Thirty Years that Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory

by George Gamow (Author / Illustrator)

“Dr. Gamow, physicist and gifted writer, has sketched an intriguing portrait of the scientists and clashing ideas that made the quantum revolution…”
—Christian Science Monitor

In 1900, German physicist Max Planck postulated that light, or radiant energy can exist only in the form of discrete packages or quanta. This profound insight, along with Einstein's equally momentous theories of relativity, completely revolutionized man's view of matter, energy, and the nature of physics itself.

In this lucid layman's introduction to quantum theory, an eminent physicist and noted popularizer of science traces the development of quantum theory from the turn of the century to about 1930—from Planck's seminal concept (still developing) to anti-particles, mesons and Enrico Fermi's nuclear research. Gamow was not just a spectator at the theoretical breakthroughs which fundamentally altered our view of the universe, he was an active participant who made important contributions of his own. This “insider's” vantage point lends special validity to his careful, accessible explanation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Neils Bohr's model of the atom, the pilot waves of Louis de Broglie and other path-breaking ideas.

In addition, Gamow recounts a wealth of revealing personal anecdotes which give a warm human dimension to many giants of 20th-century physics. He end the book with the Blegdamsvej Faust, a delightful play written in 1932 by Niels Bohr's students and colleagues to satirize the epochal developments that were revolutionizing physics. This celebrated play is available only in this volume.

Written in a clear, lively style, and enhanced by 12 photographs (including candid shots of Rutherford, Bohr, Pauli, Heisenberg, Fermi and other notables), Thirty Years that Shook Physics offers both scientists and laymen a highly readable introduction to the brilliant conception that helped unlock many secrets of energy and matter and laid the groundwork for future discoveries.
(Back Cover)

Genres: Science, Physics, History, Nonfiction, History Of Science, Biography, Popular Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

George Gamow (Russian pronunciation: [ˈɡaməf:]; March 4 [O.S. February 20:] 1904 – August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Георгий Антонович Гамов), was a theoretical physicist and cosmologist born in the Russian Empire. He discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, nucleocosmogenesis and genetics.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my current projects is about using speech recognition to build educational software, and there is a long-running discussion in our group about whether learning should be fun (for more background, see this review). I am one of the people in favor of making education entertaining, but others in the group believe equally strongly in the principle of no pain, no gain.

I'm pleased to see here that the late George Gamow is a firm upholder of the contrary principle. Forget French conversation: everything, including quantum mechanics, can be presented in a way that is at the same time hilariously amusing and very instructive! He does a splendid job of walking you through the early decades of the quantum revolution, cleverly mixing anecdotes about his old friends (Bohr, Pauli, Dirac and others) with some quite sensible physics.

At the end, I had learned several interesting things I hadn't known before. For example, I'd read a couple of weeks ago in Pais's biography of Einstein that Bohr had been able to derive the Rydberg constant from first principles but not understood how it was done; Gamow's explanation was both easy to follow and reasonably mathematical. All the same, it's hard not to give preference to the anecdotes. I think my favorite was the following one about Dirac:

Dirac was notoriously shy with women, so his colleagues were surprised when they discovered that he had married the sister of Eugene Wigner, another famous physicist. In those pre-internet days, gossip got around more slowly. A visitor, who hadn't yet heard the news, turned up at Dirac's house one day and could hardly believe his eyes when he saw an attractive woman sitting comfortably on the living-room sofa, obviously behaving as though she was very much at home there.

"I'm sorry," stammered Dirac, "I should introduce you. This... this is Wigner's sister."

[G.R. Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I salute George Gamow. He is as intelligent, witty and subversive as I am.

If only he hadn't died before I was born, I am sure I would be proud to list him among my very favorite lovers.

[Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heh I misremembered this as '40 years', no, it's 'thirty years'. Good to remember the actual name for search engines or when doing book recs, yes?

