The epic battle that shaped the very future of physics.

THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE

History of science at its most riveting! New book now available for preorder:

amazon.com/gp/product/154…

greatatomdebate.com

The epic battle that shaped the very future of physics.

THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE

History of science at its most riveting! New book now available for preorder:

amazon.com/gp/product/154…

greatatomdebate.com

Some of the greatest nuclear physicists of the 20th century pose for a photo at a conference in Munster, Germany

From left to right: James Chadwick, Gyorgy Hevesy, Elisabeth Geiger, Hans Geiger, Lise Meitner, Ernest Rutherford, Otto Hahn, Stefan Meyer, and Karl Przibram

Statue of New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford splitting the atom and discovering the nucleus

Qingpu Statue Garden, Shanghai, China

(Many thanks to @Xirong7 for sharing the photo. Note that some artistic liberties were taken with Rutherford's appearance! 🤔)

#histSTM

Five brilliant scientists captured in a single photo:

Albert Einstein Paul Ehrenfest Willem de Sitter

Arthur Eddington Hendrik Lorentz

Sorry @realDonaldTrump, but there's no confirmation that Albert Einstein ever said this quote. x.com/realDonaldTrum…

Today's "just for fun" drawing was this sketch of Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. From the bits I've read about it, he had a tragic but inspiring life. His ideas are still alive.

Quantum Harmonies: Modern Physics And Music pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blog…

Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python's Galaxy Song, written by Eric Idle (Music Video):

youtube.com/watch?v=XfcC6F…

@montypython @EricIdle

#ScienceSongSaturday

Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli, two brilliant quantum physicists, worked together on many projects.

Their final work together, a proposed 'Theory of Everything,' led to a rift between the two thinkers, when Heisenberg over-hyped the theory and Pauli became dubious.

Forget the Christmas countdown! 🎄 This year, I’m counting down to Paul Halpern’s The Great Atom Debate on December 1st! ⚛️📚

24 days until Mach and Boltzmann start arguing about atoms! Some people get excited for Santa. I get excited for dead physicists arguing. 😂

Okay, I still get excited about Santa. He’s just arriving early with The Great Atom Debate! 🎅

Big Audio Dynamite:

E = M C ^ 2

youtu.be/cHTDkJ-bQqM?si…

#ScienceSongSaturday

'If... all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation... what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?

I believe it is the atomic hypothesis... that all things are made of atoms'

-Richard Feynman

“My participation in the production of the atomic bomb consisted of one single act:

I signed a letter to President Roosevelt . . . in which I emphasized the necessity of conducting large-scale experimentation...

I saw no alternative...”

-Albert Einstein

'Paul Halpern’s The Great Atom Debate is a dual biography that should be of interest even to people who don’t care a whit about physics but love a good story, especially one showcasing two fascinating, driven characters.'
-Forbes

Preorder now:
amazon.com/gp/product/154…
3

Link to the full review: forbes.com/sites/rebeccac…

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."

- Albert Einstein

Renowned physicist J. Robert "Oppie" Oppenheimer sits on a couch and reads to his two children, daughter Toni and son Peter.

Princeton, New Jersey, November 1947.

(Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

Quantum pioneers Max Planck and Albert Einstein at a scientific event in Berlin, 1930. Three years later, much to Planck's dismay, Einstein would need to leave Germany and go into exile, due to Nazi threats to his life and work. Einstein would never return to his native land.

Publishers Weekly praises THE GREAT ATOM DEBATE:

"Halpern... delivers a solid account of two Austrian physicists who famously debated the existence of atoms in the late 19th century. [I]ntriguing intellectual history... [and] an accessible look at a critical scientific era."
q

Wish I could go!