Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics

by Gino Segrè

Book Overview

A fascinating look at the landmark 1932 gathering of the biggest names in physics Known by physicists as the miracle year,? 1932 saw the discovery of the neutron and the first artificially induced nuclear transmutation. However, while physicists celebrated these momentous discoveries?which presaged the era of big science and nuclear bombs?Europe was moving inexorably toward totalitarianism and war. In April of that year, about forty of the world?s...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067003858X
• ISBN13: 9780670038589
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.4" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A great read, reminds me of Overbye

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.

The Great Heart of Bohr

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.

Clear insights into a complex world

Excellent book with fascinating characters - Bohr, Einstein, Heisenberg, Fermi, et al leap out of the page with a clarity that makes one appreciative of what each contributed to our understanding of the physical universe. It helps to have at least some basic grounding in physics but you don't have to be an expert by any means. Segre mixes anecdotes with concepts quite well and using the eponymous skit as a framework, paints vivid pictures of each of the principals involved. You get to know them about as well as one could from a book. One minor quibble - Segre makes great mention of models and formulas which would have been aided by an appendix with some sort of illustration. Understanding that such complexities are simply not easily explained to a layman, even a crude depiction might have been helpful in grasping the concepts at play.

The Fascinating History of Quantum Physics

Gino Segre is a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania and who's uncle Emilio Segre studied under Enrico Fermi. In his new book "Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the soul of Physics" he effectively uses a skit parody of Goethe's "Faust" to introduce the reader to the founders of Quantum Theory and especially to the "Copenhagen interpretation" of Quantum Mechanics. The skit was conceived by George Gamow (who later published it in one of his own books) and mostly written by Max Delbruck. It was to be performed by the younger scientists at Niels Bohr's annual gathering at his Copenhagen Institute in 1932. The attenders were many of the then and future big names of theoretical physics, plus Lise Meitner, the lone woman and an experimental physicist. These included Bohr, Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg, Meitner and Delbruck. Wolfgang Pauli did not make it, but was portrayed as "Mephisto" in the skit. Einstein never attended these meetings because he was not happy with the whole turn of Quantum Mechanics, which seemed to make the universe a victim of chance. This is a brilliant retelling of a fascinating story of scientific discovery. Segre also weaves some of his own family history into the tale, which gives the reader a taste of the personal and political, as well as the scientific, turmoil of the times. The year also saw Adolph Hitler's rise to power in Germany, an event that would soon affect them all. Such connections help us understand the monumental difficulties and the strengths and weaknesses of the people involved in this remarkable period. In fact 1932 was called "The Miracle Year" by many physicists, although Einstein, for one, was not satisfied. He eventually retired to his study at Princeton to work, rather fruitlessly, on the Unified Field Theory, still fighting with Bohr and others over the "incomplete" Quantum Theory. Eventually the "Copenhagen Interpretation" became a fixture in Quantum Mechanics, still standing to this day, despite constant and ongoing attacks. This is certainly how the best science is done, with the participants usually still speaking to each other, despite deep philosophical differences. Segre has made all of these historical and physical details come alive in his book. I recommend it highly to anyone who would try to understand what Quantum Physics is all about.

Physics, genius, humanity. 5 stars.

Some years ago I read, and greatly enjoyed, George Gamow's `Thirty Years that Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory,' so I new something of Segre's theme as soon as I saw his title (Segre is a professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania). In Gamow's book, the account of the Copenhagen "Faust" of 1932 had been a postscript, included to show how great minds--the discoverers and framers of quantum theory--were given to playfulness. Gamow, unfortunately, wasn't present that evening, having been denied travel to Denmark by the Soviet police state, but he not only included the script of the skit in his book, his own drawings illustrated it. Appropriately, Segre's book is dedicated to the memory of Gamow. But the `Faust' skit/ parody is just a poignant `thumbnail' of a hugely fascinating period of explosive intellectual achievements. Segre's book starts slowly, perhaps awkwardly from a literary perspective (at least it struck me that way as I began to read it), but immediately he foreshadows that his accounts are pregnant with fascinating scientific, human, and historical insights. Segre does not fail to make good on the promise. 1932 proved to be "the miracle year" and something of a triumphal culmination for quantum theory, not because all of its problems were then solved--they still are not--but because by the end of that year its startling cadre of guiding geniuses, most notably Bohr, Pauli, Heisenberg, Fermi, and Dirac, had all done their finest work (though still admired by the `boy physicists,' Planck and Einstein had made their great contributions two and three decades earlier). It was the golden year of the golden age of physics, the headiest time in the whole history of science. From the early 1920s through the early 30s, due to the great influence and impulsion of Bohr, Copenhagen was the hub for brilliant boyish physicists delving eagerly into a strange new understanding of the world. Then Hitler happened, and the world changed in many ways. Well, that's just my own abrupt synopsis, Segre's book tells the story beautifully. In due course, Segre does an excellent job of explaining and connecting the principle insights of quantum theory, he unveils not merely cold genius but the humanity and frailty of genius. The reader will sense that he/she has come to somehow know these men and women (yes, there were some women in this `man's world'), and to care about them, especially Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, and Ehrenfest. The `human factor' of Segre's book certainly exceeds that of most texts on physics. The author begins by telling the reader that this will be quite a story. And it is. The deeper one gets into it, the harder it becomes to put the book down. For the last 140 pages or so, I had no inclination to stop and finished the book around 2:30 AM--something that is hardly typical although I read many books. Segre has authored a tremendous book about science that is also a book about the humanity of frail human genius, and even