Anyway, this is a great book that does not talk down to you. It mentions actual equations (fairly easy ones), which can be incredibly hard to find in a book aimed at general audiences/pleasure reading, but if those aren't to your taste there is plenty of equation-free material and it is easy enough to skim read over the equation bits. I always appreciate a book that doesn't assume the reader is a moron but doesn't take 10 pages to get to the damn point or swim in highly technical language either, and because of this if you have read other popular physics books this one will almost certainly have different material for you to enjoy. It has a bit about de Broglie waves as a precursor to Schrodinger's waves that I have yet to see anywhere else.

[Astrotama · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorite popular books on physics! I read it when I was 15 yrs old and the stories (and the physics!) have inspired me since then!

[Thomas Dietert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given a recent revelation that I know virtually nothing about how (or what) physical reality is comprised (of) at a most fundamental level and my subsequent pursuit of acquiring such conceptions, before reading this book I had read a series of pop-sci books on the nature of quantum physics, particle physics, quantum electro-dynamics, and the like. Most of the books in that series presented substantial historical context, high-level overviews, and a web of explicit and implicit interconnections between the discoveries and formalizations of such ubiquitous and fundamental notions about how physical reality "works" at quantum (indivisibly small) scale. None of these books provided me the insight that I obtained into the inner-workings of such theories as this book did, and I am so glad that I decided to read "Thirty Years that Shook Physics" when I did-- lest I wallow in the characteristic hand-wavingly vague, confounding, and imprecise explanations of such theories presented by most of modern pop-sci publications.

In this brilliant work, George Gamow presents a linear, historical narrative and exposition of the inception of, elaboration upon, and impact of the aforementioned theories on the field of physics in the early 20th century, supported with insightfully clear figures, diagrams and drawings, and (most notably) the precise mathematical underpinnings that necessarily serve as the foundation for building a more coherent and intuitive conception of the theories at a high level. Furthermore, since Gamow participated in this revolutionary trio of decades as a seminal contributor and prolific collaborator, the book is peppered with amiable and cheerful anecdotes that permit unique insight into the lives, personalities, and blatant humanity of the physicists who revolutionized our understanding of the quantum.

A few of my most favorite ideas presented in the book are as follows:

Max Planck postulated that light must be quantized due to an inaccurate conclusion of a thermodynamical thought experiment (The Jeans Cube) suggesting that, if the Equipartition Principle holds true for light (as it does for gas) and if frequencies of light waves are infinite such that the total energy of a closed system of electromagnetic waves should be distributed across these infinite frequencies, then (put simply) your fireplace hearth would readily explode with the violence of the hottest star soon after you ignited the logs. Since this obviously is not the case in reality, Planck postulated that the energy able to be stored in electro-magnetic waves must decrease inversely with respect to frequency, and that the amount of energy contained by the wavr must be an integer multiple of the (subsequently computed) Planck constant.

Wolfgang Pauli formulated the Pauli Exclusion principle which, in its full form, is a bit more interesting than the usual form taught in University level Chemistry courses. The full extent of the principle counters the notion that "two electrons share a single atomic orbit" (originally quantified by Sommerfeld with three parameters) is not completely accurate: Instead, a fourth quantum number is needed to characterize the orbits precisely, known as an electron's "spin", and that only two electrons can share the same orbit only if they have opposite spin. Furthermore, since electrons can be thought of like a very tiny negatively charged particle spinning on an axis, the magnetic moment produced by these oppositely spinning electrons make it so that the pair of electrons with opposite spin that share an orbit described the original 3 quantum numbers do not actually share the same orbit at all-- the magnetic moment produced by each electron will repel the other, shifting the orbits enough for it to be incorrect to say that the two electrons have the same orbit!

