At Home in the Universe (Masters of Modern Physics) [Paperback]

John Archibald Wheeler (Author), Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Masters of Modern Physics | Publication Date: September 1997

Colleague and confidant of Einstein and Bohr, and pioneer of nuclear fission, John A. Wheeler is one of our most original and profound thinkers. In 1939 he published, with Niels Bohr, the first paper to successfully describe nuclear fission in terms of quantum physics - research that led to his involvement in the Los Alamos project. This volume presents essays by John Archibald Wheeler on the science and art of physics. Wheeler writes on a variety of major figures, including Max Planck, Marie Curie, Joseph Henry, Hideki Yukawa and, particularly, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. His wide-ranging essays reflect on the universe as a home for man and the responsibilities of a citizen-scientist, as well as cosmology, the art of science and death. This collection is intended for general readers with an interest in science.

Product Details

• Paperback: 371 pages
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563965003
• ISBN-13: 978-1563965005
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,202,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make yourself at home......, October 20, 2000

By 

D. Roberts "Hadrian12" (Battle Creek, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Home in the Universe (Masters of Modern Physics) (Paperback)

John Archibald Wheeler is one of the landmark physicists of the 20th century. He has served as mentor to Richard Feynman, Kip Thorne and Hugh Everett (among others). He made significant contributions on the production of the A-bomb in WWII and also headed up the US efforts to make the H-bomb post WWII. He is, in a word, one of the most under-rated scientists of the current epoch.

In the present book, he spends most of his pages paying homage to people who dedicated their lives to science over the centuries. Such venerable names as Nicolaus Copernicus, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Hideki Yukawa, Maria Sklodowska Curie, Hermann Weyl and others form the objects of Wheeler's praise. Much of the book is made up of snippets of terse speeches which Wheeler has made at various symposiums and celebrations during his lengthy sojourn at Princeton. For example, there is a brief poem which he wrote for Joseph Henry which is included, as well as an oration on the "colleagueship at Princeton" which he delivered in 1966.

Interspersed throughout the book are essays which Wheeler has written on quantum mechanics, black holes, cosmology & the like. These are not the easiest pieces to read; I would suggest that readers browse through some preliminary books on QM before attempting to read Wheeler ("Taking The Quantum Leap" by Fred Alan Wolf might be a good place to start). The essays are well written & Wheeler uses some helpful analogies, but the going is still pretty rough. One of Wheeler's quotes which I really like (not from this book, though) is "If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day." One is sure to find many-a-strange scientific phenomenom in this book.

This book lacks a central, cohesive theme & the order in which it was put together does not follow any specific chronology or format. However, I don't think this takes away from the book's superb picture of what one of the premiere scientists of the 20th century spends his days thinking about. There are several passages in which he compares and contrasts science with philosophy as well as with the pragmatism of everyday existence. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in John Archibald Wheeler, physics, or the scientific community of Princeton university. Make yourself at home....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not For The General Public, October 8, 2000

By 

Alexander Ehrlich (Jerusalem Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At Home in the Universe (Masters of Modern Physics) (Paperback)

John A. Wheeler is not only of the world's leading physicists but he is a great teacher. Besides writing an excellent popular introduction to Relativity theory "Gravity And Spacetime" he is co-writer of the most popular academic work on General Relativity "Gravitation" and also of a superb textbook introducing undergraduates to Special Relativity "Spacetime Physics". Both Professor's Wheeler popular works and text books are clear, user friendly expositions of Relativity Theory. So it was with great anticipation that I started Wheeler's collections of essays "At Home In The Universe".

Unfortunately many of the essays are directed at the professional scientist and are beyond the level of even the well read amateur. Reading some of Professor Wheeler's discussions of the philosophy of science is like being thrown into a discussion being conducted by people who have known each other for a very long time and have developed a special language. For instance, "With a slight rewording of Bohr's formulation, we say, `The use of certain concepts in the description of nature automatically excludes the use of other concepts, which however, in another connection are equally necessary for the description of the phenomenon.'"

There are some gems in this book, though. John A. Wheeler seems to have personally known every great scientist of the Twentieth Century: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, Andrei Sakharov, Kurt Godel, John von Neumann, Steven Weinberg. His comments on them and their work are invaluable.

Wheeler also has some interesting comments on the risks of a nuclear energy. One does not need to accept his optimistic viewpoint in order to appreciate his insight.

"At Home In The Universe" is really two books: one for the professional scientist and another for the general public. If the volume was separated, we would have two excellent books instead of a single disappointing one.