by James Gleick
Feynman’s first encounter, 60–61
in quantum mechanics, 121, 127–29, 131–32, 138–39, 147, 247–50
Lee, Tsung Dao, 333–34, 336–37
Leighton, Ralph, 409–10
Leighton, Robert B., 363
Levi-Civita, Tullio, 56
Lewine, Frances (cousin), 26, 438
Lewine, Pearl (Phillips) (aunt), 25, 26
Lewine, Ralph (uncle), 26
Lewine, Robert (cousin), 26
Lewis, Gilbert N., 120
light, 14, 30, 57–61, 71–72, 80–83, 100–1, 110–11, 120–21, 125–26, 247, 250, 259, 273, 284, 368, 373. See also photon; quantum electrodynamics
Lilly, John, 406
Lindemann, Ferdinand von, 52
liquid helium, see superfluidity
Littlewood, J. E., 236, 238
lock picking, 15, 187–88, 297, 340
Lombroso, Cesare, 318
Long Island Rail Road, 20
Lorentz, Hendrik A., 72
Los Alamos, 3, 6, 8, 9, 49, 185–87, 190, 204–5, 216, 218
choice of site, 159–60
computing at, 164, 175–82, 190–91, 198, 201
postwar, 208–10, 212, 234
security, 161–62, 187, 191–92, 237
theoretical division, 165–66, 169, 172
Los Angeles Times, 437
Love in America (Cohn), 192
Lovingood, Judson A., 419
McAuliffe, Christa, 415
McCarran Immigration Act, 297
MacInnes, Duncan, 232
McLellan, William, 356
McMillin Theater (Columbia University), 252
McNair, Ronald, 415
McSherry, Rose, 263, 266
Magic City, The (Nesbit), 237
Magic Mountain, The (Mann), 134
Mailer, Norman, 326
Manhattan Project, see atomic bomb; Los Alamos
Marchant calculator, see calculating machines
Marshak, Robert, 256, 337–38, 411
Marshall Space Flight Center, 417, 426
Marx, Groucho, 9, 405
mass, 4–5, 99, 231, 239–40, 251, 262, 272, 283
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 49, 51–91
curriculum, 66
cyclotron, 107
fraternities, 62–64, 69, 74, 117, 374
machine shops, 77–78
physics at, 53–56, 66–67, 79–80
Radiation Laboratory, 91, 136–38, 141, 158, 166, 209, 216, 234
senior theses, 82–83, 86
social life, 62–64
mathematics, 25, 47, 52, 83, 155, 235
in biology, 132
education, 399–401
Feynman and, 27, 32, 34–36, 102–5, 129, 182–83, 217–18
music and, 65
Nobel Prize and, 377
nonlinear, 164, 174, 178–81
partitions, 238
physics vs., 52–54, 56, 102–3, 145, 238
probability theory, 34, 166, 168–69, 197, 249
recreational, 34–36, 103–5
Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis Moreau de, 59, 61
Mautner, Leonard, 23, 34
Maxwell, James Clerk, 49, 101, 110–11, 118, 262, 368, 431
Maya, 292, 367
Mayhew, Nye, 62
Mayo Clinic, 195–96, 219
Mead, Carver, 434
Mead, Margaret, 287
medicine
Feynman and, 125–27, 194–96, 402
scientific method in, 132–34, 194–96
tuberculosis, 133–35, 149–50
Melchior, Lauritz, 328
Melville, Herman, 319
Menge, Edward J. v. K., 52–53
Merton, Robert K., 329
meson, 146, 229, 250, 256, 269, 270–71, 282–83, 304, 309, 333, 336
Metallurgical Laboratory (Chicago), 146, 157–58, 161, 164
Metropolis, Nicholas, 180–81, 185
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), 46
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 328
Michigan State University, 292
microbiology, 133, 293, 329, 349–51, 355, 358
Mill, John Stuart, 66
Miller, Glenn, 62
Millikan, Robert, 33, 81, 306, 358
Milton, 314
mind, see consciousness
miniaturization, see nanotechnology
Minkowski, Hermann, 70, 109, 122–23
miracles, 58, 362, 372–73
Miramar Palace Hotel (Rio de Janeiro), 282, 287
Miranda, Carmen, 278
mirror, 331. See also symmetry
Möbius strip, 67
Moore, Jesse, 419–20
Morrison, Philip, 10 n, 157, 212, 263, 285, 407