George Gamow found that it is not only electrons that abide by the more precise interpretation of the Pauli principle (that is, that electrons have atomic spin, that only two can "share" an orbit, and that they exist in a structured form on different "energy levels" [particle interpretation] or "atomic shells" [wave interpretation]), but that both protons and neutrons also have atomic spin, and that the structure of the atomic nucleus can also be described by protons and neutrons existing on differing, structured energy levels (or "nuclear shells"). That is to say that neutrons and protons each have their own nuclear shells overlaid upon one another, and that there are a certain number of each particle permitted on each level such that the nucleus remains stable.

Werner Heisengberg presented a clear and ingenious thought experiment that serves as the foundation of the famous Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle , yielding the undeniable conclusion that we cannot discover both the velocity and position of a particle with a single classically mechanical measurement (due to interesting qualities of both the mechanism of interaction between the particle and the photon performing the measurement, and the physical limitations of the measurement of the measuring photon by the theodolite). Gamow does a wonderful job illustrating this thought experiment through a full page diagram and lucid derivation from assumptions to conclusions. Instead of doing a poor job of summarizing it here, I will point the interested reader to Fig. 24 on page 108, and the section in which it resides called "Discarding Classical Linear Trajectories".

There are many more theories and conceptions presented within these pages that, for lack of better terms, blew my mind , but in the interest of brevity I elect to not include any more of these incredible insights but to instead reiterate the point that Gamow fills this text to the brim with approachable yet dense expositions of these revolutionary ideas and theories of quantum physics conceived throughout the duration of the thirty-year quantum spring, and it is a truly exciting and deeply humbling experience to read from cover to cover.

It is most certainly the mathematics of these quantum theories-- which Gamow readily demonstrates for virtually every theory presented in depth-- that I developed such a strong appreciation for this book. That being said, to read this book is not an easy venture and the process demands focus and attention from the reader in order to extract the entirety of the value it provides. Though this book is purported to be a "lucid layman's introduction to quantum theory", it is difficult to appreciate many of the mathematics presented without some non-trivial existing conceptions of classical physics such as kinetic and potential energies, rotational motion, Coulomb's law, and the mental agility to follow algebraic reformulations and substitutions of terms in equations performed on most every formula derivation (for brevity, I assume).

Admittedly, many of the chapters of the book required my unfaltering attention in addition to multiple traversals over the content in a somewhat staggered manner. I often read each section twice by default, thrice usually, repeatedly consulted previous chapters when I inevitably discovered my conception of aforementioned theories was lacking, and often chose to re-read sections I had read the previous day as a review before starting on the next section. Many of the topics covered-- such as pilot waves, anti-particles, radioactive decay (via weak-nuclear force), and mesons (strong nuclear force)-- we're still just out of my reach, even after substantial effort. I say all this to suggest that this book is not for leisure reading, and if a reader approaches it as such (without sufficient background in quantum physics foundations) they will be almost certain to not appreciate its contents. I picked up this book to get a stronger mathematical conception of the fundamental theories of quantum physics and that is what it delivered, but not without significant effort on my part; succinctly put, this is a "morning book".

In conclusion, Gamow's "Thirty Years that Shook Physics" is a remarkably eloquent book illustrating the foundational conceptions of seminal quantum theorists and their theories, at both the high-level and mathematical levels of abstraction. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for physics and/or understanding physical reality more deeply. Though many will set this book down with more questions than when they started, readers will without a doubt (assuming the willingness to endure the initial struggle each and every theory presented demands) achieve a greater understanding of the underpinning of quantum theory, and the incredible and revolutionary advances made by the likes of Planck, Bohr, Dirac, Pauli, De-Broglie, Fermi, Heisenberg, Einstein, and many others during the wonderfully prolific decades of 1900 - 1930. These physicists, their theories, and magnificent conceptions are the giants whose shoulders all modern quantum theories, theorists, and experimentalists stand.

[Curtis Penner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but dated. There is a pedestrian description of physics in the '20s and '30s mainly. I was looking for more physicists' interaction and how physics developed. It wasn't there. Gamow is still a talented person, who met a number of historical persons, via Niels Bohr.

