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Einstein's War
- How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I
- Narrated by: Matthew Stanley
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
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Einstein's War
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Publisher's Summary
The birth of a world-changing idea in the middle of a bloodbath...
Einstein’s War is a riveting exploration of both the beauty of scientific creativity and enduring horrors of human nature. These two great forces battle in a story that culminates with a victory now a century old, the mind bending theory of general relativity.
Few recognize how the Great War, the industrialized slaughter that bled Europe from 1914 to 1918, shaped Einstein’s life and work. While Einstein never held a rifle, he formulated general relativity blockaded in Berlin, literally starving. He lost 50 pounds in three months, unable to communicate with his most important colleagues. Some of those colleagues fought against rabid nationalism; others were busy inventing chemical warfare - being a scientist trapped you in the power plays of empire. Meanwhile, Einstein struggled to craft relativity and persuade the world that it was correct. This was, after all, the first complete revision of our conception of the universe since Isaac Newton, and its victory was far from sure.
Scientists seeking to confirm Einstein’s ideas were arrested as spies. Technical journals were banned as enemy propaganda. Colleagues died in the trenches. Einstein was separated from his most crucial ally by barbed wire and U-boats. This ally was the Quaker astronomer and Cambridge don A.S. Eddington who would go on to convince the world of the truth of relativity and the greatness of Einstein.
In May of 1919, when Europe was still in chaos from the war, Eddington led a globe-spanning expedition to catch a fleeting solar eclipse for a rare opportunity to confirm Einstein’s bold prediction that light has weight. It was the result of this expedition - the proof of relativity, as many saw it - that put Einstein on front pages around the world. Matthew Stanley’s epic tale is a celebration of how bigotry and nationalism can be defeated, and of what science can offer when they are.
Personality rights of ALBERT EINSTEIN are used with permission of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Represented exclusively by Greenlight.
*Includes a PDF with scientific and mathematical illustrations.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What the critics say
“A thrilling history of the development of the theory of relativity...a superb account of Einstein's and Eddington’s spectacularly successful struggles to work and survive under miserable wartime conditions.” (Kirkus, starred review)
"Stanley’s is a superb book, one that scientists, historians of science, and the general public will enjoy in equal measure. It is written for a wide audience. Those wary of technical jargon will be delighted by Stanley’s lucid explanations. With almost all books written in a generalist vein, there is some worry about what might be lost - however much else is gained - by not dwelling on the details provided in the academic work on which they are based. Einstein’s War, however, is that very rare work from which I came away understanding the scholarly literature better for having had its context presented to me in gripping and readable prose." (American Scientist)
"Few books about events a century ago carry as relevant a message for today’s world of resurgent nationalism.... Stanley is a storyteller par excellence.... [His] riveting, blow-by-blow account of Einstein’s struggle...is an unusually reader-friendly journey into relativity theory.... Einstein and Eddington would have liked it.” (The Washington Post)