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Einstein in Bohemia Professor Michael D. Gordin

Einstein in Bohemia By Professor Michael D. Gordin

Einstein in Bohemia by Professor Michael D. Gordin


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Einstein in Bohemia Summary

Einstein in Bohemia by Professor Michael D. Gordin

A finely drawn portrait of Einstein's sixteen months in Prague

In the spring of 1911, Albert Einstein moved with his wife and two sons to Prague, the capital of Bohemia, where he accepted a post as a professor of theoretical physics. Though he intended to make Prague his home, he lived there for just sixteen months, an interlude that his biographies typically dismiss as a brief and inconsequential episode. Einstein in Bohemia is a spellbinding portrait of the city that touched Einstein's life in unexpected ways-and of the gifted young scientist who left his mark on the science, literature, and politics of Prague.

Michael Gordin's narrative is a masterfully crafted account of a person encountering a particular place at a specific moment in time. Despite being heir to almost a millennium of history, Einstein's Prague was a relatively marginal city within the sprawling Austro-Hungarian Empire. Yet Prague, its history, and its multifaceted culture changed the trajectories of Einstein's personal and scientific life. It was here that his marriage unraveled, where he first began thinking seriously about his Jewish identity, and where he embarked on the project of general relativity. Prague was also where he formed lasting friendships with novelist Max Brod, Zionist intellectual Hugo Bergmann, physicist Philipp Frank, and other important figures.

Einstein in Bohemia sheds light on this transformative period of Einstein's life and career, and brings vividly to life a beguiling city in the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Einstein in Bohemia Reviews

"[A] deeply researched, wide-ranging and original book."---Andrew Robinson, Physics World
"[Gordin] explodes the narrative out of what he calls the 'spacetime interval' of 1911-12 to follow a host of figures who were involved with Einstein in Prague, in some cases very tangentially. In so doing, he careers through the history of ideas as well as the political turmoil of Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) during most of the twentieth century, touching on physics, philosophy, nationhood, anti-Semitism and the rise of Prague as a centre of intellectual life."---Pedro Ferreira, Nature
"In this deeply researched and documented study, Gordin treats this brief period in Einstein's life as a prism through which the physicist refracts a broad range of intellectual, personal, scientific, and religious topics. The author sees Einstein as a window to understand Prague, and vice-versa, and reveals, in elegant and engaging prose, stimulating insights into many larger issues."---P. W. Knoll, Choice
"His original and illuminating study . . . is a fascinating mix of urban and scientific history, and a genuinely original contribution to Einstein studies that explores both the effect of the city on the scientist and the lasting impact Einstein's presence had on the cultural and scientific life of Prague itself."---P. D. Smith, Times Literary Supplement
"A meticulously researched, accessible, and fascinating portrait of Einstein."---Glenn C. Altschuler, Jerusalem Post
"Meticulous in scholarship and erudite in tone . . . [Einstein in Bohemia] will doubtless become an essential reference for anyone researching what has usually been seen as a minor chapter in Einstein's life."---Andrew Crumey, Wall Street Journal
"Gordin's Einstein in Bohemia affords us a refreshingly different kind of perspective on Einstein in context. The book treats its location - Prague in 1911 and 1912 - not merely as a backdrop, but as an integral part of the drama."---Don Howard, Physics Today
"[This] book paints a rich picture of a small part in Einstein's life that will be fascinating to anyone interested not only in the scientist but also his historical context." * Nature Astronomy *
"Gordin explores unknown connections and forgotten biographies with impressive scholarly meticulousness and fervor."---Tilman Sauer, Science
"Einstein in Bohemia is as much a series of essays on historical method and memory as it is a biography that uses Einsteinian ideas about perspective and spacetime to riff about the relationship between past and present, space and place. It's also very much a book about Prague. It works in movements, looking backward and forward from Einstein's Bohemian interlude to explore issues of biography, physics, Czech and German nationalism, the philosophy of science, literature, Jewishness, and public monuments. It is best savored in chunks, to better indulge in moments of reflection."---Audra J. Wolfe, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Gordin handles the theme of 'belonging' with great nuance and understanding."---David Luhrssen, The Shepherd Express
"I was gripped . . . this is such a delightful and unusual book."---Richard Joyner, Times Higher Education
"Through extensive primary sources, Gordin explores the effect that Prague's rich history infused into Einstein's life, and the way that Einstein made his own significant mark on Bohemia's story."---Alden Hunt, Princeton Alumni Weekly

About Professor Michael D. Gordin

Michael D. Gordin is the Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Princeton University. His books include A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table and Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War (both Princeton). He lives in Princeton, New Jersey. Twitter @GordinMichael

Additional information

CIN0691177376G
9780691177373
0691177376
Einstein in Bohemia by Professor Michael D. Gordin
Used - Good
Hardback
Princeton University Press
2020-02-04
360
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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