زیبایی عجیب: موری گِل-من و انقلاب در فیزیک قرن بیستم

No contemporary scientist has done more to shape our understanding of the universe than Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel Prize-winner many consider the most brilliant physicist of his generation. His discoveries of the quark and the Eightfold Way were cornerstones for all that has followed in particle physics, the effort to explain the very stuff of creation. In this first biography of Gell-Mann, George Johnson tells the story of a remarkable life. Born on New York's Lower East Side, Gell-Mann was quickly recognized as a child prodigy. Propelled by an intense boyhood curiosity and a love for nature, he entered Yale at fifteen. By age twenty-three he had ignited a revolution, laying bare in his groundbreaking work the strange beauty of the minute particles that constitute the ultimate components of physical reality. Particle physics is the most competitive of sports, and Johnson shows us the precocious polymath holding his own with giants like Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Richard Feynman -- Gell-Mann's favorite intellectual sparring partner and sometimes antagonistic rival. We see Gell-Mann the self-taught linguist (who couldn't resist correcting visitors on the pronunciation of their own names); Gell-Mann the birdwatcher and amateur archaeologist; Gell-Mann the Aspen socialite, world traveler, and environmental crusader. We watch him making his scientific breakthroughs, his abrasive, competitive drive leaving behind a growing trail of enemies. The early death of his first wife and a family crisis sent him veering in new directions. Turning from the physics of simple particles, like quarks, he began exploring how complex phenomena like life can be understoodscientifically. George Johnson's informed and insightful biography goes far in helping us understand the complexities of both the man and the science in which he has loomed so large. No Contemporary Scientist Has Done More To Shape Our Understanding Of The Universe Than Murray Gell-mann, The Nobel Prize-winner Many Consider The Most Brilliant Physicist Of His Generation. His Discoveries Of The Quark And The Eightfold Way Were Cornerstones For All That Has Followed In Particle Physics, The Effort To Explain The Very Stuff Of Creation. In This First Biography Of Gell-mann, George Johnson Tells The Story Of A Remarkable Life.--jacket. Particle Physics Is The Most Competitive Of Sports, And Johnson Shows Us The Precocious Polymath Holding His Own With Giants Like Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, And Richard Feynman - Gel-mann's Favorite Intellectual Sparring Partner And Sometimes Antagonistic Rival. We See Gell-mann The Self-taught Linguist (who Couldn't Resist Correcting Visitors On The Pronunciation Of Their Own Names); Gell-mann The Birdwatcher And Amateur Archaeologist; Gell-mann The Aspen Socialite, World Traveler, And Environmental Crusader.--jacket. Prologue: On The Trail To La Vega -- A Hyphenated American: Czernowitz, Vienna, And New York City -- The Walking Encyclopedia: New York City And New Haven -- A Feeling For The Mechanism: Cambridge -- Village Of The Demigods: Princeton -- The Magic Memory: Chicago -- No Excellent Beauty: Chicago, Princeton, Paris, Urbana, Glasgow, Copenhagen, And Pisa -- A Lopsided Universe: Pasadena And Moscow -- Field Of Dreams: Pasadena And Kiev -- The Magic Eightball: Paris, Entebbe, The Serengeti, Pasadena, And San Diego -- Holy Trinity: Geneva, Cambridge, New York, And Pasadena -- Aces And Quarks: Pasadena, Udaipur, Kyoto, Dubna, Kathmandu, And Sapporo -- The Swedish Prize: Pasadena, Princeton, And Stockholm -- Quantum Chromodynamics: Aspen, Pasadena, Geneva, And Paris -- Superphysics: Pasadena, Aspen, And Tesuque -- From The Simple To The Complex: Sant Feliu De Guixols, Pasadena, Lima, And Santa Fe -- The Quark And The Jaguar: Santa Fe, New York City -- Epilogue: Valentine's Day, 1997. By George Johnson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [405]-409) And Index. "No contemporary scientist has done more to shape our understanding of the universe than Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel Prize-winner many consider the most brilliant physicist of his generation. His discoveries of the quark and the Eightfold Way were cornerstones for all that has followed in particle physics, the effort to explain the very stuff of creation. In this first biography of Gell-Mann, George Johnson tells the story of a remarkable life."--BOOK JACKET. "Particle physics is the most competitive of sports, and Johnson shows us the precocious polymath holding his own with giants like Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Richard Feynman - Gel-Mann's favorite intellectual sparring partner and sometimes antagonistic rival. We see Gell-Mann the self-taught linguist (who couldn't resist correcting visitors on the pronunciation of their own names); Gell-Mann the birdwatcher and amateur archaeologist; Gell-Mann the Aspen socialite, world traveler, and environmental crusader."--BOOK JACKET. "Science writer George Johnson brings his talent to the first biography of Nobel Prize laureate Murray Gell-Mann, the man who revolutionized modern particle physics with his theories of the quark and the Eightfold Way.". "Born into a family of Jewish immigrants on New York's East 14th Street, Gell-Mann demonstrated his prodigious genius from an early age - he entered Yale at fifteen, completed his Ph.D. at twenty-one, and was soon uncovering the secrets of subatomic particles and illuminating the elegant symmetries of the universe. Before long, a favorite pastime among physicists was arguing over who was smarter, Richard Feynman or Murray Gell-Mann."--BOOK JACKET. A definitive portrait of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann describes his remarkable contributions to the world of twentieth-century science, including his discovery of quarks and contributions to the field of complexity. 25,000 first printing. Scouring the old Manhattan telephone directories from the early years of the century, now relegated to decaying spools of microfilm in a dark corner of the New York Public Library on 42nd Street, one looks in vain for the curious appellation "Gell-Man."