| A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy of Godel and Einstein Contributor(s): Yourgrau, Palle (Author) |
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ISBN: 0465092942 ISBN-13: 9780465092949 Publisher: Basic Books OUR PRICE: $18.04 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2006 Annotation: In 1942, the logician Kurt Godel suffered a major episode of depression that required a stay at a mental hospital. Upon his release, Albert Einstein, his colleague at the Institute for Advanced Studies, took Godel under his wing and, to cheer him up, gave him "relativity lessons." The two became close friends; they walked to and from their offices at the Institute every day, exchanging ideas about science, philosophy, politics and the lost world of German science in which both men had grown up. By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist. Einstein endorsed this result--reluctantly, since it decisively overthrew the classical world-view to which he was committed. But he could find no way to refute it, and in the half-century since then, neither has anyone else. Even more remarkable than this stunning discovery by two of the greatest intellects of all time, however, was what happened afterward: nothing. Cosmologists have proceeded with their work as if time were the linear phenomenon familiar to Newton or Galileo (with some allowances for relativistic distortion); philosophers have refused to recognize Godel as an important philosopher of time. While arguing that these failures constitute major scandals of modern intellectual history, Palle Yourgrau also offers a mitigating explanation. Godel's cosmological findings, he says, are so advanced as to be beyond the ability of modern science to deal with them. But Godel's results show that relativity, too, is in the same category. A World without Time is a sweeping, ambitious book, and yet poignant and intimate--it tells the story of two magnificent minds put on theshelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue from undeserved obscurity the brilliant work they did together. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Science | History - Science | Physics - Relativity - Science | Time |
| Dewey: 115.092 |
| Physical Information: 0.56" H x 5.34" W x 8.02" (0.52 lbs) 224 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1900-1949 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: It is a widely known but little considered fact that Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel were best friends for the last decade and a half of Einstein's life. The two walked home together from Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study every day; they shared ideas about physics, philosophy, politics, and the lost world of German science in which they had grown up. By 1949, Godel had produced a remarkable proof: In any universe described by the Theory of Relativity, time cannot exist . Einstein endorsed this result-reluctantly, since it decisively overthrew the classical world-view to which he was committed. But he could find no way to refute it, and in the half-century since then, neither has anyone else. Even more remarkable than this stunning discovery, however, was what happened afterward: nothing. Cosmologists and philosophers alike have proceeded with their work as if Godel's proof never existed -one of the greatest scandals of modern intellectual history. A World Without Time is a sweeping, ambitious book, and yet poignant and intimate. It tells the story of two magnificent minds put on the shelf by the scientific fashions of their day, and attempts to rescue from undeserved obscurity the brilliant work they did together. |