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All Topic Reviews "Are You There Alone?""My Madness Saved Me"365 Days49 UpA Beautiful MindA Beautiful MindA Beautiful MindA Book of ReasonsA Can of MadnessA Child's Life and Other StoriesA Good Enough DaughterA Heartbreaking Work of Staggering GeniusA Life ShakenA Little PregnantA Message from JakieA Million Little PiecesA Slant of SunA Special EducationA Tribe ApartAbout FaceADHD & MeAEIOUAgainst Medical AdviceAgents in My BrainAileen - Life and Death of a Serial KillerAlgernon, Charlie and IAll Seasons PassAn Anthropologist on MarsAn Unquiet MindAngela's AshesAngelheadAnna Freud: A BiographyAnnie's GhostsAnother Bullshit Night in Suck CityAnthology of a Crazy LadyApples and OrangesAre You There, Vodka? It's Me, ChelseaAs I Live and BreatheAs Nature Made HimAt Home in the Heart of AppalachiaAt the End of WordsBad BoyBad GirlBeautiful BoyBecoming AnnaBequest and BetrayalBereftBertrand RussellBlanketsBloodlettingBodies in Motion and at RestBoneBoyBreaking ApartBreaking the SilenceBrokenBulimics on BulimiaCamus and SartreCharles DarwinChasing the HighCherryCity of OneCluesClumsyComplications Compulsive ActsConfessions of a Cereal EaterConfessions of a Former ChildConfessions of a Grieving ChristianConfessions of the Other MotherConfidingConquering the Beast WithinCrackedCrazyDamned to EternityDante's CureDaughter of the Queen of ShebaDavid Sedaris Live at Carnegie HallDefeating the VoicesDementia Caregivers Share Their StoriesDepression and NarrativeDetourDevil in the DetailsDiagnosis: SchizophreniaDirty DetailsDivided MindsDivine MadnessDon't Get Too ComfortableDown Came the RainDress Your Family in Corduroy and DenimDrinkingDriving My FatherDrunkardDryEarly Embraces IIIEinsteinEinstein 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Promised You a Rose GardenI Remain in DarknessI'd Rather Eat ChocolateI'd Rather LaughImagining RobertIn Search of FatimaIn the Realms of the UnrealIn the Wake of SuicideInside TherapyInternIt Happened to NancyIt Takes a Worried ManJack Cole and Plastic ManJean-Paul SartreJohn Stuart MillJourneys with the Black DogJust CheckingKafkaKantLa SierraLearning to FallLet Me Make It GoodLife As We Know ItLife InterruptedLimboLincoln's MelancholyListening in the Silence, Seeing in the DarkLittle PeopleLive Through ThisLiving in the Shadow of the Freud FamilyLiving With SchizophreniaLiving with SchizophreniaLockeLook Me in the EyeLoose GirlLosing Mum and PupLosing My MindLove Is a Mix TapeLove SickLove Works Like ThisLove You, Mean ItLuckyLudwig WittgensteinLyingMad HouseMad PrideMadame ProustMadnessMagical ThinkingMalignant SadnessManicMarcel ProustMary BarnesMaverick MindMe Talk Pretty One DayMeaningMelanie KleinMemoirs of My Nervous IllnessMisconceptionsMiss American PieMockingbird YearsMomma and the Meaning of LifeMommies Who DrinkMore, Now, AgainMortificationMy Body PoliticMy Brain Tumour AdventuresMy DepressionMy Father's HeartMy First Cousin Once RemovedMy Flesh and BloodMy Horizontal LifeMy Life Among the Serial KillersMy Sister LifeMy Stroke of InsightName All the AnimalsNeural MisfireNietzscheNietzsche: The Man and His PhilosophyNo Hurry to Get HomeNo More ShavesNolaNotebooks 1951-1959NothingOdd Girl Speaks OutOedipus WreckedOf Spirits & MadnessOn the Edge of DarknessOne Hundred DaysOphelia SpeaksPagan TimePassing for NormalPerfect ExamplePersepolisPlanet of the BlindPlease Don't Kill the FreshmanPoisoned LovePollockPOPismPortraits of Huntington'sPoster ChildProzac DiaryPuppy Chow Is Better Than ProzacQuitting the Nairobi TrioRaising BlazeRebuiltRecovered, Not CuredRelative StrangerRescuing JeffreyRestricted AccessRevengeRewind, Replay, RepeatRichard RortyRiding the Bus With My SisterRoom For JRough MagicRunning After AntelopeRunning with ScissorsScattershotSecond OpinionsSeeing the CrabSex & Single GirlsShakespeareShe Got Up Off the CouchShut the DoorSickenedSilencing the VoicesSinging in the FireSkin GameSlackjawSlut!SmashedSome Kind of GeniusSometimes Madness Is WisdomSongs from the Black ChairSongs of the Gorilla NationSoren KierkegaardSpeak to MeSpecial SiblingsStandbyStick FigureStill LivesSunset StorySurviving OpheliaSwing LowTales of PsychotherapyTalk to HerTellingThe Anatomy of HopeThe Bastard on the Couch CDThe BeastThe Bell JarThe Best Seat in the HouseThe Body SilentThe Boy on the Green BicycleThe Boy Who Loved WindowsThe Burn JournalsThe Camera