Einstein defiant: genius versus genius in the quantum revolution

357 Pages·2004·1.473 MB·English

by  Bohr, Niels, Einstein, Albert, Bolles, Edmund Blair, Bohr, Niels, Einstein, Albert

Selected other titles by Edmund Blair Bolles
The Ice Finders: How a Poet, a Professor, and a Politician Discovered the Ice Age
A Second Way of Knowing: The Riddle of Human Perception
Remembering and Forgetting: Inquiries into the Nature of Memory
So Much to Say: How to Help Your Child Learn
Galileo’s Commandment: An Anthology of Great Science Writing (editor)
Edmund Blair Bolles
Joseph Henry Press
Washington, DC
Joseph Henry Press • 500 Fifth Street, NW • Washington, DC 20001
The Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the National Academies Press, was
created with the goal of making books on science, technology, and health
more widely available to professionals and the public. Joseph Henry was one
of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences and a leader in early
American science.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in
this volume are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the National Academy of Sciences or its affiliated institutions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bolles, Edmund Blair, 1942-
Einstein defiant : genius versus genius in the quantum revolution / by Edmund
Blair Bolles.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-309-08998-0 (hbk.)
1. Quantum theory—History—20th century. 2. Physics—Europe—History—
20th century. 3. Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955. 4. Bohr, Niels Henrik David,
1885-1962. I. Title.
QC173.98.B65 2004
530.12′09—dc22
2003023735
Copyright 2004 by Edmund Blair Bolles. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
To Kelso Walker
and the rest of the crew, volunteers all.
Tanzania XII: U.S. Peace Corps, 1966-1968
Bohr asked me to sit down and soon started to pace furiously
around the oblong table in the center of the room. He then asked me
if I could note down a few sentences as they emerged during his
pacing. Bohr never had a full sentence ready. He would often dwell on
one word, coax it, implore it, to find the continuation. This could go
on for several minutes. At that moment the word was ‘Einstein’. There
was Bohr, almost running around the table and repeating: ‘Einstein . . .
Einstein . . .’. After a little while he walked to the window, gazed out,
repeating every now and then: ‘Einstein . . . Einstein . . .’.
—Abraham Pais, Niels Bohr’s Times
Contents
A RADICAL FACT RESISTED
1 The Opposite of an Intriguer 3
2 Not German at All 12
3 I Never Fully Understood It 26
4 Independence and Inner Freedom 35
5 A Mercy of Fate 51
6 Picturesque Phrases 57
7 Scientific Dada 68
8 Such a Devil of a Fellow 76
9 Intuition and Inspiration 86
10 Bold, Not to Say Reckless 94
11 A Completely New Lesson 102
12 Slaves to Time and Space 110
13 Where All Weaker Imaginations Wither 116
14 A Triumph of Einstein Over Bohr 127
A RADICAL THEORY CREATED
15 Something Deeply Hidden 137
16 Completely Solved 146
17 Exciting and Exacting Times 162
vii
viii CONTENTS
18 Intellectual Drunkenness 184
19 The Observant Executrix 195
20 It Might Look Crazy 204
21 Taking Nothing Solemnly 211
22 How Much More Gratifying 218
A RADICAL UNDERSTANDING DEFIED
23 Sorcerer's Multiplication 229
24 Adding Two Nonsenses 236
25 Admiration and Suspicion 241
26 An Unrelenting Fanatic 248
27 The Secret of the Old One 251
28 Indeterminacy 256
29 A Very Pleasant Talk 264
30 The Dream of His Life 276
31 The Saddest Chapter 285
32 A Reality Independent of Man 291
33 A Certain Unreasonableness 299
Afterword 305
Bibliography 309
Sources 317
Index 337
Part I
A Radical Fact Resisted