Sam Wormley
2015-05-05 02:35:19 UTC
The Half-Life of Physicists
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-einsteins-dice-and-schrodingers-cat-by-paul-halpern-1430507769
In 1947 Erwin Schrödinger boasted of a big new result that would beat
his sometime collaborator Albert Einstein. They were both wrong.
The quarter-century from 1905 to 1930 was the great rebellious,
romantic period of modern physics, with Einstein and Schrödinger its
most striking figures. Einstein made his earthshaking early advances
while working in a patent office, an outcast from the academy.
Schrödinger found his equation while on vacation in the mountains
with a girlfriend, returning to Zurich to write it up with help from
the mathematician Hermann Weyl, his wife’s lover. Mr. Halpern
describes how both detested conventionality. Einstein justified his
casual dress by noting that if visiting dignitaries wanted to see his
clothes rather than him, they could take a look in his closet.
--In 1947 Erwin Schrödinger boasted of a big new result that would beat
his sometime collaborator Albert Einstein. They were both wrong.
The quarter-century from 1905 to 1930 was the great rebellious,
romantic period of modern physics, with Einstein and Schrödinger its
most striking figures. Einstein made his earthshaking early advances
while working in a patent office, an outcast from the academy.
Schrödinger found his equation while on vacation in the mountains
with a girlfriend, returning to Zurich to write it up with help from
the mathematician Hermann Weyl, his wife’s lover. Mr. Halpern
describes how both detested conventionality. Einstein justified his
casual dress by noting that if visiting dignitaries wanted to see his
clothes rather than him, they could take a look in his closet.
sci.physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to the discussion
of physics, news from the physics community, and physics-related
social issues.