1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The great teacher and innovator, February 9, 2011
This review is from: Niels Bohr Gentle Genius of Denmark: Gentle Genius of Denmark (Makers of Modern Science) (Hardcover)
This is a small book and it tries to cram a lot in too little. Still it is written well and gives a lot of information in its limiterd space. It covers some biography, which is what I read it for, and it gives about the same amount of information on atomic theory. This information is qualitative, not quantitative, which means it is written in layman's language; it would require a library of books to cover just the mathematics, matrix theory, ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations, integral equarions, vectors, tensors, not to mention the math leading up to the use of these higher mathematics, an incomoplete list. The part of the biography I miss is in the details, none are given. Fights are mentioned, the reasons for them omitted, did Bohr know the basics, how to punch, jab, counter, defend, and did he have the endurnce necessary to keep punching or were these street affairs, including what might be considered foul blows?
Then there is the mention of soccer, his brother Harald is on the Olympic team, Neil is only mentioned as being on the University team and not as first string. Were there any other sports, such as boxing? No mention. His academic record was given as good, but not tops in his class. He came into his own in university, but his academic record there is not even mentioned, only his research into the new theories developing in atomic theory, and Bohr's picture of the atom. At this point the book becomes nothing but a glowing tribute to Neil and goes into detail on his interactions with several giants at the time and his questioning their theories as opposed to his own. Neil wins a Nobel prize, his brother Harald and son Aage do also but only Neil's award is specified. The book goes into some detail on spectral theory, a good overview, and gives a brief account of string theory, mentions often Einstein and his thories but gives little on the points of the theories subject to question. Of course some of the men mentioned in the book are subject of books in the series "Makers of Modern Science" so the question of time, a human invention, the big bang theory and the question of what existed before it, when time did not exist, and other questions are omitted from the book. I wish it had had more biography, more details of Bohr's life.
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