[Tue Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly epic journey guided by one of the finest physicists of his time.

[guada paz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy divertidas anécdotas sobre una de las etapas más importantes de la historia de la física. Me gustó mucho la narración del autor.

[Bob Lundquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

The advancement of science reaches back thousands of years. Ancient philosophers wondered why things are what they are. Two and a half millennia ago, Democritus postulated the existence of atoms to explain matter and mind. However, proof was lacking because technology grew slower than the theorizing of what nature is. It boiled down to who had the most convincing or reasonable arguments for their ideas. It was only when electricity was discovered and harnessed that enough power could be generated to show atoms do exist and even matter much smaller than atoms. Theory and technology came together in the early years of the twentieth century. Newton had a good start back in the 1600s, but he could only do so based on his knowledge of nature at the time. Theories of relativity and quantum mechanics and the experimentation that supported these ideas laid bare the limitations of Newton.

This book explains mainly the history of quantum mechanics starting with Einstein’s relativistic ideas leading up to Heisenberg's treatment of quanta and how they affect matter and our perceptions. Basically, forces at the atomic level play out much differently than they do at our level of experience. Much of it is mathematics that is proved with experiments. However, the narrative of the book can be hard to follow without a good knowledge of quantum mechanics and the math that goes with it. Also, it is too bad that the author did not wait another few years because many of his uncertainties were cleared up when the theory of quarks came out about 1965. In the explanations of the math, the author explains very basic concepts that the reader must already know to make sense of this book. It is also interrupted with personal stories and anecdotes that may add some humor, but it is very strained and unprofessional. The sketches and charts are rough and hand-drawn portraits are parodies of the people depicted. A disappointing history.

[Annie Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book several decades ago and enjoyed it hugely this second time as well. It is a history of early 20th-century physics organized around some of the major contributing scientists.

With personal knowledge of the physicists involved, Gamow is able to share not only the physics (in simple terms) but also the atmosphere of the time.

For physicists, immersed in mathematical theories, who can no longer see the forest for the trees, this book gives a quick overview of the beginnings of quantum theory. For anyone trying to understand some of the most important ideas in the recent history of science, this book provides a fairly accessible introduction containing only a small amount of mathematics.

Recommended for those studying physics as well as those interested in the history of science.

[Ángel Páramo · Rating 4 out of 5]

En treinta años que revolucionaron la física Gamow explica el desarrollo de la mecánica cuántica desde 1900 y la explicación de Planck de la radiación de cuerpo negro hasta 1930 con la teoría de mecánica cuántica relativista de Dirac.

El libro describo los avances de los principales científicos, y cuenta cómo fue la época mediante el testimonio en primera mano de Gamow. Los temas están tratados de manera didáctica y amena, es un libro fantástico para tener una visión general del desarrollo de la cuántica a principios del SXX.

PLANCK

Planck indicó la necesidad de que la luz esté cuantizada para resolver la catátrofe ultravioleta en la radiación de cuerpo negro.

A partir de la propuesta de Planck, Einstein explicó el efecto fotoeléctrico, y Compton observó el scattering de electrones con rayos X.

BOHR

Bohr aplicó la cuantificación de energía a los niveles de los átomos. Modificando para ello el modelo atómico de Rutherford. El modelo de Borh fue inmediatamente un éxito, permitiendo reproducir las líneas de Balmer o calcular la constante de Rydberg. Al modelo de Bohr, se le sumó la contribución e Sommerfield, para las óbitas en niveles superiores. Así el primer nivel serían órbitas circulares, el segundo nivel tendría una circular y tres elípticas, el tercer nivel, la circular, tres elípticas y 5 más elípticas. Con cada órbita ocupada por dos electornes de diferentes spin.

Además del modelo atómico Borh contribuyó al desarrollo del modelo nuclear, con la existencia de protones y neutrones, y con la explicación del modelo de gota líquida para la estabilidad nuclear y la fisión del núcleo.

