Quantum man : Richard Feynman's life in science / Lawrence M. Krauss.

Perhaps the greatest physicist of the second half of the twentieth century, Richard Feynman changed the way we think about quantum mechanics, the most perplexing of all physical theories. Here the author, himself a theoretical physicist, offers a scientific biography: a narrative coupled with clear and novel expositions of science at the limits. An immensely colorful persona in and out of the office, Feynman revolutionized our understanding of nature amid a turbulent life. The author presents that life, from the death of Feynman's childhood sweetheart during the Manhattan Project to his reluctant rise as a scientific icon, seen through the science, providing a new understanding of the legacy of a man who has fascinated millions. A reflection on the issues that drive physics today, this work captures the story of a man who was willing to break all the rules to tame a theory that broke all the rules.

Traces the colorful, turbulent life of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, from the death of his childhood sweetheart during the Manhattan Project to his rise as an icon in the scientific community.

New York : Atlas & Co. : W.W. Norton, [2011], ©2011.

xvii, 350 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

1st ed.

"Atlas Books."

The paths to greatness. Lights, camera, action ; The quantum universe ; A new way of thinking ; Alice in Quantumland ; Endings and beginnings ; Loss of innocence ; Paths to greatness ; From here to infinity ; Splitting an atom ; Through a glass darkly -- The rest of the universe. Matter of the heart and the heart of matter ; Rearranging the universe ; Hiding in the mirror ; Distractions and delights ; Twisting the tail of the cosmos ; From top to bottom ; Truth, beauty, and freedom -- Character is destiny.

Includes bibliographical references and index.