Einstein's Genius Club: The True Story of a Group of Scientists Who Changed the World

(Paperback)

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As World War II wound down and it became increasingly clear that the Allies would emerge victorious, Albert Einstein invited three close friendsall titans of contemporary science and philosophyto his home at 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey, to discuss what they loved bestscience and philosophy. His guests were the legendary philosopher and pacifist, Bertrand Russell; the boy wonder of quantum physics, Wolfgang Pauli; and the brilliant logician, Kurt Gdel. Their casual meetings took place far from the horrific battlefields of the war and the (then) secret lair of experimental atomic physicists in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Using these historic meetings as his launching pad, Feldman sketches the lives and contributions of the four friends, colleagues, and rivalsespecially Einstein, innately self-confident but frustrated in his attempt to come up with a unified theory, and the aristocratic but self-doubting Lord Russell. Masterfully researched, this book accessibly illuminates the feelings of these notable men about the world of science that was then beginning to pass them by, and about the dawning atomic age that terrified them all.

Reviews

Illuminating biographical sketches of these men and their earlier, groundbreaking work. . . . It sheds light on a moment when architects of the early 20th century s most important discoveries in science and logic could only stand by and watch as their scientific discoveries directly affected events.