A close examination of Einstein's work, emphasizing the errors and
wrong turns that even colleagues overlooked.Ohanian, a former
editor of the American Journal of Physics, proceeds through the
years, rarely missing a paper, speech, interview or controversy.
The author covers many fields, because Einstein made not one but
several breakthrough discoveries; his Nobel, in fact, was for the
photoelectric effect, not relativity. Einstein admitted that
mathematics was not his strong suit, but beyond the torrent of
errors in that area, Ohanian also finds mistakes in physical
assumptions that range from oversimplification to outright
nuttiness. Max Planck, working as a journal editor, read the
unknown Einstein's revolutionary 1905 paper on special relativity
and found a major error in the discussion of relativistic mass.
Recognizing the paper's importance, Planck approved it and later
worked out a correct recalculation for which he has never received
credit. Because of Einstein's fame, everyone believes he discovered
the equation linking mass to energy. In fact, other physicists knew
of it for years, and his 1905 proof was incomplete; once Max Von
Laue produced a complete proof in 1911, Einstein adopted it.
Ohanian emphasizes two absolute laws of research. One: If a
scientist makes a brilliant discovery, everyone forgives mistakes
he made along the way. Two: If he becomes a scientific superstar,
he gets credit for everything in his field. Thus Einstein gets
credit for everything connected with relativity, including earlier
discoveries and those of colleagues who improved his work. Dennis
Overbye's Einstein in Love (2000) gives the best popular account of
his science, while Walter Isaacson's bestselling Einstein (2007) is
the best on his life. Ohanion's book delves more deeply into
physics and into Einstein's thought processes, so readers will have
to pay close attention.A sophisticated overview of modern physics,
including more of Einstein's missteps than readers usually
encounter. (Kirkus Reviews)
Although Einstein was the greatest genius of the twentieth century,
many of his ground-breaking discoveries were blighted by mistakes,
ranging from serious misconceptions in physics to blatant errors in
mathematics. For instance, Einstein's first theoretical proof of
the famous formula E = mc2 was incomplete and only approximately
valid; he struggled with this problem for many years, but he never
found a complete proof (better mathematicians did). In this
provocative forensic biography, Hans C. Ohanian dissects this and
other mistakes and places them in the context of Einstein's
turbulent life and times. Einstein was often navigating in a fog of
irrational and mystical inspirations, but his profound intuition
about physics permitted him to reach his goal despite and sometimes
because of the mistakes he made along the way. Einstein's uncanny
ability to use his mistakes subconsciously as stepping stones
toward his revolutionary theories was one hallmark of his genius."
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