Morse, Philip M., 53, 55, 76, 78–80, 83–84, 86, 91
Morse, Samuel, 319
Morton, Donald, 404
Morton Thiokol, 419, 421, 425
Mount Wilson Observatory, 293
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 319, 322–23, 325, 328
Mulloy, Lawrence, 422–23
Munich, University of, 52, 53, 166
music, 14, 15, 65, 285–86, 319, 322–23, 328
Nabokov, Vladimir, 243
nanotechnology, 14, 77, 354–56, 407
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), 415–28
National Academy of Sciences, 259, 383–84
National Air and Space Museum (Smithsonian Institution), 421
National Geographic, 46
National Research Council, 93, 216, 428
National Science Foundation, 210
National Youth Administration, 76
nature
laws of, 57–61, 101, 109, 244, 265, 294, 299, 317, 325, 338, 365–67, 411
simplicity in, 13–14, 22, 59–60, 78, 260, 432–38
Nazi Party, 167
Neddermeyer, Seth, 170
Nesbit, Edith, 237
Neumann, John von, 115, 117, 202, 255
early computing, 181–82
fluid models, 299
and irresponsibility, 181, 200
mental calculating, 175
neuropsychology, 312, 321
neutrino, 283, 335–38
neutron, 78–80, 94–95, 114, 136, 140, 157, 161–63, 168, 172–75, 198, 270, 305, 307, 335, 392
New York Academy of Sciences, 232
New York City, 20–23, 27, 41, 48–49
public schools, 30–32, 48
New York Herald Tribune, 233
New York Times, 42, 154, 235, 375–76, 421–22
New York University, 34
New Yorker, 399
Newman, Thomas H., 356
Newton, Isaac, 38, 41, 57–61, 109, 363
forces and, 88, 111, 228
as genius, 314–15, 317, 319–20, 328–29
laws of, 29, 59–61, 106, 147, 365, 368, 375
originality and, 10
time and, 119
Niels Bohr Institute, 4, 5, 93, 279
Nishijima, Kazuhiko, 310, 360
Nobel Prize, 5, 23, 49, 166, 209, 242, 375–82, 396
Bethe’s, 166, 377
Bohr’s, 242, 375–76
Chandrasekhar’s, 316
effect on winners, 381–83
Einstein’s, 375–77
Feynman’s, 9, 349, 375–83, 401, 408, 417
Fleming’s, 133
Gell-Mann’s, 390, 396
Lamb’s, 234
nomination by Feynman, 396
Oppenheimer and, 5, 159, 377
prestige of, 374–76
rule of three, 377
Yang and Lee’s, 334
nonlinear mathematics, 164, 174, 178–81
nuclear physics, see physics
nucleus, 9, 79–80, 130, 264, 307, 392
molecular forces, 89–90
uranium, 95
Oak Ridge, 141, 165, 197–200, 205, 209, 228
Oersted, Hans Christian, 320
Office of Naval Research, 209, 211, 294
Olum, Pa
ul, 141–42, 145, 158, 162, 178, 190
Omar Khayyám, 343
Omni, 396
Onizuka, Ellison, 415
Onsager, Lars, 300–301, 316
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 4–6, 24, 53, 85, 158–60, 162–64, 166, 168, 175, 185, 187, 198, 233, 239, 255, 258, 260–61, 270–71, 330, 333
Dyson and, 259, 266–70, 377
Feynman and, 6, 85, 144, 184, 190, 199–200, 204, 226–27, 257–59, 266–70
Nobel Prize, 5, 159, 377
post-bomb psychology, 3, 203, 207–10
Schwinger and, 158, 216, 234, 252, 257–59, 266–70
security trials, 5, 210, 292, 295–96
at Trinity, 154–56
originality, see genius
out-of-body experiences, 14, 406
Pais, Abraham, 99, 228 n, 233, 307, 309–10, 332–33
Pale Fire (Nabokov), 243
Palmer Physical Laboratory (Princeton University), 107–8
Pan American Airways, 278, 287
Paris Match, 286
parity, 330–35, 338–40
Park, David, 10 n, 61, 124, 366
particle accelerators. See also CERN; Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
early, 95–96, 107
postwar, 210–11, 226, 255–56, 295, 304, 309, 332, 389–91, 435–36
Soviet, 298
technique, 16, 305–6
in uranium separation, 139–45
particles. See also electron; photon; etc.
