Customer Reviews

Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius

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This is a very interesting book, but it is very challenging to read if you do not know more than high school physics. There is a lot of discussion about theory, but no explanation of the theories. It needed a little "dumbing down" of the physics to make it more comprehensible. It also presumes a lot of knowledge about both Einstein & Oppenheimer. For example the author states as fact that Oppenheimer lost his security clearance & the career path results, but doesn't detail how this security clearance loss came about.
When not discussing physics, the book is interesting in its discussion of the men and their interest in philosophy, and in comparing & contrasting the men in many ways. There is also a lot of interesting information on Los Alamos and WWII & post WWII politics about the bombs.

Whereas this book is an excellent insight to both of these iconic figures it does require a basic understanding of the principles of quantum physics, atomic fission and fusion to be fully appreciated. However, the point of this book to me is to understand the effects of the militaristic use of the 'new science' on these two men and how it changed their lives. That is wonderfully written and that makes this book a must read.

Science can and does shape our world, and it certainly has left a mark on history, and two of the prominent examples of this are Oppenheimer, and Einstein,during the twentieth century.If the most significant event of that century was the second world war , then the event which stopped the war is at least equally important. The theories developed by Einstein and enhanced by Oppenheimer were instrumental in fostering the development of the atomic bomb.Japan folded after the bomb was used , and the development of the bomb was an example of a concerted effort of scientific know - how , and unlimited resources joining to reach a goal.

One can argue whether great times make great men , or great men just appear during these times , but no one can argue that these two men were giants in their field at a time when giants were needed.This story is less about any solid connection between these two men , although they were together at Princeton for several years and did associate with each other , but rather more about their scientific styles , findings and beliefs which were more different that similar.

The book is very heavy with scientific theory and physics, development and doctorine , with very little in the way of character development or sub-plot.
If you have a scientific background and find the works of scientists of interest ,
especially in how their theories are developed and what scientific "schools" that they support you will find this aspect fully developed in the book.

If you have a minimal science background much of this book will be hard to understand .

I really enjoyed this book - it dives in to the two scientists personal beliefs on many different levels and contrasts their personalities. This is admittedly probably not for someone who has never read a physics biography and more particularly probably not for someone who already does not know something about either character. It IS technically sound and thorough in its analysis. The author seems to pick a topic and then provide a very large amount of his research into the following chapter about the two personalities. It is not a quick, cover-to-cover read, but its in depth analysis is backed up by an extreme amount of research on the topic.

I am a 68 year old homemaker who loves to read and learn new things. I have very little understanding of math and physics, and there were several parts of this book which I didn't understand. However, what I did understand was fascinating. The comparison between Einstein and Oppenheimer as to their way of thinking, working, and their attitudes toward the world in general was enlightening. They were so different, yet so alike. The book shows them for what they were, two different humans taking different roads to the same end.

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"The person endowed with [great] talent thinks more rapidly and accurately than [other people]; on the other hand, the genius perceives a world different from [other people], though only by looking more deeply into the world that lies before them." (Philosopher Schopenhauer)

The above quote is found in this extremely well-researched and well-written book (subtitled "The Meaning of Genius") authored by Silvan Schweber who is Professor of Physics and Professor in the History of Ideas, Emeritus, at Brandeis University.

(Brandeis University is a private research university founded in 1948 and located in Massachusetts. It is named after the first Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis.)

Schweber tells us in his acknowledgements that this book "is the result of lectures I gave during the 2005 Einstein celebrations and of my continued involvement with the life of Oppenheimer."

Schweber explains his book:

"It explores aspects of the lives and personalities of [Albert] Einstein [1879 to 1955] and [J. Robert] Oppenheimer [1904 to 1967] that have received less attention [in other popular books]: their views of individual and collective creativity, their link to Buddhist thought, their metaphysics, and in particular, how they coped with their lives after having climbed to summits that are unreachable to almost everyone else--this last, an aspect of their lives that is put into sharper relief by a comparative study...[Another] possible [subtitle] for [this] book might have been "The Scientific and Political Scene of Their Times."

{Einstein is perhaps best known for the following: (1) his general theory of relativity (1916) (2) his special theory of relativity (1905) (3) photoelectric effect (for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921) (4) Brownian motion (5) mass-energy equivalence (E=mc^2) (6) his field equations (7) Bose-Einstein statistics (8) attempts at a classical unified theory (of gravitation and electromagnetism).

Oppenheimer is perhaps best known for (1) atomic bomb development (He became scientific director of the Manhattan Project: the World War 2 effort to develop the first nuclear weapons at the secret Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico) (2) Born-Oppenheimer approximation (3) Oppenheimer-Phillips process (4) work on electron-positron theory (5) relativistic quantum mechanics (6) quantum field theory (7) quantum tunneling
(8) black holes.}

This book is not a full-scale biography of these two men (nor is it meant to be). What it does is look at their lives, the meaning of greatness, and their interactions in order to better understand them, both individually and in the larger community and context of their time.

Thus this book examines these two men individually with two chapters devoted first to Einstein and then two devoted to Oppenheimer. The final two chapters examine Einstein and Oppenheimer together.

What I especially found interesting were the excerpts of actual correspondence reproduced in the main narrative not only of Einstein and Oppenheimer but also of significant others of that time. The only appendix has a copy of the "Russell-Einstein Manifesto" of July, 1955 (drafted by philosopher Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein), outlining the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and calling for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict.

Finally, there are nine black and white photographs in this book. Some of these are very interesting. I would have liked to have seen more photos.

In conclusion, this book answers key questions and gives some insights into the character of two prominent science icons of the twentieth century!!

(first published 2008; preface; introduction; 6 chapters; concluding remarks; main narrative 315 pages; appendix; notes; bibliography; acknowledgements; index)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

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THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN COMPILING A BIOGRAPHY OF HANS BETHE. HE HAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED A BOOK COMPARING OPPENHEIMER AND BETHE. DURING THIS TIME HE HAS DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH ON MANY PROMINENT PHYSICISTS WHOM BETHE HAS INTERACTED WITH (SOME WHO THE AUTHOR KNEW QUITE WELL). THE WORD "GENIUS" HAS BEEN APPLIED TO MOST OF THESE MEN AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER.

ONE MAY NOT AGREE WITH ALL THE AUTHOR'S CONCLUSIONS. BUT THESE CONCLUSIONS ARE BASED ON EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND THOUGHT. IF NOTHING ELSE, THEY SHOULD STIMULATE YOUR THOUGHT PROCESSES AND OPEN UP A NEW HORIZON.

RECENTLY THERE HAVE BEEN MANY BOOKS ON EINSTEIN AND ON OPPENHEIMER, BOTH COMPLEX MEN FROM THE VIEW POINT OF US MORTALS HOWEVER THIS BOOK IS UNIQUE IN ITS COVERAGE AND INSIGHTFUL COMPARISONS