The Agony and the Ecstasy

Senthil Kumaran — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:34:00 GMT

That night, as he lay sleepless in bed, he thought. "Life has bee good. God did not create me to abandon me. I have loved marble, yes and paint too. I have loved architecture, and poetry too. I have loved my family and my friends. I have loved God the forms of the earth and the heavens, and people too. I have loved life to the full, and now I love death as its natural termination. Il Magnifico would be happy: for me, the forces of destruction never overcame creativity"

From The Agony and the Ecstasy The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961) is a biographical novel of Michelangelo Buonarroti written by American author Irving Stone. Stone lived in Italy for years visiting many of the locations in Rome and Florence, worked in marble quarries, and apprenticed himself to a marble sculptor. A primary source for the novel is Michelangelo's correspondence, all 495 letters of which Stone had translated from Italian by Charles Speroni and published in 1962 as I, Michelangelo, Sculptor. Stone also collaborated with Canadian sculptor Stanley Lewis, who researched Michelangelo's carving technique and tools. The Italian government lauded Stone with several honorary awards for his cultural achievements highlighting Italian history.

Men Who Made New Physics

Senthil Kumaran — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:38:00 GMT

I finished reading this book on Monday. It is an excellent book that tells the stories of many physicists working during the prime era of physics. It starts with Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937), was a New Zealand physicist and chemist who was a pioneering researcher in both atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nuclear physics" and "the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday." In 1908, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances." 's story about his rustic nature and how he used to work in his lab.

I was amazed by the story of Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (; German: [ˈmaks ˈplaŋk] ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist. He was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta". , and I have decided to keep Max Planck as an example of being organized and disciplined in life. Max Planck was very organized, it seems. He used to come to the lab almost at the same time every day, and he had set aside half an hour daily for learning piano. His work style was appreciated by many. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the known theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for "his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". and others respected and loved him, addressing him as "our Planck." Later, in Einstein's story, I learned that Einstein resigned from his post in Germany during the troubled Nazi era, knowing that it would fall upon Planck to make the decision of removing Einstein. Einstein understood that Planck would feel uncomfortable doing it. Einstein then moved to Princeton University Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The institution moved to Newark in 1747 and then to its Mercer County campus in Princeton nine years later. It officially became a university in 1896 and was subsequently renamed Princeton University. as the political situation in Germany worsened under Hitler.

One funny thing I can recall is that during one of the anti-Einstein meetings, Einstein was present in the audience and enjoying it.

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; Danish: [ˈne̝ls ˈpoɐ̯ˀ]; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. He was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research. is another scientist we come to know in detail. He, along with Einstein, was one of the primary characters in this book. Bohr had established an institute where many young physicists loved to study and conduct experiments. Physicists who had been there felt it was a golden era.

The final topic is on Einstein and Bohr's debate. Einstein believed that there is an organized approach in God's design of the universe, whereas Bohr's point of argument (as I understood) was that we have not yet understood the organization of the universe enough to comment on it. Bohr was an athlete and used to go for short sprints between scientific discussions and debates, it seems. :-)

Many of my friends will enjoy this book. Jonathan gifted it to me while I was in college, and Kannapan feels this is one of the best books he has ever read.

I took some snaps of the middle-page pictures using my Nokia 6600.

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Senthil Kumaran (Posts about biography)

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Men Who Made New Physics