Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg [Hardcover]

David C. Cassidy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1991

David Cassidy's portrait of this brilliant, ambitious and controversial scientist is the definitive Heisenberg biography. "An absorbing new biography of Werner Heisenberg ..." The Sunday Telegraph "Uncertainty is an exquisite book." Nature "...well balanced and exciting reading. Uncertainty is an excellent work which combines meticulous scholarship with a presentation freed of intellectual jargon and unnecessary scientific details. I see its merits first of all in its comprehensiveness and accuracy, and next in its success in recreating the personal drama of one of the greatest and most influential scientists of this century." Times HigherEducation Supplement

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cassidy profiles the great 20th-century physicist, remembered for the Uncertainty Principle that he formulated--and for working on the Nazi effort to develop an atomic bomb. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A fascinating, well-documented biography."--The New York Times Book Review

"A monumental effort. On the controversies about Heisenberg's behavior during the Hitler regime, Cassidy is clear and reasonable."--The New York Review of Books

"An important book. Cassidy has sifted the record and brilliantly detailed Heisenberg's actions."--The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"An excellent work in its comprehensiveness and accuracy, and in its success in recreating the personal drama of one of the greatest and most influential scientists of this century."--The London Times Higher Education Supplement

"David Cassidy has written the definitive biography of a great and tragic physicist. Uncertainty is thorough, judicious, and revealing."--Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 669 pages
• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co (Sd); 1St Edition edition (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716722437
• ISBN-13: 978-0716722434
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,522,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Historian of science at Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY. For more information, see http://www.dcassidybooks.com/dc.html

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very serious book about a very serious matter, March 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg (Paperback)

This book is not for the lighthearted. It is an excellent account of the life of Werner Heisenberg and of the strong nationalism that blinsided him to the situation in Nazi Germany. His brilliance as a first rate physicist notwithstanding, the book shows by example what happens to science when it becomes totally subservient to a totalitarian regime and shows the problems of regional politics overtaken by a ruthless dictator in the funding of science. The fine line that Heisenberg walked did not diminished his scientific accomplishment but did not excuse him from his participation in a scientific enterprise that could very well have changed the course of history had it been successful, a Nazi A-bomb. The book is also a lesson on the results of elitism in science and it shows how the Nazis cheated themselves from an even greater role in nuclear physics because of their policies.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superbly written, subtle, yet utterly compelling, July 28, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg (Paperback)

Cassidy has performed a biographical tour de force. He beautifully explicates Heisenberg's physics and all its ramifications, provides insightful portraits of Heisenberg's contemporaries and their roles in his life and work and at the same time unsentimentally analyzes Heisenberg the man. Cassidy gives us Heisenberg the genius and Heisenberg the Nazi collaborator. Yet his understanding of German culture and history is such that one comes away feeling entirely reeducated with respect to these cataclysmic events. His writing is lucid and vivid. My only criticisms are the lack of mathematical formulations- sometimes only the math can convey the principle- and his occasional failure to define more abstruse mathematical terms. Overall this is a magnificent work.

Since this book was published, a publication of Bohr's diary revealed the content of their famous meeting. Heisenberg was looking for atomic secrets after all. Cassidy could not know this, of course. His demi-hero was just a bit more tarnished than his biographer had hoped.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete biography, December 31, 2004

By 

Martijn13Maart1970 (Husavik Iceland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg (Paperback)

As the reviews in at the backcover stated, the writer deals thoroughly and fairly with the controversies surrounding this great scientist. This book gives a good overview of the man himself, his science, and the times he lived through. It is one of those works of enormous scope, that will probably not be topped. Just like the Making of the Atomic bomb or other alike tour the force works, it makes me wonder how many letters, sources, and interviews must have been worked through to make the picture come alive.
This is the definitive work on Heisenberg, and it gives also the best explanation of how the quantum Copenhagen interpretation as well as the uncertainty principle work! So it is recommended for historians, for scientists, or people who have an interest in both. Very highly recommended!