Subtle Is the Lord

Before becoming a science historian, Pais was a theoretical physicist and is one of the founders of theoretical particle physics. He drew from this experience when writing the book, which includes several vignettes of their interactions, including a story of his final visit to see Einstein, who was ill and would die a few months later. The Quantum Theory portion of the book was previously published, in similar form, in a 1979 article Pais coauthored in Reviews of Modern Physics. The book draws its title from a quote by Einstein that translates to "Subtle is the Lord, but malicious he is not". The quote is inscribed in stone at Princeton University, where Einstein made the statement during a 1921 visit to deliver the lectures that would later be published as The Meaning of Relativity. When asked later in life to elaborate on the statement, Einstein said in 1930: "Nature hides its secret because of its essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse." Isaac Asimov summarized this as meaning "the laws of nature were not easy to uncover, but once uncovered, they would not give uncertain result", comparing to another famous Einstein quote: "I cannot believe that God would play dice with the universe". == Themes ==

The book serves as both a biography of Albert Einstein and a catalog of his works and scientific achievements. Though there were several well-known biographies of Einstein prior to the book's publication, this was the first which focused on his scientific research, as opposed to his life as a popular figure. Einstein himself, in 1946 at the age of 67, expressed a desire to be remembered for his work and not his doings, stating "the essential in the being of a man of my type lies precisely in what he thinks and how he thinks, not in what he does or suffers." Beyond the biography, the book serves as the first full-scale exposition of Albert Einstein's scientific contributions; one reviewer noted that, although literature on Einstein is not lacking, prior to this book, someone trying to research Einstein's scientific contributions "faced a choice between reading one or more popularizations of limited scope (and often even more limited depth) and trying to read and digest the almost 300 scientific papers he produced." == Content ==

Pais explains in the book's introduction that an illustration of Einstein's biography would have his work in special relativity building toward general relativity and his work in statistical physics would build toward his work in quantum theory, and all of them would build toward his work in unified field theory; the book's organization represents his attempt to respect that outline. The book has 32 chapters that are divided into eight major sections, with purely biographical chapters marked stylized with italics. These italicized chapters present a non-technical overview of Einstein's life, while the bulk of the book explores Einstein's contributions in mathematical detail. The first part of the book, titled Introductory, serves as a quick summary and outline of the book's contents. The second section, on statistical physics, includes Einstein's contributions to the field between 1900 and 1910 as well as a discussion of the probabilistic interpretation of thermodynamics. The third section, on special relativity, describes the history of special relativity and Einstein's contributions early to relativity theory as well as their relation to the work of Henri Poincaré and Hendrik Lorentz. The next section, on general relativity, covers Einstein's developments of the theory from around 1907 to 1915 and the development of the universally covariant gravitation field equations. The chapter also includes discussion on the development of general relativity by other scientists from 1915 to 1980. Section five includes a biography chapter on Einstein's later life and a discussion of his work in unified field theory. The final section, section six on quantum theory, covers Einstein's work in the field extending over his entire career. == Reception ==