Bohr fue además el gran padre de la mecánica cuántica, por su escuela en Copenhagen pasarón los grandes nombres de la época. Opositor a los nazis, fue transportado por los británicos desde suecia hasta gran bretaña, e iría a estados unidos donde colaboraría con el proyecto manhattan.

PAULI
El modelo de Borh era existoso, pero no permitía entender por que los electrones no colapsaban en los niveles de menor energía. Mediante el principio de exclusión de Pauli, era posible obtener todas las capas de electrones, así como entender las valencia y propiedades químicas que había formulado Medelev de manera experimental.

Además Pauli propuso la existencia del neutrino para explicar el espectro continuo de energía en la desintegración beta. La existencia del neutrino permitía explicar la desintegración beta, y su existencia fue confirmada en 1955.

DE BROGLIE

De Broglie era un aristócrata francés que desarrollo la dualidad onda partícula. Al observar las órbitas de Bohr, estas serían equivalentes a una longitud de onda igual a la constante de Planck entre el momento. Si los electrones se comportaban como ondas, un haz de electrones debería exhivir fenómenos de difracción a la luz, lo cual se observó. Posteriormente se observó experimentalmente para el resto de partículas como protones.

A partir de la dualidad onda-partícula Schrondinger desarrolló su ecuación en la que describe el comportamiento de una partícula como una onda. Aplicando un potencial cilíndrico en la ecuación de Schrondinger se obtienen los niveles nucleares como demostraton Mayer y Hansen. Aplicando un potencial en embudo se obtienen los niveles atómicos. También es posible explicar el efecto tunel y la desintegración nuclear.

HEISENBERG

Simultaneamente a Schrodinger, Heisenber desarrolló una formulación matricial de la cuántica. Además postuló el principio de incetidumbre por el cual la incertidumbre para conocer la posición y el momento es la constante de Planck.

DIRAC

Dirac unificó la ecuación de Schrondinger con la relatividad. Del desarrollo se derivaba la posible existencia de antipartículas, lo cual fue primero observado con el positrón y después con antiprotón, antineutrón, etc.

FERMI

Los científicos se suelen dividir en teóricos con poca capacidad experimental (como Einstein) o experimentalistas con poca capacidad teórica (Rutherford). Fermi fue uno de los casos que pudo combiar ambos aspectos, excelente teórico y excelente experimentalista.

Fermi desarrolló la teoría de deaimiento beta que había propuesto Pauli (electron más neutrino) para formular la interacción débil. Explicando el decaimiento de neutrones o la formación de deuterio mediante protón protón.

Además Fermi dirigió la pila de Chicago, y estudió reacciones nucleares como la desintegración del neutrón con la botella de fermi.

YUKAWA

Yukaya propuso que las fuerzas nucleares se desarrollaran mediante el intercambio de piones. Cuando se descubrió el muón se pensó que sería los piones de Yukaya, que finalmente fueron descubiertos más adelante.

