Book Review: Einstein Defiant

If reading this book did anything for me, it reinforced my long-held belief that the physicists of the early twentieth century were some of the most brilliant people who have ever lived.

Niels Bohr once said that "anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." That quote is essentially what this book is about. The characteristics of quantum theory that Bohr found so shocking are precisely the same characteristics that Einstein so defiantly refused to accept. This book focuses on Einstein, but much of it is centered around disputes between the two giants of the quantum revolution, Einstein and Bohr. That's probably why the front cover of this book reads "Einstein Defiant" (obviously the title of the book), and the back cover reads "(Bohr Unyielding)."

I'm not going to pretend that I understand quantum theory—I don't. It's way over my head. When I took Modern Physics in undergrad I would frequently leave class and spend the walk to my next class crying in despair because I could not understand what was going on. (Why didn't I drop it, you ask? It was a graduation requirement, unfortunately.) My cousin used to complain about classes in which he could barely understand his foreign professors. Well, imagine a class where your professor didn't lecture with an accent, didn't just lecture in a different language, but lectured with something that isn't even verbal! Quantum theory is explained through mathematical equations, and I'm not a mathematician.

So in that respect I can sympathize with Einstein. The strength of this book lies in the way that Bolles reinforces the different views taken by Einstein and Bohr regarding physics. Neither of them were particular enamored of mathematics. Both saw math as a way to explain what was happening. But while Bohr was satisfied with mathematics merely describing a workable theory, Einstein wasn't satisfied until that theory could describe actual physical phenomena. It was perhaps Einstein's (only?) failure that he ended up on the wrong side of the debate. Modern physics seems to have accepted Bohr's stance that there is no physical reality that can be understood beyond the theory. (Bohr would say the complementary theory; Heisenberg said the Uncertainly Principle.)

I have a few complaints with the book, mainly that Bolles is overly and often annoyingly fond of analogies. After a while you get sick of them. But I can overlook all that for the excellent way he laid out the philosophical differences between Bohr and Einstein. I came away from this book with an enormous respect for Einstein, and my view of Bohr (who I often proclaim as my favorite scientist) was slightly marred, I must admit.

A minimal (if superficial, in my case) familiarity with physics and quantum theory is required to really enjoy this book, I think. But if you are a lover of scientific history like I am, and especially of early twentieth century physics like I am, you'll love this book. It describes the quantum revolution in terms of the personalities involved, which is always more interesting than the hard science, from a historical perspective anyway. All the big names are present: Einstein, Bohr, Schrodinger, Born, Planck, Heisenberg, Pauli, de Broglie, Lorentz, Compton, Dirac, etc.

Lindsey's Grade: B+

Book Review: A Force of Nature—The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford

Man, after reading this book I feel like I owe Ernest Rutherford a personal apology for not fully realizing how frickin' awesome he was! I have long proclaimed Niels Bohr to be my favorite scientist—mainly because his model of the hydrogen model and the energy levels is so brilliant it blows my mind—but Niels owed a lot of what he did to Rutherford. Heck, nearly every physicist and certainly every chemist today owes pretty much everything to that man. I eat up scientific history on quantum theory and the development of the atomic bomb (i.e., modern physics) like it's candy, it just fascinates me. (Case in point, the photograph I took of J. J. Thomson's Nobel Prize medal):


But when you read comprehensive histories like Diana Preston's excellent Before the Fallout, the individual genius and contributions of each scientist can get overlooked by the significance of their discoveries.

That's why this book focusing just on Rutherford is so great, because it really reinforces what a stunning scientific life he led. More than once the author compares him to Einstein, and I think it's an apt comparison. Rutherford was to experimental physics as to what Einstein was to theoretical physics. What's more, Rutherford's discoveries changed the nature of physics studies themselves (away from the experimental laboratory "tabletop" to the theoretical "blackboard"). This guy not only realized what was going on with radiation, came up with the concepts of half-lives, and named alpha and beta rays (for which he won a Nobel Prize), he also formulated the planetary model of the atom, discovered protons, and supervised the first splitting of the atom! Holy crap, that's a great resume!

The Real X-Men

I picked this book up at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. I thought it looked pretty interesting, and it was. It was kind of a refresher course of the Developmental Biology class I took in undergrad as the author talked about all sorts of things I remember: beta-catenin, insulin-like growth factor, noggin, sonic hedgehog... all that good stuff.

Basically the book talked about how mutations can lead to discoveries about genes and development. In a way it was pretty sad, though, because after reading a few chapters I decided that I'm going to think long and hard before I have children because SO MANY THINGS CAN GO WRONG IT'S SCARY!!!

I think people who don't know much about science would find this interesting, but it's hard to tell since I was familiar with all the jargon.

Lindsey's Grade: B

Intellectual Candy

I may be a law student, but I was first a biochemistry undergraduate student, so every once in a while I like to pick up a science book. This book by Diana Preston is about the development of the atomic bomb, starting with Marie Curie's discovery of radiation.

This book is a facinating read from beginning to end, but maybe I just feel that way because my dream job is to be a scientific historian. But seriously, this book makes you feel like you're right there with the scientists, first as they were making amazing discoveries into the structure of the atom and then as the Allies raced to develop an atomic bomb before the Germans. What I especially liked was the way Preston made sure to include the human element. The attention she paid to Werner Heisenberg (the origin of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle) as he worked on the bomb for his native Germany while the Nazi party was in power was very intriguing because the poor man obviously had an inner battle to fight.

If you like either science or history you will love this book!

Lindsey's Grade: A+