Author:Gino Segrè
In 1932, the so-called annus mirabilis of modern physics, a group of scientists gathered in Copenhagen for a week-long conference on the extraordinary new work that was taking place in laboratories across the world; work that would ultimately lead to the development of nuclear weapons and the ensuing international power struggles.
Segrè's erudite and impressive account explores this crucial moment in history through the lives and careers of seven physicists sitting in the front row of the Copenhagen meeting. Six of them were already in the pantheon of genius while the seventh - Max Delbrück - was the author of a skit performed at the conference that lightly parodied the struggle between the old and new theories of physics and eerily foreshadowed the events that were to unfold in the struggle between peaceful uses of scientific discovery and destructive ones.
Gripping and absorbing... Faust in Copenhagen is written with a style and skill that makes it an early contender for Science book of the year...one of the best I have read in a long time, and which can be whole heartedly recommended
—— Literary ReviewLively and accessible
—— New Humanist[Segrè] demonstrates a knack for explaining weird conundrums and a humane sympathy for the wrong turnings and moral difficulties of his heroes
—— Steven Poole , GuardianSegrè unravels the tensions and conflicts within the group, both personal and scientific, and of the different approaches to the task of making mathematical sense of the weirdness of the subatomic world
—— Kenan Malik , Daily TelegraphFaust in Copenhagen provides an engaging glimpse of the process of scientific discovery
—— Sunday TelegraphAn engaging romp through the strange world of the quantum and its creaters
—— BBC History MagazineProdigiously illustrated and beautifully designed... I cannot think of a better, or simpler, introduction to science
—— GuardianThis book may be exactly what's needed to increase science literacy for readers of all ages
—— Publishers WeeklyThe text is persuasive whatever one's age ... the chapter on rainbows has the clearest explanation of how they appear that I've ever seen
—— Financial TimesThis book is primarily aimed at teenagers, but plenty of adults will get a kick out of it too...McKean's drawings bring the text to life brilliantly ... Dawkins writes convincingly about everything from chemistry to statistics
—— Independent on SundayDawkins uses a simple, brilliant technique highly appealing to young and old
—— The Washington PostLess folksy and biographical than Bill Bryson, less zany than a Bluffer's Guide. But many a bang for your buck, washed down with quotations from the greats ... Potter has an engaging style
—— Daily MailWith marvellous clarity, compassion, erudition, humour and open-mindedness, Potter blasts us through the vast vacuum of space
—— Daily Telegraph