Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics by Gino Segre (PDF)

Description

A physicist himself, Gino Segrè writes about what scientists do and why they do it with intimacy, clarity, and passion. In Faust in Copenhagen, he evokes the fleeting, magical moment when physics’ and the world was about to lose its innocence forever. Known by physicists as the miracle year, 1932 saw the discovery of the neutron and antimatter, as well as the first artificially induced nuclear transmutations. However, while scientists celebrated these momentous discoveries, which presaged the nuclear era and the emergence of big science, during a meeting at Niels Bohr’s Copenhagen Institute, Europe was moving inexorably toward totalitarianism and war.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐In “Faust in Copenhagen”, Gino Segre takes the reader through the history of the development of the theory of quantum mechanics by looking at the people and their work that made the revolution possible. The book wisely focuses more on the personalities and lives of the young and brilliant minds that reshaped humanity’s understanding of the world of the very small than on the specifics of the highly technical and mathematic science done by those minds.The centerpiece of the narrative is the 1932 meeting at Neil Bohr’s Copenhagen Institute in what is called by many the “Miracle Year” of science and the the touchstone of this narrative is the parody of Goethe’s Faust written and performed by the junior attendees at the conference. It is through the lines of this parody that Segre introduces us to the principle players in the narrative and shows us the issues facing them as they passed from being the young, upstart visionaries they came into the story as to becoming the wisened old hands (so to speak).The central figure in the story is Neils Bohr and I can honesty say that I’ve never read an account that is as good at revealing the deep character of the man who shepherded physics through a tumultuous time by nurturing and encouraging the brightest young mind around the world in peering into unknown. Additionally, much time is spent discussing the other great figures, Heisenberg and Pauli.The final thing that sets the narrative apart is the deep sense of poignancy the story has as the events unfold in the shadow of Hilter and that Nazi party’s growing power and rise within Germany. Segre’s personal connections to the events and times are shared which adds a deep richness and familiarity to what is related so that I never felt like I was reading some dry, cleaned up version but instead a more personal “fireside” recollection.The only drawback of the book is that I would love to have seen a complete copy of the Copenhagen Faust as an appendix to the book. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this book to any student of physics, history of science or the culture of Europe in the period between the two world wars.

⭐This book is a great way to understand the events of the Miracle year of 1932 when nuclear physics was born, ….. leading to the A-bomb, H-bomb and transformation of physics from an intellectual parlor game into big science. Gino Segre writes very well, and his synthesis is at just the right level for someone like me, who studied physics in the 50s and 60s. He reminds me a little of Dennis Overbye, who wrote a related book on cosmology “Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos”. Both are GREAT reads.

⭐I loved that this book was not so technical but still gave the reader a good basis for understanding what quantum physics is all about. This book was easy to read and was very endearing toward each of the greats. It was a nice change to feel similar to the greats rather than confused by their works.

⭐fascinating read! I read this book after his brilliant

⭐Well written book consists of a lot of interesting historical information. Seven “main characters” are shown in a process of creating quantum theory. All other figures are randomly chosen, many names are missing, others are mentioned briefly.

⭐Enjoyed the book so much but why no pictures in the ebook edition? Minus one star since the author again and again refers to the pictures.

⭐Excellent review of the history of 20th century physics with an emphasis on the personalities more than on their science.

⭐Another excellent book on the development of Quantum Mechanics, easy to read.

⭐Contrary to what has been said elsewhere this book is not about 1932, the so-called Miraculous Year of Physics, like 1905 had been a miraculous year for Einstein and 1666 for Newton. In fact the book covers the first three decades of QM, starting in 1900 with Plank’s famous constant, all the way to 1932 when some sort of climax was reached after a succession of key discoveries, like the neutron and antimatter, were made.Quantum Mechanics is not an easy topic for anyone. There was a reason why Richard Feynman once said that nobody understands QM. And if there is anything miraculous here it is how Gino Segrè was able in this book to recount the early development of QM in such a way that it would be interesting for the cognoscenti while remaining accessible for the lay reader. With a subject like QM this is never an easy task.Isaac Asimov once said that the best way to learn science is by studying its history and development. I totally agree with him on that because I find it easier to understand science when I can review how a particular discovery was made and under what circumstances it came about. And of course discoveries are made by men and women, sometimes over long periods of time. This is what this book is all about.The story recounted by Segrè starts at the very beginning when Max Plank made the startling discovery that light emission is not a continuous process and seemed to come in discrete packets of energy that he called quanta and which in due time became the corner stone of Quantum Mechanics. It was a slow start though and it took another five years for Einstein to show the world that Plank’s quanta were a tangible reality. It also took another eight years before Niels Bohr applied this new concept to the structure of the atom.What is truly remarkable about this book is the way Segrè was able to explain each important step in the development of Quantum Mechanics so that it could be understood by the average reader while at the same time maintaining the interest for those who are already familiar with these concepts. The way Segrè was able to achieve this is by not limiting himself to the various discoveries but also talking about their discoverers. So you can expect to find a great deal of psychology in this book, along with numerous anecdotes about the people who participated in this revolution.However, in his effort the keep the book accessible to the lay reader the author, and possibly his editor as well, went a little too far in my opinion. For at times I had the impression that the book had been dumbed down somewhat. But to be honest I had this impression only a few times throughout the book, and the rest of the time I was totally captivated by the story. I could also have done away with the Faust scenario that was weaved into the narrative. It did not contribute much to my understanding of the story and was actually a source of distraction. But this is a matter of personal taste more than a flaw of the narrative.I view this book as a good introduction to Quantum Mechanics, not so much to better understand the subject but rather to find out how QM came to be and what it is all about. In fact I cannot imagine a better start to develop a taste for this fascinating subject. And for those who would like to push the experience a little further the best book on the early history of Quantum Mechanics is Manjit Kumar’s Quantum. These two books have more or less the same human approach, but Kumar goes deeper and delivers a more complete story. I actually recommend both, starting first with Faust in Copenhagen, which is easier to understand. And in case you don’t already know, Copenhagen is where the magnificent Quantum Revolution unfolded in all its glory.

⭐Inspiring

⭐Great book!!! for those interested in the origin of quantum physics.

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