Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe

Schweber’s account of Hans Bethe’s life through his Nobel Prize–winning 1938 work on energy generation in stars reveals the origins of a charismatic scientist, grounded in the importance of his parents and his Jewish roots. Born in 1906, Bethe was fascinated by math and, mentored by his neurophysiologist father, he grew up exploring and understanding the world through rational, scientific models. At Frankfurt University he initially chose a chemistry major, but after a mishap with sulfuric acid he found a home in theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. Returning to Germany after completing a post-doc at Cambridge, Bethe, whose mother was Jewish, found the 1933 Civil Service Law forbade “non-Aryans” from government jobs, so he joined his Jewish associates in moving abroad. Accepting a post at Cornell University, Bethe enjoyed the “teamwork” between theorists and experimentalists. Schweber focuses on his Nobel-winning work during this early period as his career was just getting started. A final chapter looks at his wife’s influence on him. Despite side trips into college-level math and physics, Schweber, who has taught the history of ideas and of science at Harvard and Brandeis, recreates the social world that shaped the character of the last of the memorable young scientists who established the field of quantum mechanics. (June)