Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein
Oxford University Press 2005
ISBN: 0192806726
2.39 MB
578 pages
“ Subtle is
the Lord is widely recognized as the definitive scientific biography of
Albert Einstein. The late Abraham Pais was a distinguished physicist
turned historian who knew Einstein both professionally and personally
in the last years of his life. His biography combines a profound
understanding of Einstein's work with personal recollections from their
years of acquaintance, illuminating the man through the development of
his scientific thought. Pais examines the formulation of Einstein's
theories of relativity, his work on Brownian motion, and his response
to quantum theory with authority and precision.
The profound transformation Einstein's ideas effected on the
physics of the turn of the century is here laid out for the serious
reader. Pais also fills many gaps in what we know of Einstein's life -
his interest in philosophy, his concern with Jewish destiny, and his
opinions of great figures from Newton to Freud. This remarkable volume,
written by a physicist who mingled in Einstein's scientific circle,
forms a timeless and classic biography of the towering figure of
twentieth-century science. ”