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Gino Segre: Scientist writes pop histories of science

In Gino Segre’s family, physics seems to be in the genes.

Dr. Segre is physics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His uncle, Emilio Segre, was a winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the antiproton. An older brother is a physicist, and an additional “six or seven” cousins do physics, too.

But Dr. Segre, 68, has a second profession: he writes popular books about the history of science. His most recent book, “Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics,” about a 1932 conference at Niels Bohr’s Institute for Theoretical Physics, has just been published, drawing praise from reviewers.

Q. Why write a book about one scientific meeting?

A. Because this was no ordinary meeting. For much of the 1930s, Niels Bohr invited young physicists to Copenhagen for an annual gathering where they could talk, joke and trade theories.

The 1932 conference took place at a moment of profound transitions. This was the “miracle year of physics,” when a rapid succession of discoveries brought an end to the uncovering of quantum mechanics and the beginning of nuclear physics. Within the year, the Nazis would take power in Germany. Many of the conferees were Jewish. They’d soon be refugees....
Read entire article at NYT