The Joy of Insight: Passions of a Physicist

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In the 1930s, Victor Weisskopf worked with leading European physicists such as Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and Wolfgang Pauli. His memoir recounts in simple language how quantum mechanics revolutionized physics and our understanding of matter. Weisskopf takes us to Los Alamos where he worked on the atom bomb during World War II after fleeing the Nazis, to CERN which he led in the early 1960s, and to MIT’s physics department where he taught until his retirement. Weisskopf also recounts his efforts ...
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1991 Hardcover New in New dust jacket 0465036783. Book and DJ are New, Former owners name stamped top of book, S-1, ; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Series; 9.30 X 6.40 X 1.30 ... inches; 352 pages. Read more Show Less

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More About This Book

Overview

In the 1930s, Victor Weisskopf worked with leading European physicists such as Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and Wolfgang Pauli. His memoir recounts in simple language how quantum mechanics revolutionized physics and our understanding of matter. Weisskopf takes us to Los Alamos where he worked on the atom bomb during World War II after fleeing the Nazis, to CERN which he led in the early 1960s, and to MIT’s physics department where he taught until his retirement. Weisskopf also recounts his efforts towards nuclear disarmament and tells of his lifelong love of music and passion to understand and explain physics.


“[Weisskopf’s] memoir provides a bright tile in the mosaic that our descendants will study in seeking to understand his scientific generation... A warm and frequently witty memoir by an extraordinarily gifted thinker and caring human being.” — Timothy Ferris, The New York Times

“Weisskopf’s voice comes through clearly in the book ... a voice that has tried to infuse our century with the idealism and humanism that it so often has lacked... The Joy of Insight is much more than Weisskopf’s autobiography: It is a first-hand account of the intellectual and political forces that shaped the 20th century.” — Science

“His account of [Los Alamos], where an isolated, tightly enclosed social world contrasted with the excitement and suspense of unprecedented research and invention, is the best yet written.” — The Atlantic

“The Joy of Insight is an inspiring personal memoir by one of the most thoughtful scientists of our time... [A] stimulating book by and about a passionate physicist.” — Boston Globe

“[Weisskopf] emerges in this autobiography as a man of gentle wisdom and quiet grace, confident in the idea that physics can provide not only 'the joy of insight,' but also a model of how life should be lived.” — The Sciences
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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
This worldly, humane, modestly told autobiography records the charmed life of one of the founders of modern physics. Austrian-born Weisskopf, who helped invent the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, became one of the first and sharpest voices warning of the perils of a nuclear arms race. This pioneer in particle physics believes, like his mentor Niels Bohr, that mystical and spiritual experiences are complementary to the scientific approach;he is a pianist with a deep love of classical music. Weisskopf worked with many great scientists--Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, Fermi--and directed the CERN particle-smashing laboratory in Geneva. Raised in a comfortable, assimilated Jewish family, he saw the post-WW I culture of Vienna and Berlin eclipsed by Nazi barbarism. Now an MIT emeritus professor, he views scientific enterprise within the context of a world that overemphasizes the rationalist side of things. (Mar.)
Library Journal
As part of a series aimed at encouraging public understanding of science, this book presents the fascinating story of a distinguished scientist known for his seminal contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, and elementary particle physics. Weisskopf's charmed life includes not only escaping unscathed from two world wars but also having the privilege of working with such scientific notables as Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli. Among his numerous achievements are his participation in the Manhattan Project, his directorship of the European particle physics laboratory known as CERN, his early work for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , and above all his passionate advocacy of nuclear responsibility. Weisskopf's readable narrative also provides a rare insight into the closely-knit international scientific community. Recommended for all academic and large public libraries.--Sarojini Balachandran, Auburn Univ. Libs., Ala.
Booknews
Reprint of the cloth edition ($25) described in the Oct. 1991 issue of SciTech Book News. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Product Details

Meet the Author

Victor Weisskopf (1908-2002), born in Vienna, Austria, joined a socialist student group while in gymnasium and started studying physics at the University of Vienna. In 1928, he went to study with Max Born in Göttingen where he received his Ph.D. in 1931. Weisskopf worked on basic quantum physics with Werner Heisenberg in Leipzig, then for a short time with Ernest Schrödinger in Berlin. In 1932, a Rockefeller Foundation grant allowed Weisskopf to join Niels Bohr in Copenhagen and Paul Dirac in Cambridge, England. In 1934-36, Weisskopf was research associate to Wolfgang Pauli in Zurich before working again with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen (April 1936 - September 1937).

Weisskopf fled the Nazis in the fall of 1937 and became an assistant professor at the University of Rochester. From 1943 to 1946 Weisskopf was deputy chairman of the theoretical division of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, under Hans Bethe. In 1945, he joined the MIT physics department; he was named Institute Professor in 1965, a position he held until he retired in 1974.

Weisskopf played a major role in particle physics in the US and in Europe: he was director general of CERN (Conseil Européen de Recherches Nucléaires) in Geneva (1961-65), and chaired the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel of the US Atomic Energy Commission (1967-73). A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Physical Society, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of many international organizations including French, Austrian, Danish, Bavarian, Scottish, Spanish, and Russian academies, Weisskopf received numerous awards for his work in quantum electrodynamics, in nuclear and elementary particle physics and as an advocate of nuclear disarmament, open exchanges of information among scientists of all nations, and individual freedom. He published over two hundred papers, and several books including in 1991 his autobiography, The Joy of Insight: Passions of a Physicist.
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