Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
What Einstein Got Wrong cover art

What Einstein Got Wrong

Written by: Dan Hooper, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Dan Hooper
Try for $0.00

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $12.47

Buy Now for $12.47

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

These 12 half-hour lectures are about what Einstein got wrong. He may have kindled a scientific revolution with his famous theory of relativity and his proof that atoms and light quanta exist, but he balked at accepting the most startling implications of these theories - such as the existence of black holes, the big bang, gravity waves, and mind-bendingly strange phenomena in the quantum realm. In a course that assumes no background in science and uses very little math, research physicist Dan Hooper of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago focuses on Einstein's personal qualities that made him a heavy hitter with relativity but also a strikeout king in many of his other ideas.

You start with two lectures on Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, and in a later lecture you cover his founding role in quantum theory. All are titanic achievements. The balance of the course deals with his false starts, blind alleys, and outright blunders, which are fascinating for what they reveal about the give-and-take conduct of science. For example, the possibility of black holes, which are infinitely dense concentrations of matter, emerged from the equations of general relativity. However, the idea seemed so absurd to Einstein that he believed something in nature must prevent black holes from forming. He was wrong. Similar considerations led him to doubt the existence of gravity waves, insist that the universe must be static and eternal, and hold out for a deterministic theory that would solve the weird paradoxes of quantum mechanics. Again, he was wrong. Dr. Hooper closes with a lecture on the missteps of other great physicists - Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton - proving that Einstein is in good company. Even geniuses struggle to find the truth.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC; 2017 The Great Courses

More from the same

What listeners say about What Einstein Got Wrong

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    34
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great lecture!

I really enjoyed this series of lectures on not just Einstein, but many other science giants! And no, this does not make me think less of Einstein in anyway! Just the opposite in fact, it makes me have even more appreciation for the things he got right and his massive contributions to science! It's true that Einstein will be remembered for a Millenia! What an amazing mind!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

read it all

I was lost at one point but I've continued to listen and did not regret it. Good feeling in the end.
...Hmm, I thought the headline is optional...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting, informative and Understandable

I am not a scientist but love learning new things. This was very informative and presented at a level that allowed understanding without a background in astronomy or university physics. Just great information and easy to listen to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An interesting look at the impact of Einstein

This book was presented very well. It cover's things that Einstein got wrong but not just in general but things that his theories predicted and he didn't believe. I learned that he was actually the father of Quantum Mechanics even though he felt it had to be wrong. He predicted black holes and an expanding universe but felt that those were just things that made the math work and couldn't be real. It was interesting to see the man that gave humanity the tools to go beyond its previous thinking, was trapped by the same thinking he was freeing others from.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dan Hooper Rocks!!!

Dan Hooper's love for Science shows through in his own delivery of these courses! His respect for the historical significance of the great thinkers of the past is also obvious even though parts of the course is about their mistakes.
Thank you Dan so much!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!