Einstein - by Jurgen Neffe (Hardcover)

About the Book

In Einstein: A Biography, Jurgen Neffe presents a clear and probing portrait of the man behind the myth. He recounts Einstein's life with detail and accuracy, presenting a comprehensive account of the educational, religious, psychological and historical conditions that enabled Einstein to become the uber-physicist of all time."

From the Back Cover

Albert Einstein is an icon of the twentieth century. Born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879, he is most famous for his theory of relativity, which is considered the founding principle of modern physics. He also made enormous contributions to quantum mechanics and cosmology, and for his work he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. A self-pronounced pacifist, humanist, and, late in his life, democratic socialist, Einstein was also deeply concerned with the social impact of his discoveries.
Much of Einstein's life is shrouded in legend. From popular images and advertisements to various works of theater and fiction, he has come to signify so many things: the quintessential absent-minded professor; the gentle eccentric; the pacifist; the super-human genius.

In Einstein: A Biography, Jurgen Neffe presents a clear and probing portrait of the man behind the myth. He recounts Einstein's life with detail and accuracy, presenting a comprehensive account of the educational, religious, psychological and historical conditions that enabled Einstein to become the ber-physicist of all time. Unearthing new documents, including a series of previously unknown letters from Einstein to his sons, which shed a new light on his role as a father, Neffe also paints a rich portrait of the tumultuous years in which Einstein lived and worked.
With a background in the sciences, Neffe describes and contextualizes Einstein's enormous contributions to our scientific legacy. He leads his readers through today's institutes and laboratories worldwide, where Einstein's work continues to thrill researchers and scholars.

A bestseller in Germany, Einstein is sure to be a classic biography of the man and proverbial genius who has been called the brain of the [twentieth] century.

Review Quotes

"Neffe gives us the full Einstein, warts and all. Crucially, he is as sound on the physics as he is sensitive to the great physicist's troubled personal life."

-- Jon Agar, University of Cambridge

"Neffe has written the most current and dynamic Einstein biography now on the market. His words magnificently restore Einstein to life."

-- Handelsblatt

"An intelligent, beautifully crafted narrative, enhanced with ample documentation, makes this book a pleasure to read ... This work will set the standard for all future biographies."

-- Spektrum der Wissenschaften

"Neffe's extraordinary ability to convey complex information in a manner that will appeal to a general audience in just under five hundred dazzling pages is particularly evident in the passages on Einstein's theories of the dual nature of light, of gravitation, and of spacetime, which are cleverly incorporated into accounts of the history of physics."

-- Neue Zürcher Zeitung

About the Author

Jürgen Neffe is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.