[Michael Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discussed the 30 years of fast advancement of quantum theory, with some equations and quite a bit of human stories of the scientists.
1. Planck: There is an equal partition theorem derived from Newtonian mechanics: in a large number of particles, the energy will be shared equally on average. (Energy is equal. Larger particles will thus be slower.) The resulting distribution of energy vs particle number is later derived by Boltzmann. The distribution of EM radiation from black body is qualitatively similar and can be explained if radiation frequency is not continuous but discrete. Planck postulated this discreteness and got the constant named after him.
2. Bohr: the classic principle of least action states that particle from A to B the total action (energy x time) is smallest or largest of all trajectory. This is adapted to say the action of the electron going through its orbit in a complete cycle (m*v*2πr) must be integer multiple of h. This explains the atomic radiation spectra.
3. Pauli developed the exclusion principle. He also speculated on neutrino which he calls neutron. Fermi later gave the diminutive to Pauli’s neutron because it’s not massive. They are so elusive that to filter out half of neutrinos requires light-years thick of iron!
4. De Broglie. The wave theory of light can show that in total internal reflection, the light actually goes out of the glass, which can be verified by placing another glass several wavelengths away and see the light. De Broglie extends this to particles and considers them having a “pilot wave”. The same effect happens and particles can now get over energy barriers classical mechanics won’t allow them to.
5. Heisenberg. There is a nice explanation of the uncertainty principle. Classic trajectories are idealized lines with no width. Measurement of atomic particles (think cloud chamber) gives a trajectory a width. The minimum width is determined by the uncertainty principle. And the wave function also gives the predicted trajectory a width.
6. Dirac: So far, quantum theory is incompatible with relativity. With relativity, if you multiply time (ict) it is indistinguishable from another space dimension. Yet in Schrodinger’s equation, there is asymmetry as the spatial dimensions have 2nd order derivatives and the time 1st order. There were efforts to bring time to 2nd order and didn’t work. Dirac tried to make the spatial dimension’s derivative 1st order. In so doing, the math allowed for antiparticles which explained cosmic ray observations.
7. Fermi: in explaining beta emission, Fermi made the simplest assumption that probability is proportional to all participating component’s wave function at a particular point. This agrees with observation and now allows all kinds of particle transformations.
8. Yukawa: the strong nuclear interaction is effective only when neucleons come in close contact (about 10^-18cm). Once this happens, breaking the bond takes ~10Mev. Initial attempt to explain this is with electrons exchanging between atomic shells and the math of “exchange force” was created. But it didn’t work for electrons. Yukawa calculated that it takes a particle 207 more massive to do it. This is dubbed meson in the end. Later it was discovered that there are two types of meson, a pi type and a mu type (pion and muon).

What I like most about Gamow’s book (beyond that it’s clear and to the point) is that he’s not shy of using equations, which is so much clearer.

[Robin Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gamow is engaging as a popular science writer -- far better most everyone imho--primarily because he actually teaches some science amid the engaging stories. He uses some math, but adds hand illustrations, and you leave with some knowledge and understanding. The understanding is vague, but it's there, and it isn't there in most pop-science descriptions.

Most pop-science are about everything but the science: the people's love lives, their hair, their finances, their politics. It's low class, and annoying: it's the science that makes any of these interactions interesting. Gamow describes the personal stuff too, but it's in terms of what these people were wrestling with and came to understand, and in some cases what they still don't understand as of the time of the writing -- the lacks. As of writing a unified field theory has failed to appear, there is a lack of understanding of mass, of the particles, and of quantum gravitation (Eistein shows that time must be quantized!). There is a lack of understanding of the self-energy of an electron, that might be solved if space were quantized, and a lack of understanding about how gravity effects an anti-particle; if anti-particles are holes in a sea of particles, they should fall up, as bubbles do.

There are personal stories too, and quirks, e.g. that the phrase "Not to criticize..." is how Bohr would begin criticizing, or that de Broglie was a count, and treated as such in France, where he spoke only French. The book ends with a 10-page humorous play that, I suppose he wrote, that was presented at a Solvay conference conclusion, 1932, where great physicists play parts in a version of Faust. It gives more of a fine sense of the interaction, and the problems. It helps that Gamow was a colleague of these people, helping to develop important new work on nuclear structure and radioactive decay. Interestingly, he seems to like and admire the folks he worked with, even about Heisenberg, a Nazi supporter. Gamow's main personal comments on Heisenberg are that he skied well, played ping pong left handed, that he was a known, excellent piano player.

