J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Life - Softcover

Pais, Abraham

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195327128 ISBN 13: 9780195327120

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 2007

Synopsis

The late Abraham Pais, author of the award winning biography of Albert Einstein, Subtle is the Lord, here offers an illuminating portrait of another of his eminent colleagues, J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the most charismatic and enigmatic figures of modern physics.
Pais introduces us to a precocious youth who sped through Harvard in three years, made signal contributions to quantum mechanics while in his twenties, and was instrumental in the growth of American physics in the decade before the Second World War, almost single-handedly bringing it to a state of prominence. He paints a revealing portrait of Oppenheimer's life in Los Alamos, where in twenty remarkable, feverish months, and under his inspired guidance, the first atomic bomb was designed and built, a success that made Oppenheimer America's most famous scientist. Pais describes Oppenheimer's long tenure as Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton, where the two men worked together closely. He shows not only Oppenheimer's brilliance and leadership, but also how his displays of intensity and arrogance won him powerful enemies, ones who would ultimately make him one of the principal victims of the Red Scare of the 1950s.
J. Robert Oppenheimer is Abraham Pais's final work, completed after his death by Robert P. Crease, an acclaimed historian of science in his own right. Told with compassion and deep insight, it is the most comprehensive biography of the great physicist available. Anyone seeking an insider's portrait of this enigmatic man will find it indispensable.

About this title

Review:

"The result is what C.N. Yang called 'a kaleidoscopic approach to [Oppenheimer's] life, shedding insightful light on [his] personality and times.'"― Physics Today

"An indispensable new look at the ever-enigmatic Oppenheimer.... Although Pais details Oppenheimer's rare achievements as a researcher, teacher, and administrator, the portrait he finally delivers is that of a brilliant but arrogant mind falling short of lofty expectations."―Booklist (starred review)

"Abraham Pais, master of the scientific biography, waited 20 years before tackling his enigmatic neighbor and friend at Princeton.... Faithfully supplemented by historian Robert P. Crease, the result is a personal recollection as tormented as the atomic father's own soul."―Seed Magazine

"A gripping review of the man who really created the atomic bomb and fought to stop the hydrogen bomb. Read this book and find out why."―"Talk of the Town" (WTVF)

"J. Robert Oppenheimer was an extraordinarily brilliant and complex man. In this book Abraham Pais and Robert Crease take a kaleidoscopic approach to his life, shedding insightful light on the personality and the times of the scientist who played such an important role in the future destiny of mankind."―C. N. Yang

"A revealing portrait of one of America's most charismatic and important physicists."―Science News

"What Pais has done is nothing short of extraordinary. He has brought to light the interior life of one of the most brilliant and complex figures in the history of American physics, and both he and Crease examine with intimidating thoroughness the triumphs and failures of that remarkable man."―Chigaco Jewish Star

About the Author:

Abraham Pais was Detlev W. Bronk Professor Emeritus at The Rockefeller University in New York City. A leading theoretical physicist, he was also an esteemed science writer, the author of 'Subtle is the Lord...' for which he won the American Book Award, Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World, Niels Bohr's Times, and several other books. Robert P. Crease is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and historian at Brookhaven National Laboratory. His most recent book is The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0195327128
• ISBN 13: 9780195327120
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 404