My Mother Gave MeThe Cancer Monologue ProjectThe Center Cannot HoldThe Chelsea WhistleThe Churkendoose AnthologyThe Day the Voices StoppedThe DisappearanceThe Discomfort ZoneThe Eden ExpressThe Family SilverThe Farm Colonies: Caring for New York City's Mentally Ill In Long Island's State HospitalsThe Fasting GirlThe First Man-Made ManThe First TimeThe Geography of BlissThe Glass CastleThe Hillside Diary and Other WritingsThe Last Good FreudianThe Last Time I Wore a DressThe Liars' ClubThe Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet HiltonThe Lives They Left BehindThe LobotomistThe Loony-Bin TripThe Madness of Our LivesThe Making of a PhilosopherThe Man Who Shocked the WorldThe Man Who Tasted ShapesThe Me in the MirrorThe Mistress's DaughterThe Naked Bird WatcherThe Night of the GunThe Noonday DemonThe Notebook GirlsThe Only Girl in the CarThe Orchid ThiefThe Other HollywoodThe OutsiderThe Philosopher's Autobiography The Philosophical IThe Pits and the PendulumThe Pornographer's GriefThe Professor and the MadmanThe Quiet RoomThe Red DevilThe Ride TogetherThe Secret of LifeThe Shared HeartThe Shiniest JewelThe Siren's DanceThe Story of My FatherThe Strange Case of Hellish NellThe Summer of a DormouseThe SurrenderThe Talking CureThe Thought that CountsThe Three of UsThe Vagina MonologuesThe Velveteen FatherThe Woman Who Walked into the SeaThe Years of Silence are PastThe Yellow HouseThick As ThievesThinTits, Ass, and Real EstateTo Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the WorldTo Walk on EggshellsTransforming MadnessTruth & BeautyTruth Comes in BlowsTuesdays with MorrieTweakTwitch and ShoutUltimate JudgementUndercurrentsUnholy GhostUnlikelyVoices Of Alzheimer'sVoluntary MadnessWaiting for DaisyWar FareWashing My Life AwayWastedWe're Not MonstersWeather Reports from the Autism FrontWhat Did I Do Last Night?What Goes UpWhat I Learned in Medical SchoolWhat's Normal?When a Crocodile Eats the SunWhen It Gets DarkWhen You Are Engulfed in FlamesWhere Did It All Go Right?Where is the Mango Princess?Where the Roots Reach for WaterWhile They SleptWhy I'm Like ThisWill's ChoiceWinnicottWish I Could Be ThereWith Their EyesWomen Living with Self-InjuryWomen, Body, IllnessWrestling with the AngelYou Must Be DreamingZelda
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We all know Albert Einstein as the foremost scientist of the twentieth century for his articulation of the special and general theories of relativity, and as a co-founder of quantum theory. He also contributed to statistical physics and the theory of radiation, and argued famously with Niels Bohr about God and dice. Einstein's theory of general relativity appeared in 1916. It introduced the concept of four-dimensional space-time, and showed how gravity could be conceived as the 'curvature' of space-time created by the presence of matter. Einstein insisted that the curvature of space-time must be distinguished from everything else that exists, such as electromagnetic fields and atomic particles. This vital, but problematic, distinction plagues us today in the unsuccessful efforts to combine general relativity and quantum mechanics into a single theory. He is recognized as a giant in physics, right up there with Isaac Newton, whose theories he expanded and amended. We also know from Walter Isaacson's book, Einstein: His Life and Universe (Metapsychology review here) that he was born on 14 March 1879, in Ulm, Germany, to Jewish parents and was quite religious until the age of 12, when his readings in popular science convinced him the stories in the Bible were flawed. This was the beginning of Einstein's reputation as a stubbornly independent thinker, for whom schools were too rigid, and examinations too arbitrary. Several recent biographies have filled in the details of the life of this scientific genius. Hence we know that his left-leaning political views, fueled by his concern for social justice, led to a large FBI file filled with letters from his critics. In 1939, Einstein and Leo Szilard sent a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt about work in nuclear physics which could lead to the creation of a powerful explosive device, and Roosevelt took the letter seriously. That letter led directly to American atomic research. Earlier Einstein had written, 'we are led to the more general conclusion that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content.' This sentence is in effect the famous equation, E = MC2. The American effort to develop this powerful explosive device will be headed up by the second scientist discussed in this book: J. Robert Oppenhemier. Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22, 1904. His parents, Julius S. Oppenheimer, a wealthy German textile merchant, and Ella Friedman, an artist, were of Jewish descent but did not observe the religious traditions. He studied at the Ethical Culture Society School, whose physics laboratory has since been named for him, and entered Harvard in 1922, intending to become a chemist, but soon switching to physics. He graduated summa cum laude in 1925 and went to England to conduct research at Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory, working under J.J. Thomson. While Einstein was stubbornly independent, Oppenheimer was not. He exhibited a different trait: "the need for and deference to, authority" which is described in a letter from Wolfgang Pauli for whom Oppenheimer is working in Zurich to Paul Ohrenfest in Leyden as "a very Bad characteristic: he comes to me with a rather unconditional belief in authority..."(18) Einstein, we are told, was convinced that the best minds' work was carried out in solitude while one of Oppenheimer's great strengths was his ability to bring together and build a team of experts and inspire them to work creatively and harmoniously together. Thus, he was perfectly equipped to establish a first-rate physics department at UC Berkeley ("Starting with a single graduate student in my first year in Berkeley, we gradually began to build up what was to become the largest school in the country of graduate and postdoctoral study in theoretical physics, so that as time went on, we came to have between a dozen and twenty people learning and adding to quantum theory, nuclear physics, relativity, and other modern physics. As the number of students increased, so in general did their quality. The men who worked with me during those years hold chairs in many of the great centers of physics in the United States; they have made important contributions to science.") [Source], to lead the project to develop the atomic bomb, and to administer the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton. Schweber explores these differences between these two twentieth century giants of science in six chapters. The first chapter relates Einstein's position on nuclear weapons, world government, and individual versus collective stands on important issues. In the second chapter Schweber tells the interesting story of Einstein and the founding of Brandeis University. Anyone who has attended faculty meetings will find the politics and the conflicts among these founders delicious. The next two chapters present an intellectual history of Oppenheimer from the early formative years of his education, to Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory to Los Alamos, to the postwar years, and to his articulation of his mature philosophy in the William James Lectures at Harvard. The last two chapters bring the two together for a comparative analysis of the positions that they agreed on as well as the differences that so clearly delineate two unique human beings. We see here Einstein the European Romantic and Oppenheimer the American Pragmatist. The book is well documented with copious notes, an index and bibliography, preface, introduction and reprints the Russell-Einstein manifesto of 1955. In several photographs Schweber points out how Einstein is usually seen with thumb and forefinger joined "in what is called the vitarka gesture, the sign for compassionate teaching. (288) In fact Buddhism is one of the places where these two scientists come together. If you have an interest in science, in 20th century culture and history, in genius and the community of scholars, then Schweber's book is for you. More than a biography of two towering physicists, more than a history of the building of the atomic bomb, more than a review of the formative forces in the lives of these two scientists, this book argues that the story of science can be understood properly by focusing not merely on outstanding individuals but also on the scientific communities to which they belonged.
© Bob Lane 2008
Bob Lane is an Honorary Research Associate in Philosophy and Literature at Vancouver Island University in British Columbia. |