[Praneeth Avasarala · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there are curious people like me - though not necessarily with a background in science - who want to know and understand (maybe a little) how science changed radically in the last century, I definitely recommend this book as it covers 50% of what we are looking for. I say 50% because the other half deserves its own book about Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

In this book, along with a detailed timeline of 'What happened When by Whom', author tries his best to give a simplified explanations as if he's addressing a general audience. While many of the readers might be satisfied with his explanations, In my case, being a science student myself, I found myself taking a break after every chapter to research more about and understand the topics discussed more deeply. In that sense, this book served as a physics textbook to me even if the author didn't intend for it to happen. Generally, If this were to happen with other books where I find myself feeling 'this explanation is not enough for me' , I would not give 4 stars. But in this case, I choose to believe that the author also hoped his work here would ignite the spark in at least a few if not many readers that propels them to dig deeper on their own. Because if the author were to explain every development in detail, the book would've been more than a thousand pages long !

Other than providing us the information about scientific developments of the time, author also adds anecdotes about the physicists involved - Bohr, Pauli, Dirac, Heisenberg and others. I particularly appreciate him for doing this, as I was always fascinated about the personalities of the said physicists as much as I was about their works.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a bachelor of science degree in physics, and though I'm not the best at it I'm pretty solid in both advanced math and basic physics. I just wasn't cut out to be like the physicists George Gamow writes about at the turn of the century that turned classical physics on its head.

Though some people say this book is directed at laymen, you really should have some physics background to appreciate it. It starts with the ultraviolet catastrophe prediction which led to the rethinking light as photons and ultimately the birth of quantum mechanics. Later, Niels Bohr applied the same thinking to atomic structure.

George Gamow was a Russian physicist and contemporary of many of the famous physicists in this book. He offers up a lot of the history of the science, as well as humorous anecdotes of those involved firsthand at the revolution in physics that occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Do yourself a favor and only get the version that includes the 1932 parody of "Faust" if you read this book.

I cannot recommend it to non-physicists, but this is my second time reading this book and I find not only quantum mechanics fascinating, but George Gamow's matter-of-fact way of describing the problems and how those scientists came up with their radical ideas to model what we observe in nature.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Gamow’s Thirty Years That Shook Physics offers an engaging account of the quantum revolution that reshaped modern physics. Gamow skillfully simplifies complex concepts, making the era’s scientific breakthroughs accessible and relatable. His vivid storytelling brings to life the brilliant minds behind these discoveries, like Einstein and Bohr, turning what could be dense material into an enjoyable read.

For those wary of mathematics, Gamow’s approach is refreshing—formulas are present but easily skipped without losing the narrative's essence. This makes the book ideal for anyone curious about quantum mechanics' history and impact.

Despite the profound subject matter, Gamow's wit and clarity make it feel like a conversation with an old friend. Thirty Years That Shook Physics is a must-read for those intrigued by the universe’s mysteries, providing a captivating glimpse into the scientific minds and moments that revolutionized our understanding of the physical world.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Gamow gives an overview of the development of quantum mechanics from the perspective of one who was there -- in between conversational descriptions of the physics he peppers in neat personal stories, hand drawings, photographs, and quips. There are occasional places where some math is worked through, but these are probably because they are so clear and low-hanging that Gamow couldn't help himself from sharing the elegance of certain arguments. This book was published in 1966 so it is interesting to see where things left off, but also requires that some of the perspectives toward the end be taken in context. I would most strongly recommend this book to someone who already knows the physics, I'm certain this made the read more enjoyable, but I wouldn't discourage anyone from picking it up!

[Ajay Bhat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seemed superficial in a sense, and the main purpose here, I think, was to give a behind the scenes account of the key people involved in the development of Quantum Theory. There are anecdotes along with the theory that help to paint the personality of the physicists. The book is well structured with each scientists contribution put in a chronological manner. However, within each section, some theories have been left without adequate explanations. If you want a proper history of the Quantum field, this is not the right book. The reedming fact here is that the book isn't a heavy read even though I had to re read a few sections to grasp the concepts.

P.S.: If you are not someone with a science background, this book is not for you. If you have studied science but have lost touch with the basics, you would still need to revise a few concepts while reading.

