The Recollections of Eugene P. Wigner

Eugene P. Wigner indisputedly one of the worlds greatest physicists of the twentieth century recounts the breathtaking story of his singular life. Dr. Wigners wining of the Nobel Prize crowned a lifetime of achievements in physics - achievements that profoundly affect our understanding of science today. His enormous contributions to the Manhattan Project and his insights into quantum physics stand as hallmarks of his incomparable talent. But equally important are his musings on his long and uniquely fascinating life.This memoir a fruitful collaboration between Eugene Wigner and writer Andrew Szanton reveals a story by turns endearing painful and ultimately triumphant. A witness to many of the changes of the twentieth century Wigner grew up amid the political turmoil of Hungary. He later experienced the Berlin of the early 1930s as Hitler rose to power. During World War II he took an active role in the Manhattan Project the building of the worlds first atomic bomb. In his recollections he conveys the exultation of observing the first successfully controlled nuclear chain reaction.Eugene Wigners friends and acquaintances comprise a Whos Who of twentieth-century scientists and the book is replete with their vivid candid and amusing portrayals. Having enjoyed many years working with Albert Einstein he paints an engaging portrait of that most famous of geniuses. He also sketches distinctive pictures of the trio of his fellow Hungarians: Leo Szilard one of the first men to dream seriously about the atom bomb; Johnny von Neumann perhaps the greatest mathematician of the century; and Edward Teller the prime architect of the hydrogen bomb.This is the first major book ever written about Eugene P. Wigner. It makes a significant contribution to the history of the Manhattan Project and to the history of nuclear physics. But in a much larger sense physics is only its backdrop. The real story is that of an extraordinary man and his unforgettable life.