associated production, 307, 309
conceptions of, 5, 89, 123, 242–43, 256, 261–62, 275, 283, 307, 369, 375
fundamental, 58, 283
inertia and, 175
interaction of, 48, 102, 110–12, 117–18, 121, 139, 147
paths, 7, 57–61, 109, 121, 128, 132, 171, 229–31, 247–49, 255, 258
proliferation of, 114, 256, 283, 304–5, 309, 330, 389
quasi-, 300–302
scattering, 79–82, 174, 256
virtual, 273–75
waves and, 7, 18–19, 73, 80, 99, 243, 247
partons, 9, 387–96
Pasadena (Calif.), 82, 277, 281–82
Huntington Hotel, 347
path integrals, 246–51, 254–55, 275
in beta decay, 336
development of, 132, 174, 229–31
first presentation, 258
in gravitation, 354
in masers, 349
revival of, 354, 404
Pauli, Wolfgang, 117–18, 127, 216, 242, 257, 269. See also exclusion principle
on Dirac, 58
“ganz falsch,” 115, 404
on parity, 334
Pauling, Linus, 40, 293
Peierls, Rudolf, 169
penicillin, 133, 196, 329
periodic table, 294, 389
Phi Beta Delta (MIT), 63–64, 69, 74, 117, 374
Phillips, Henry (maternal grandfather), 24, 26
Phillips, Johanna (née Helinksy, maternal grandmother), 24
philosophy, 58–60, 364–75, 391
atoms and, 36–38, 67–70
Feynman and, 13–14, 182, 232, 364–75, 397–98, 400, 429, 436
quantum mechanics and, 54, 88–89, 429–30
time and, 109, 123–26, 243–44
photon, 54, 120–21, 242–43, 246, 268, 270, 273–75, 394
Physical Review, 6, 48, 216, 261, 266, 275, 310, 316, 381
of the blind men, 435
Feynman and, 76, 82, 90, 249, 271–72, 338
Feynman diagrams in, 283–84
women in, 289
Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion, 48, 128
physics, 48. See also quantum electrodynamics, quantum mechanics
American, 44–45, 53–55
anti-Semitism in, 53, 84–85
as career, 52–53, 91
conferences
Cambridge, Mass. (1941), 117
Chicago (1933), 40
Cornell (1963), 123–26
New York (1948), 252
New York (1949), 270
New York (1955), 301
Oldstone-on-the-Hudson (1950), 271
Pasadena (1959), 354–55
Pocono (1948), 4–8, 255–61, 288, 304, 384
Princeton (1946), 226
“Rochester” (1950–57), 304, 310, 332–33, 334–35, 339
San Francisco (1972), 411–12
Shelter Island (1948), 232–34
Solvay (1961), 347
Warsaw (1962), 353–54
elementary particle, 9, 16, 294–95
elite, 4–5
experiment in, 16, 234, 305–6
final laws, 432–34
generations of, 8
grand unified theories, 431–34
heroes in, 8
history, 279–80, 380
as human activity, 364
in Japan, 259–61
journals, 48
language of, 14, 229, 295, 390, 431
military and, 4, 209–11, 294–95, 385
models in, 86, 210, 243–44, 299, 367–68, 375, 437
nuclear, 40, 48, 67, 79–80, 94–96, 98, 130, 136–45, 163–75, 196–200, 209–11, 226
prewar growth, 98
solid-state, 14, 86–88, 298
teaching, 55–56, 357–59
unification, 7, 265–66
visualization in, 5, 7, 241–49, 255–56, 302–3, 325–26
women in, 289, 411–12
World War II and, 4
Physics Today, 259, 289, 384–85
Piaggio, H. T. H., 236
Picasso, Pablo, 326
pion, 304–5, 332–33, 336
Planck, Max, 71, 146
Plato, 36
Plutonium, 141, 164–65, 168, 170, 173, 196–9’
Pocono conference (1948), 4–8, 255–61, 288, 304, 384
Podolsky, Boris, 216
poetry, 7–8, 31–32, 69, 105, 244, 314, 373–74, 412–13, 436–37
poker, 182, 239
polaron, 349
polio, 133
Polkinghorne, John, 215 n, 334 n, 372
positron, see antimatter
Presbyterian Sanatorium (Albuquerque, N.M.), 3, 159, 170, 184, 192