[Carlos Augusto Méndez Alvarado · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Gamow’s creativity, humor, and insider anecdotes make this book entertaining, and some of the illustrations genuinely clarify the physics concepts while connecting them to the underlying equations. That said, the overall structure feels somewhat choppy—more like a draft than a finished narrative. Gamow tends to jump abruptly from equations and explanations to short stories and back again, making the flow uneven.

The Faust parody in the appendix is a unique inclusion, offering a glimpse into the camaraderie among “Bohr’s quantum kids”. As a whole, the book is interesting, but based on the glowing reviews I had expected something more cohesive and polished.

[Soumya Banerji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable book

George Vamos has written a very lucid account of the beginnings oh quantum theory. There is some math but nothing that a bright highs schooler cannot understand. The author, being a noted physicist himself, shares many humorous anecdotes about prominent physicists, some from personal experience. The book may seem a little dated now but it gives a very good account of how quantum theory was born and prospered. A must read for amateur physicists.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book outlining the achievements of the great minds responsible for the formulation, experimentation and ground breaking work involved in theorising quantum dynamics. With quirky stories of the authors friends and clear communication, including hand drawn diagrams and portraits, this book is a must read. The inclusion of Faust (parody) at the rear of the book made me chuckle over and over. You will feel as though you were there, rubbing shoulders with the greats.

[Ajeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geroge Gamov has done really well to make a topic, like quantum mechanics, as simple as possible.
It covers some prominent events between 1900-1930 that shaped the course of modern physics. Besides explaining quantum theory laconically, it also shows the funny sides of some famous physicists.
Overall, if you want to know the very basics of quantum theory without being overwhelmed by its complexity, it should be your go-to book.

[Vishal · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Gamow is an amazing popular science writer. One certainly does not need much background in Quantum mechanics to get an overview, but one will certainly appreciate much, much more - appreciating where in the world people got the idea to quantize things, and how things just blew up due to a bunch of smart guys.
If you are any science enthusiast at all, you must certainly read this book!

[Moby Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading "The Elegant Universe" and the beauty of string theory this book highlights the inelegant history of particle physics. This book gives an excellent history of the development of quantum physics and the personalities involved. It has enough simple math to keep it interesting and some anecdotal stories from someone who was there.

[Ijal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good if one were to have background in science. I can see how some of the concepts may put some people off, with their technicalities. But what can one be inclined to expect greater than this, written by the renowned physicist Gamow, and mind you, insights are crawling all over the page.

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic book on the beginnings of quantum physics, this book is now considered more of a romantic account than a deep analyzes of the period, but it is from a giant author, who was actually there, thus it will always be a wothwhile read.

[Marcin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Świetnie napisana książka. Tak powinny być pisane książki popularnonaukowe.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty Years that Shook Physics is a book written by a scientist about scientists...to scientists. While I enjoyed this book, and found the history fascinating, there was a lot that went over my head. The book is chock full of formulas, equations, and phrases that run something akin to, "I don't have space in this book to explain this specific theory, so I am going to assume you already have a functional knowledge of it." This isn't me complaining; I still enjoyed the book and went into it well aware that I would not understand everything inside of it. I just say this as a warning to anyone else considering reading it.
The writing style of the author was incredibly endearing. I really enjoyed looking at history through the eyes of someone who is not a historian by trade. The anecdotes he shared about the scientists--his friends and people he knew well--were funny and to the point, and showed a side of the scientist that I had rarely seen. There was no skimping on the science however! Gamow still dealt carefully with all of the specific discoveries that were made during these thirty years, and in a technical way. Even though I didn't understand all the specifics, I still felt at the end of it that I had a half-way decent grasp on what kind of a change had occurred during the 30 years he talks about. It was a good read, and I recommend it!

[Barbara Næss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orduliga góð og lærurík

[Rohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very strong book for glimpse of quantum era.