Too Big for a Single Mind: How the Greatest Generation of Physicists Uncovered the Quantum World

Contents:

Prologue

Paris, 1903: Cracks begin to appear
Berlin, 1900: An act of desperation
Bern, 1905: The patent serf
Paris, 1906: The decline and fall of Pierre Curie
Berlin, 1908: The end of the flying cigars
Prague, 1911: Einstein says it with flowers
Cambridge, 1911: A Dane grows up
The North Atlantic, 1912: The sinking of infallibility
Munich, 1913: A painter moves to Munich
Munich, 1914: On tour with the atom
Berlin, 1915: Good at theory, bad at relationships
Germany, 1916: War and peace
Berlin, 1917: Einstein breaks down
Berlin, 1918: Pandemic
The Caribbean, 1919: The moon obscures the sun
Munich, 1919: A young man reads Plato
Berlin, 1920: Great minds meet
Göttingen, 1922: A son finds his father
Munich, 1923: A high-flier almost crashes
Copenhagen, 1923: Bohr and Einstein take the tram
Copenhagen, 1924: One last try
Paris, 1924: A prince makes atoms sing
Heligoland, 1925: The vastness of the sea and the tininess of atoms
Cambridge, 1925: The quiet genius
Leiden, 1925: The prophet of spin
Arosa, 1925: A late erotic outburst
Copenhagen, 1926: Waves and particles
Berlin, 1926: A visit with the demigods
Berlin, 1926: The Plancks throw a party
Göttingen, 1926: The abolition of reality
Munich, 1926: A turf war
Copenhagen, 1926: Exquisitely carved marble statues falling out of the sky
Copenhagen, 1926: A game with sharpened knives
Copenhagen, 1927: The world goes fuzzy
Como, 1927: Dress rehearsal
Brussels, 1927: The great debate
Berlin, 1930: Germany flourishes, Einstein falls ill
Brussels, 1930: K.O. in the second round
Zurich, 1931: Pauli's dreams
Copenhagen, 1932: Faust in Copenhagen
Berlin, 1933: Some flee, some stay
Amsterdam, 1933: A sad end
Oxford, 1935: The cat that isn't there
Princeton, 1935: Einstein puts the world back in focus
Garmisch, 1935: Dirty snow
Moscow, 1937: On the other side
Berlin, 1938: Bursting nuclei
The Atlantic, 1939: Terrible news
Copenhagen, 1941: Estrangement
Berlin, 1942: No bomb for Hitler
Stockholm, 1943: Flight
Princeton, 1943: Einstein mellows
England, 1945: The impact of the explosion

Epilogue

Index