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Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War
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About Planck: Driven By Vision, Broken By War
Product Description Max Planck is credited with being the father of quantum theory, and his work was described by his close friend Albert Einstein as "the basis of all twentieth-century physics." But Planck's story is not well known, especially in the United States. A German physicist working during the first half of the twentieth century, his library, personal journals, notebooks, and letters were all destroyed with his home in World War II. What remains, other than his contributions to science, are handwritten letters in German shorthand, and tributes from other scientists of the time. In Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War, Brandon R. Brown interweaves the voices and writings of Planck, his family, and his contemporaries--with many passages appearing in English for the first time--to create a portrait of a groundbreaking physicist working in the midst of war. Planck spent much of his adult life grappling with the identity crisis of being an influential German with ideas that ran counter to his government. During the later part of his life, he survived bombings and battlefields, surgeries and blood transfusions, all the while performing his influential work amidst a violent and crumbling Nazi bureaucracy. When his son was accused of treason, Planck tried to use his standing as a German "national treasure," and wrote directly to Hitler to spare his son's life. Brown tells the story of Planck's friendship with the far more outspoken Albert Einstein, and shows how his work fits within the explosion of technology and science that occurred during his life. This story of a brilliant man living in a dangerous time gives Max Planck his rightful place in the history of science, and it shows how war-torn Germany deeply impacted his life and work. Review One of The London Times' Best History Books of 2015. Selected as one of the Best Science Books of 2015 by Science for the People. One of Scientific American's June 2015 recommended titles. One of Discover's recommended reads for the summer of 2015. Selected as one of Choice's 2015 Outstanding Academic Titles in the History of Science & Technology category. Honorable Mention, 2016 Prose Award: Popular Science & Popular Mathematics 2016 Housatonic Book Award for Non-Fiction Recipient. "Max Planck's name is one of the best known in twentieth-century physics and Planck's story is one of the least known. Brandon Brown's eminently readable book helps us get to know better this giant of science."--Istvan Hargittai, author of Martians of Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics "Planck had his flaws, but readers of this engrossing, insightful, and definitive biography will share Brown's admiration and agree that he deserves his iconic reputation."-- Publisher's Weekly, starred review "[Planck's] latest biographer, physics professor Brandon Brown, is his best: searching, sympathetic, and technically informed....He's a lively writer and a first-rate explainer...Certainly a worthwhile thing to read..."-- Open Letters Monthly "Like Max Planck, the subject of his fascinating and deeply moving new book, Brandon Brown assembles prose 'in the manner of a master watch maker,' placing readers with care and precision in the heart of history, science, friendship, and family. The book throbs with the warmth and tragedy of human connections, and it is suspenseful on many levels: cultural, emotional, intellectual. Einstein once said Planck pursued science from a hunger in his soul: Brown's book proceeds with a similar pure urgency. Seldom have life, work, and love, and their nourishing intersections, been so well, so attentively, and so beautifully described."-- Tracy Daugherty, author of The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion, Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller, and Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme "Planck is beautifully written, dramatic, engaging, and completely accessible....This engrossing and surprising book helps us understand some
