Einstein Defiant: Genius Versus Genius In The Quantum Revolution

Despite an astonishing imagination and a fierce intellectual power, Einstein was a scientist who adhered to a very strict series of steps to reveal the existenc... » 

Despite an astonishing imagination and a fierce intellectual power, Einstein was a scientist who adhered to a very strict series of steps to reveal the existence of physical laws. This was one of his greatest strengths: his ability to root out the physical explanation behind hidden realities. This is also why the conundrum of the quantum posed such a problem for him. Though it could be observed, it could not be explained. Many physicists were content to justify the apparently arbitrary behaviour of electrons with mathematical calculations, but Einstein remained fixed on finding physical principles at work. He refused to join the quantum revolution. What followed was a contest of visions fought by two unflinching scientific gladiators: Albert Einstein, the undisputed creator of modern physics, and Niels Bohr, a youngster whom Einstein had bested before over the existence of the photon. Squaring up in both 1927 and 1930, they battled over the very future of physics, and while most observers were swayed by Bohr's arguments, Einstein staunchly defied his foes. With his dying breath, Einstein believed that physical events happen for physical reasons - eventually being left behind by the science he had created. This is the first book to tell the story of Einstein's one blind spot, his one failing that is often ignored by biographers as an embarrassing blip on an otherwise unimpeachable career. This dramatic book captures the struggle to extract logic and beauty from our world. «