By George Gamow - Thirty Years that Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory (New edition)

Interesting book

Excellent!

good book , a bit complex though to read

Worth a read, truly.

A reprinted Dover edition of a lovely set of biographies of the physicists of the Golden Period, from the pen of George Gamow. The original 1966 edition has been out of print for a number of years. This 1985 edition is beautifully reproduced, and it includes fascinating pictures, sketches, and poems, done by Gamow himself. He was born in Odessa, in what was then Russia, --before the Soviet Union. The story of his escape to the West is straight out of a thriller. Only it is real! Later in the US, Gamow was referred to by a journalist,--- some time during the Cold War, as "the only scientist in America with a real sense of humor". With his lovely books, we have now all come to experience how Gamow can take the most technical stuff and make it simple. Fun too! The book:--Intellectual treats, whimsy, but deep. It contains penetrating and personal biographies of Niels Bohr, Paul Ehrenfest, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, and recollections from the conferences in the 1930ties in Copenhagen, Brussels, and in the Solvay Institute. Illustrated with lovely drawings by Gamow himself. A book with pictures and conversations! Much of it can be understood by a child, and other parts might require a little concentration. All of it is great fun. The author Gamow started in nuclear physics, during the Golden Age of Physics, worked with Niels Bohr, then later in the US, on the Manhattan Project during WWII, and after the war, he was professor in Boulder Colorado. He has a building on campus named after him! The books he wrote are pearls, and they have been equally popular with my parent's generation as with mine. Luckely some have been reprinted! Other Gamow titles: Biography of Physics, Atomic Energy [dedicated to the hope of lasting peace], Physics of the Strapless Evning Gown,...We are lucky that Dover has reprinted some of them. Gamow's list of scientific accomplishments includes a 1948 landmark paper on the origin of chemical elements, the Big Bang model, and later work with F. Crick on DNA and genetic coding.-- Do more Gamow editions, Dover!

This book has the clear signature of a genius and a deep insider of physics. It contains a very brief and simple presentation of the first period of modern Quantum Mechanics with a lot of anectodological stories about its founders. It is a very pleasant book to read not only due to Gamow’s lively style of writing but also due to the clearness of the exposition of the various ideas hidden behind the various physics theories. He manages to present in a very simple manner and make very interesting even the first problem of the ultraviolet catastrophe of the black body radiation which led Planck to propose the quantization of electromagnetic energy in closed cavities. Also it is one of the very few books that avoids the great and enduring misunderstanding which often claims that matter is transformed to energy and vice versa during the annihilation and creation of positron-electron pairs correspondingly. Despite the inspiring way of writing and the fact that Gamow is a part of physics history, this book is simplistic and dated. As I always note for books which are written for the ‘layman’, the treasures of this book can only be appreciated and understood only from someone with undergraduate knowledge of physics and not from a layman.

Good service - would use again

I am just giving 4 stars because it is a classic, and it is a first hand account. There are many books out there that are deeper, more complex, more clear and more thourough. However at the time it was released it was very important. Interesting book anyway.

Es un libro interesante. Los libros de George Gamow son siempre buenos.

I just received this book. I have begun reading this book and I am enjoying it. Glad I bought this book.

Ai miei tempi (anni 50) la teoria non veniva insegnata a scuola. Sto quindi cercando di comprendere i contenuti della teoria che sta cambiando il mondo della fisica (e poi della tecnologia) . Questo libro è una tappa nella acquisizione delle nozioni iniziali.

Ce petit livre facile à lire n'est pas pour autant un livre simplet. Il est écrit par un des acteurs de la révolution quantique doublé d'un grand vulgarisateur (cf la série des Mr. Tompkins), c'est ce qui lui confère un intérêt tout particulier: Gamow a connu personnellement beaucoup des physiciens célèbres qu'il présente ici: Bohr, Fermi, Pauli, de Broglie, Dirac (bien que la visage d'Einstein apparaisse sur la couverture il n'en est que peu question dans cet ouvrage, on peut imaginer que l'éditeur a pensé que la tête chenue de l'illustre physicien augmenterait les ventes). Le livre n'est-il pas d'ailleurs dédié "aux amis de ma jeunesse » ? Ce livre intéressera particulièrement les étudiants en physique qui s'initient à la mécanique quantique en leur fournissant des analogies pertinentes et un éclairage nouveau et souvent inattendu sur nombre de problèmes souvent présentés de façon abstraite dans les cours. On pense par exemple à "la catastrophe ultraviolette"; l'effet tunnel pour expliquer la radioactivité alpha (contribution originale de Gamow); les relations d'incertitude de Heisenberg, et en particulier (p°115) celle portant sur le temps et l'énergie, toujours délicate et bien illustrée par la « boîte d'Einstein » dessinée avec un certain talent par Gamow lui-même, etc. Le style enfin est séduisant et n'est pas sans rappeler celui de Feynman : décontracté, provocant, mais toujours précis cependant. La parodie de Faust jouée à Copenhague à l'Institut de physique avec Ehrenfest dans le rôle de Faust et Pauli dans celui de Méphistophélès est donnée en version intégrale (traduite en anglais car initialement en allemand) à la fin du livre et nous plonge vraiment dans l'atmosphère joyeuse de ces années de découvertes incessantes. Les anecdotes sur Bohr et son fer à cheval, Pauli et son effet, Fermi et sa petite Fiat sont de première main et réjouiront tous les lecteurs pour qui la physique bien loin d'être une matière austère et ennuyeuse est une fête !

Gamow, como espectador privilegiado e como um físico de expressão didática reverenciável, traz detalhes muito bem postos sobre esse período de 30 anos revolucionário para a Física. Obra altamente recomendável para professores (que ainda sentem alguma dificuldade em abordar alguns assuntos introdutórios de Quântica em aulas regulares) e para todo e qualquer entusiasta da área!