Einstein : A Life in Science

by Michael White, John Gribbin

As much as we all know that 'E = mc2' was Einstein's most important and groundbreaking equation, do we really know what it means or why Einstein is regarded as one of history's foremost thinkers? In this absorbing biography Michael White and John Gribbin reveal the man behind the physics and introduce us to his theories in an accessible and fascinating way. With an updated preface for this new edition on the fiftieth anniversary of his death and the hundredth anniversary of the theory of relativity, EINSTEIN explains how the scientific icon changed our view of the world and why no one can ever hope to understand that world without first understanding his work.

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

Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Michael White was a British writer based in Sydney, Australia. 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 the band the Thompson Twins (1982).

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.

[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 Latchman · 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

[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.

[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.