Jeremy Bernstein – författare

Beginning on the 18th of March, 1905,at approximately eight week intervals, the noted German physics journal Annalen der Physik received three hand-written manuscripts from a relatively unknown patent examiner in Bern. The patent examiner was the twenty-six year old Albert Einstein and the three papers would set the agenda for twentieth century physics. A fourth short paper was received by the journal on the 27th of September. It contained Einstein''s derivation of the formula E=mc2. These papers with their many technological ramifications changed our lives in the twentieth century and beyond. While to a professional physicist the mathematics in these papers is quite straight forward, the ideas behind the mathematics are not. In fact, none of Einstein''s contemporaries fully understood what he had done. The goal of this book is to make these ideas accessible to a general reader with no more mathematics than one learns in high school.

PRAISE FOR BOOK:

"With wonderfully chosen digressions and some sophisticated physics plus the minimum amount of math to support it, Jeremy Bernstein has produced a charming account of Einstein’s epoch-making papers of 1905. Here is surely the thinking person’s guide to Einstein’s ‘Miracle Year."

—Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,                           Author, The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus

"Why are physicists celebrating the centenary of Einstein’s miracle year? In this gem of a book—and in simple words—Bernstein explains how young Albert, in that one year, set the foundation to a century of progress in physics."

—Sheldon L. Glashow, Winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize inPhysics,                       Professor, Boston University

Over the years, Jeremy Bernstein has been in contact with many of the world’s most renowned physicists and other scientists, many of whom were involved in politics, literature, and language. In this diverse collection of essays, he reflects on their work, their personal relationships, their motives, and their contributions. Even for those people he writes about that he did not know personally, he provides important insights into their lives and work, and questions their character, their decisions, and the lives they led.

In the first three essays, Professor Bernstein looks at economic theory and how some physicists who developed interesting economic models based on derivatives and hedge funds almost led to the country into bankruptcy. In later essays, he discusses a suspect visit to Poland by the great Heisenberg during the Nazi era, a visit that there is almost nothing written about.

Included also are essays on ancient languages and a nuclear weapons program in South Africa that was supposedly dismantled. In one particularly humorous essay, he describes how an ill-conceived manned spaceship to be powered by an atomic bomb was being developed by some of the country’s most powerful intellects. The project never got off the ground.

Dipping into these pages is like rummaging around in the mind of a genius who has a potpourri of interests and an abundance of fascinating experiences. Bernstein has not only rubbed elbows with some of the finest minds in world, he has worked and played with them. He has sometimes mourned with them and laughed at them. His sharp wit and even sharper analysis make for a fascinating read.

One Physicist's Guide to Nuclear Weapons presents a truly global look at the history, use, and issues surrounding nuclear weapons from the perspective of physicist and writer Jeremy Bernstein. A first-hand witness to the development and science of nuclear weapons, he is in a unique position to highlight the ways in which nuclear weapons work with a writing style that is suitable for lay readers and scientists alike. Bernstein brings the reader on a journey from the Nevada nuclear-testing fields in the 1950s to the present day situations in Iran and North Korea, while delving into the physics and science behind the bomb. With an introduction by Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, this book is a testament to the last 70 years of the nuclear age, affecting every human being on the planet.