Einstein's Mistake: The Human Failings of Genius - Softcover

Ohanian, Hans C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393337685 ISBN 13: 9780393337686

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009

Synopsis

Of the approximately 180 original scientific papers that Einstein published in his lifetime, about 40 are infested with mistakes. For instance, Einstein s first mathematical proof of the famous formulaE = mc2 was incomplete and only approximately valid; he struggled with this problem for many years, but he never found a complete proof (better mathematicians did). Einstein was often lured by irrational and mystical inspirations, but his extraordinary intuition about physics permitted him to discover profound truths despite and sometimes because of the mistakes he made along the way. He was a sleepwalker: his intuition told him where he needed to go, and he somehow managed to get there without quite knowing how. As this book persuasively argues, the defining hallmark of Einstein s genius was not any special mathematical ability but an uncanny talent to use his mistakes as stepping stones to formulate his revolutionary theories. "

About this title

Review:

A wonderful story that is well worth taking the time to read....We get a short course in this history of modern physics, one that is well-written and entertaining as well.--Alan S. McRae

The book's quixotic approach--retelling Einstein's story by homing in on his blunders--makes for good intellectual entertainment. . . . [It] kept me eagerly turning the pages.--George Johnson

Recounts [Einstein's] chronicle of errors in clear and engaging prose, giving us in the process a short course in the history of modern physics and a witty and provocative account of the subject's life.--Darrin M. McMahon

About the Author:

Hans C. Ohanian received his B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University, where he worked with John A. Wheeler. He has taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Union College, and the University of Vermont. He is the author of several textbooks spanning all undergraduate levels: Physics, Principles of Physics, Relativity: A Modern Introduction, Modern Physics, Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Classical Electrodynamics, and, with Remo Ruffini, Gravitation and Spacetime. He is also the author of dozens of articles dealing with gravitation, relativity, and quantum theory, including many articles on fundamental physics published in the American Journal of Physics, where he served as associate editor for some years. He lives in Vermont.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0393337685
• ISBN 13: 9780393337686
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416