The Man Who Stalked Einstein: How Nazi Scientist Philipp Lenard Changed the Course of History
Industry: Books
THE MAN WHO STALKED EINSTEIN tells a little-known but important story about the antagonistic relationship between Albert Einstein & Philipp Lenard that changed the world.
United States (PRUnderground) February 27th, 2015
Timed to the 60th anniversary of Einstein’s death, Lyons Press is proud to publish THE MAN WHO STALKED EINSTEIN: How Nazi Scientist Philipp Lenard Changed the Course of History. (April 2015, 978-1-4930-0011-1, $26.95 hardcover), by Bruce J. Hillman with Brigit Ertl-Wagner and Bernd C. Wagner.
THE MAN WHO STALKED EINSTEIN highlights a little-known but important story about the antagonistic relationship between Albert Einstein and Philipp Lenard that changed the course of history and still influences the science of today.
Einstein and Lenard were opposites in virtually every way. That both men were brilliant scientists and Nobel laureates with opposing views about what constituted important, believable science made some degree of conflict inevitable.
Lenard’s experimental physics and Einstein’s theoretical physics represent two opposing schools of thought that came into conflict throughout Europe. However, the enmity that each felt for the other was based on much more than their science. It was personal.
Lenard was so consumed by his own narcissism, his envy of Einstein’s fame, and his hatred for Jews that he sacrificed the integrity of his science and his personal reputation among the community of scientists on the altar of his personal prejudices.
For nearly fifteen years, Lenard had led the opposition that finally forced Einstein to flee his native Germany. Driven by professional disagreement, intense envy over the public’s adoration of Einstein, and virulent anti-Semitism, Lenard unrelentingly harassed Einstein and publicly denigrated his theory of relativity.
THE MAN WHO STALKED EINSTEIN traces the convergence of influences and events that turned Lenard from a productive and highly respected scientist to a man consumed by racial hatred and an early supporter of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.
Lenard’s experimental physics and Einstein’s theoretical physics represent two opposing schools of thought that came into conflict throughout Europe.
Lenard and Einstein’s scientific differences sparked their heated interpersonal dispute that highlighted an era of intellectual tumult and led to the dismantling of the natural sciences in Germany. The resultant international diaspora of German natural scientists, the most accomplished scientific community of its era, had an important impact on the international scientific community that still reverberates today.
Indeed, their mutual antagonism affected the direction of science long after 1933, when Einstein took flight to America and changed the history of two nations.
ABOUT BRUCE HILLMAN
Bruce J. Hillman, MD, Professor and former Chair of Radiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has distinguished himself as a health services researcher, clinical trialist, and author. He has published over 300 medical articles and editorials and is the author of several books, including The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: How Medical Imaging is Changing Health Care (Oxford University Press, 2010) Dr. Hillman has served as Editor-in-Chief of three medical journals, including his current position with the Journal of the American College of Radiology. He was Deputy Editor of the online literary and humanities journal, Hospital Drive. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, his medical degree from the University of Rochester, and trained in radiology at Boston’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He lives in Wake Forest, North Carolina, with his wife. For more information, please visit www.brucejhillman.com
Lyons Press | An Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield
The Man Who Stalked Einstein | by Bruce J. Hillman
April, 2015 | 978-0-7627-8700-5 | $26.95 hardcover | 978-1-4930-1569-6, $25.99 ebook
About Bruce J. Hillman
THE MAN WHO STALKED EINSTEIN highlights a little-known but important story about the antagonistic relationship between Albert Einstein and Philipp Lenard that changed the course of history and still influences the science of today.
Einstein and Lenard were opposites in virtually every way. That both men were brilliant scientists and Nobel laureates with opposing views about what constituted important, believable science made some degree of conflict inevitable.