Reviews The book received critical acclaim upon its initial release and was subsequently translated into fifteen languages, establishing Pais as an internationally renowned scholar in the subject. and The New York Review of Books, as well as newspaper articles published in The New York Times, The Leader-Post, The Observer, The Age, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, and The Arizona Republic. and Roger Highfield opened his review of the new volume with: "Among my collection of books on Einstein, there is a dog-eared copy of... Subtle Is the Lord. Its poor condition pays tribute to the value of this brilliantly researched book". Bruno Augenstein wrote in 1994 that the book was a "definitive" scientific biography of Einstein. Schücking, in a 2007 review of the book Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson, stated that "the wonderful book by Pais, which was republished by Oxford University Press in 2005, with a preface by Roger Penrose, is still the best introduction to Einstein’s physics." Similarly, a 2005 article discussing "Einstein's quest for unification" by John Ellis opened by stating that the book is the "definitive scientific biography of Einstein" and that it "delivered an unequivocal verdict on Einstein's quest for a unified field theory". On the book's release in 1982, John Stachel wrote a positive review of the book that stated the book gives a detailed account of nearly all of Einstein's significant scientific contributions along with historical context from an "eminent physicist's perspective". In a second 1982 review, John Allen Paulos wrote that it "is a superb book.". Banesh Hoffmann reviewed the book in 1983 calling it "outstanding" and that it is a "lively book" and a "major contribution to Einstein scholarship". Isaac Asimov wrote that the book gives a "concise history of the physics involved" and that it is "engagingly written". William Hunter McCrea wrote a critical review of the book in 1983, taking issue with several of Pais' statements, but wrote that overall, it was "a major work on Einstein" and that "[f]or those who know well what Einstein achieved, but who may have wondered how he did it, this book should tell them almost all they can ever hope to learn." A third 1983 review stated that the book is a "superb biography of Einstein" and was likely to "become required reading for anyone interested in the history of 20th century physics". The book was also reviewed in German that same year. Among newspaper coverage, the book was the lead article in The New York Times Book Review issue carrying its review. After reviewing the book, Ferris closed by saying that "[of] all the biographies of Einstein, this, I think, is the one he himself would have liked the best." He praised the book for its completeness, stating that it goes much further than previous works in discussing Einstein's contributions as a whole. Felix Gilbert, in a third 1984 review, wrote that the book is "both sensitive and thorough" and that he is "inclined to regard" it as Einstein's "definitive biography". The book was also reviewed in French the same year by Jean Largeault. Among other 1984 reviews, one stated that it was a "monumental biography" and that it "does full justice to the title, the Science and the Life of Einstein" that was written with "tremendous erudition and sensibility". A 1986 review of the book stated that the "book, despite its blindspots, shortcomings, and difficulties for the uninitiated reader, will remain an indispensable source for anyone interested" in Einstein's life. Among criticisms of various aspects of the book, several reviews noted that understanding many parts of the book would require a background in physics. He went on to note that the book does not include any details on Einstein's experimental and technological designs, outside of a single recount of a 1915 experiment with Wander Johannes de Haas. In a chapter titled "the edge of history", Pais stated that Whittaker's treatment shows "how well the author's lack of physical insight matches his ignorance of the literature". One reviewer wrote, in agreement with the statement, that "Pais correctly dismisses" Whittaker's point of view in the "controversy concerning priority" with an "apt sentence". Another reviewer, William Hunter McCrea in 1983, stated that the dismissal was put "in terms that can only be called scurrilous" and that "[t]o one who knew Whittaker and his regard for historical accuracy the opinion is lamentable." Outside of the priority dispute, several reviewers noted that, at the time of publication, there was no consensus among scientific scholars for some questions in the history of special and general relativity, and that Pais makes multiple assertions that are based on disputable evidence. The contested assertions included Pais' claim that the Michelson–Morley experiment did not play a major role in Einstein's development of the special theory as evidence for the charge. Noting the potential controversies, Timothy Ferris wrote that Pais "is less to be blamed for having reached arguable conclusions in matters of intense scholarly debate than praised for having had the grit to confront them." In his 1982 review, John Stachel criticized the book for not discussing the Fizeau experiment and for using an archaic explanation of the twin paradox of special relativity. Stachel also noted that Pais misattributed a quote to Einstein related to the paradox. He went on to state his belief that Pais "missed the mark" in his presentation of the postulates of special relativity, writing that the book neglects evidence that Einstein had considered alternative formulations before adopting his second postulate. Stachel also noted that Pais seemed to not have studied the notebooks Einstein wrote during the development of general relativity and stated that one of them makes Pais' version of the development of general relativity "untenable". Other reviewers brought up specific issues with the development as well, including William Hunter McCrea, who criticized the book for not including Sir Arthur Eddington's book The Mathematical Theory of Relativity in his list of books on the development of general relativity. McCrea went on to state that Pais included details of a non-existent woman who fainted from excitement upon Einstein's arrival and that the woman was later randomly transformed into a man. McCrea claimed that "[s]uch indications make one uncertain about the judgements and historical details in the book". In his 1983 review, Banesh Hoffmann noted that Pais fails to mention "Einstein's long-held erroneous belief that if one went from Minkowski coordinates to more general coordinates, one would no longer be dealing with the special theory of relativity", but that he "makes ample amends" by including a quote from Einstein on the topic, stating that "[o]ne could hardly want a clearer indication of the extraordinary power of Einstein's intuition". == Awards ==

The New York Times listed the volume as one of its "Notable Books of the Year" in 1982 with a caption that read: "The first biography to emphasize the physicist's scientific research rather than his life is 'splendid,' if 'written in a rigorous vocabulary.'" The book won 1983's National Book Award for Nonfiction in the category of hardcover science books. == Publication history ==

The book was originally published in English in 1982 by Oxford University Press with . The initial publication of the book was very popular; over 30,000 hardcover copies and a similar number of paperback copies were sold worldwide during its first year. The book performed particularly well in the United States, with 25,000 of the 30,000 copies of the hardcover edition sold there while another 2,500 were sold in Great Britain. It was reprinted in 2005, also by Oxford University Press, with with a new introduction by Roger Penrose. As of 2011, the book had been translated into fifteen languages. Among others, it has translations in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Russian. English editions • • Foreign translations • • • • • • • • • • == See also ==

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