Princeton University, 53, 58, 76, 96
bicentennial, 226
fellowships, 136
Feynman and, 83–85
Graduate College, 97, 102
laboratories, 106–8
oral examinations, 130
physics colloquium, 114–15, 117
tea, 97–98, 102–3, 130
war work, 141
probability, 79, 119, 373, 404
amplitude, 132, 246–49, 275, 393–94, 433
negative, 73
in quantum mechanics, 72–75, 128, 132, 246–49, 258, 275
risk and, 197, 427–28
theory of, 166, 168–69, 249
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 48
Prometheus, 203, 207–8
psychology, 19, 223–25, 255, 312–13, 321, 324, 362, 374–75, 405–6
Putnam competition, 83
Pythagoras, 41
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, 13
quantum chromodynamics, 402–4, 431
quantum electrodynamics, 6–9, 159, 242, 304, 330, 347–49, 377–80
accuracy of, 330, 348
crisis in, 99–100, 226, 234, 239
Dyson’s, 266–72, 377–78
early, 48–49
Feynman’s, 127–29, 146–48, 245–52, 258, 267–77, 311, 321, 380–81
“partons” of, 394
Schwinger’s, 251–52, 255–62, 266–69, 275–76, 321
Tomonaga’s, 259–61
Quantum Electrodynamics, 12
quantum mechanics, 13, 55–56, 70–77, 88–89
causality and, 7, 40, 70–72, 112, 243, 371
chemistry and, 40, 87
diffusion and, 174–75, 249
exclusion principle, 6–7, 255, 258
infinities in, 4, 49, 99–100, 231
–32, 238
Klein-Gordon equation, 74
least action in, 121, 127–29, 131–32, 138–39, 147, 247–50
mysteriousness of, 40, 44–45, 54, 70–71, 114,436–37
philosophy and, 40, 70–72, 243–44, 371–72, 375
probability in, 72–75, 88, 128, 132, 246–49, 275, 393–94, 433
two-slit experiment, 247–48, 250, 366
uncertainty and, 8, 70, 72–73, 75, 78, 89, 258, 321, 361, 429–30, 435
wave-particle duality, 7, 18–19, 40, 54, 80, 250, 261–62
quarks, 9, 390–96, 402–3, 432
quasiparticles, 300–302
Quine, W. V., 371
Quintilian, 313
Rabi, Isidor Isaac, 232, 233, 386
anti-Semitism and, 53
at Columbia, 232, 234, 251
Feynman and, 144, 296
at Pocono, 255
at Radiation Laboratory, 91, 137, 141
Schwinger and, 215–16, 243
at Trinity, 154, 156
radar, 91, 124, 136–38, 209, 216
radiation resistance, 109–11, 114
radiation science, 196–200
radio, 17–19, 46–47
ham, 282
rainbow, 130, 434
Ramanujan, Srinivasa, 238
Rand, Sally, 41
Reagan, Ronald W., 416
reality, 38, 44–45, 101, 243–44, 375, 395
Reichstag, 167
relativity, 71, 99–100
general, 42, 74–75, 115, 316, 329, 351—54
popularization of, 42–43, 45, 429–30
quantum electrodynamics and, 99–100
renormalization, 239–40, 251–52, 259–62, 270, 282, 330, 377
qualms over, 347–49, 378, 380
Resnick, Judith, 415
Reviews of Modern Physics, 80, 249
Rhodes, Richard, 159
Richter, Charles, 281–82
Ride, Sally, 417
Riordan, Michael, 389–90
risk, 197, 427–28
Ritz, Walter, 118–19
Robertson, H. P., 130
Roethke, Theodore, 412–13
Rogers, Will, 281
Rogers, William P., 416–17, 419–23, 426
Rome, University of, 166
Röntgen, Wilhelm, 99
Rosen, Nathan, 216
Rothstein, E. V., 412
Royal Air Force, 236–37
Rubáiyát (Omar Khayyám), 343
Russell, Henry Norris, 115
Ruth, Babe, 43–44, 327
Rutherford, Ernest, 71
S matrix, 267, 329
safecracking, 15, 189–90
Sakharov, Andrei, 297
Salam, Abdus, 405, 431
Salieri, Antonio, 322
Salk, Jonas, 133
samba, 286, 340
Sands, Matthew, 343, 363
Schein, Marcel, 304
Schrieffer, Robert, 303
Schrödinger, Erwin, 73–75, 88, 128, 232, 242, 246, 367