Earth and not the universe.

[Diana]

Nao vou classificar pq ja o comecei a ler ha imenso tempo e nao sei o que por porque passei algumas partes a frente.

Sempre fui fascinada por pessoas que dedicam a sua vida a algo que amam e o Einstien era tão apaixonado por saber mais que é algo do mais belo que existe.

Bem estruturado, com informacao fidedigna e interessante. Parabens

[Brendan Cheney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, we’ll-written, not too long biography of Einstein. The book moves at a good pace and you get the highlights of his life. The interludes to explain Einstein’s science were clear, though still over my head and I’m unable to comprehend or retain it.

[Lee Cadwallader-Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read (the actual science explanations lost me a times though).

[Itamar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some neat explanations on physics principles relevant to Einstein's work wrapped in a pretty standard biography, with quite a few things I didn't know about this great man.
An ok read.

[Dan V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative of both physics, the historical period and Einstein’s life.

[Çağrı · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Schrödinger'in kedisinin peşinde" adlı kitaptan tanıdığım John Gribbin'in Michael White ile birlikte yazdığı biyografiyi okumaktan büyük zevk duydum. En kapsamlı biyografi olmasa da, Einstein'ın hayatını, içinde bulunduğu bilimsel gelişmeler hakkında kısa bilgiler vererek işlemiş olmasını çok beğendim.

Abartmayı seven canlılar olarak şunu söylemeliyim ki geçmiş yüzyılın tartışmasız en sıradışı isimlerinden birisiydi Albert Einstein. Ancak onu neyle ifade edersem edeyim, size ne kadar abartılı gelirse gelsin, aslında durum olabildiğince açık ve abartıya ihtiyaç duymanın çok uzağında.

Einstein, 1905-1925 yılları arasında dünya bilimine adeta damgasını vurdu. "Annus Mirabilis" (Muhteşem yıl) olarak tarihe geçen 1905 senesinde, henüz Bern'de bir patent memuruyken ve doktor ünvanına sahip değilken (bu dönemde üniversitede olmanın kendisine sağlayacağı imkanlardan yoksun), yazdığı üç makaleyle dünyaya yeni bir dahinin geldiğini haykırıyordu. Brown devinimi, fotoelektrik etki (Nobel ödülü almasını sağlayacak) ve özel görelilik teorisi üzerine yazdıkları, bilim dünyasının dikkatini fazlasıyla çekmesini sağlıyordu. Özel görelilik kuramından 10 yıl sonra ise, başyapıtı olan, özel görelilikle Newton'un kütleçekimi yasalarını birleştiren genel görelilik kuramını ortaya koyuyordu. Tüm bunları yaparken, 1925'den sonra ölesiye kadar muhalif kalacağı kuantum teorisinin bir nevi vaftiz babalığına soyunuyordu. 1925'den itibaren gelişen kuantum mekaniği, Einstein'ın "Kopenhag yorumu" olarak bilinen düşünceye karşı çıkışlarıyla gelişmeye devam ediyordu. Her ne kadar bu tarihten sonra bilime devrimsel bir katkıda bulunmamış olsa da, istemeden kuantum kuramının gelişmesine fayda sağladı. Ömrünün sonuna dek, uzun yıllar boyunca da birleşik alan teorisi üzerine kafa yordu ancak arzuladığı sonuca ulaşamadı.

2 kez evlendi, ilki boşanmayla, ikincisi ise eşinin vefatıyla sonlandı. Etrafında her zaman zeki arkadaşları oldu ki çalışmalarında da bu ilişkilerinin faydasını gördü. Ömrünün büyük kısmını savaş karşıtı bir pasifist olarak geçirdi. Birçok kez ülke ve şehir değiştirmek zorunda kaldı. En sonuncusu, Nazi Almanya'sından Yahudi olduğu için artan tehlikeden ötürü Amerika'ya taşınmakla gerçekleşti.

Onun hakkında ne söylesem az. Eğer siz de merak ediyorsanız, bu kitabı okumanızı tavsiye ederim.

[Allison]

This book tells the true and unique tale of a genius named,Albert Einstein.Through reading this story, the reader grows up with the impoverished young Albert and peruses through his young adult life with him, page after page. As you read his thoughts, opinions and concerns he seems not like a famous individual from long ago, but like a friend you are catching up with. Albert tells of his relationship with his mother, sister and young wife, he goes into details about his political affiliations and his concerns as Hitler seizes power. As students read this biography about the great Albert Einstein, they will view him not as a distant and irrelevant figure from history, but as a human who made mistakes and contributed positively to the world around him. This would make a great mentor text as students write their own biographies and share them with the class. I feel that after reading this biography, due to the way its written, students will be more likely to look into the lives of other important role models from history.

[Tamzid · Rating 4 out of 5]

...a concise book giving insight into the personal struggles and ideologies of a man who in the end became more than just that...also shows the difficulties a genuine thinker faces to become a scientist... ...not the type of scientists that come by the dozen driven by commercial agendas...their treatises rotting in some forgotten university shelf...

[Frank Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Older, but good, biography

[Amninder Narota]

This is one of my favorite book and Gribbin dribbled every single detail in this book.

[Ebru Kalan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael White iyi bir araştırmacı ve biyografi yazarı. Daha önce de Leonardo Vinci’ nin biyografisini okumuştum aynı yazardan. Einstein nın hayatı, teorilerinin anlatıldığı bu kitap acayip bir araştırma kitabı olmasına rağmen teorilerin karmaşıklığından dolayı kitabın akışı oldukça yavaş.
Dördüncü boyut uzay zaman, izafiyet teorisi ilginizi çekiyorsa, biraz da bu dehanın özel hayatını merak ediyorsanız okuyabilirsiniz.