Einstein

Albert Einstein is an icon of the twentieth century. Born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879, he is most famous for his theory of relativity, which is considered the founding principle of modern physics. He also made enormous contributions to quantum mechanics and cosmology, and for his work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. A self-pronounced pacifist, humanist, and, late in his life, democratic socialist, Einstein was also deeply concerned with the social impact of his discoveries. Much of Einstein's life is shrouded in legend. From popular images and advertisements to various works of theater and fiction, he has come to signify so many things: the quintessential absent-minded professor; the gentle eccentric; the pacifist; the super-human genius. In Einstein: A Biography, Jurgen Neffe presents a clear and probing portrait of the man behind the myth. He recounts Einstein's life with detail and accuracy, presenting a comprehensive account of the educational, religious, psychological and historical conditions that enabled Einstein to become the ber-physicist of all time. Unearthing new documents, including a series of previously unknown letters from Einstein to his sons, which shed a new light on his role as a father, Neffe also paints a rich portrait of the tumultuous years in which Einstein lived and worked. With a background in the sciences, Neffe describes and contextualizes Einstein's enormous contributions to our scientific legacy. He leads his readers through today's institutes and laboratories worldwide, where Einstein's work continues to thrill researchers and scholars. A bestseller in Germany, Einstein is sure to be a classic biography of the man and proverbial genius who has been called the brain of the [twentieth] century.

Translator's Preface Prologue: The Immortal: Einstein's Secret 1. His Second Birth: The Fateful Year 1919 2. How Albert Became Einstein: The Psychological Makeup of a Genius 3. "A New Era!": From Industrialist's Son to Inventor 4. Of Dwarfs and Giants: A Brief History of Science, According to Einstein 5. The Burden of Inheritance: Einstein Detectives in Action 6. "Elsa or Ilse": The Physicist and the Women 7. The Miraculous Path to the Miraculous Year: Einstein's Angels 8. Squaring the Light: Why Einstein Had to Discover the Theory of Relativity 9. Why Is the Sky Blue? Einstein—A Career 10. "Dear Boys . . . Your Papa": The Drama of the Brilliant Father 11. Anatomy of a Discovery: How Einstein Found the General Theory of Relativity 12. Lambda Lives: Einstein, "Chief Engineer of the Universe" 13. Spacetime Quakes: The Theory of Relativity Put to the Test 14. His Best Foe: Einstein, Germany, and Politics 15. "I Am Not a Tiger": Einstein, the Human Side 16. A Jew Named Albert: His God Was a Principle 17. The End Justifies the Doubts: Einstein and Quantum Theory 18. Of the Magnitude of Failure: The Quest for the Unified Theory 19. From Barbaria to Dollaria: Einstein's America 20. "People Are a Bad Invention": Einstein, the Atomic Bomb, McCarthy, and the End Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index