This is a fascinating account of two great scientists of the 20th century: Einstein and Heisenberg, discoverers, respectively, of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. It connects the history of modern physics to the life stories of these two extraordinary physicists.These discoveries laid the foundation of modern physics, without which our digitized world of computers, satellites, and innovative materials would not be possible. This book also describes in comprehensible terms the complicated science underlying the two discoveries.The twin biography highlights the parallels and differences of these two luminaries, showing how their work shaped the 20th century into the century of physics.

Konrad Kleinknecht is a Professor of Experimental Physics. He has done research at CERN, in Geneva, and at the Universities of Heidelberg, Dortmund, Mainz, and Munich. During 1976, he worked at Caltech in Pasadena and at the Fermi National Laboratory near Chicago. In 1988 and 1989, he was invited to give the Loeb lectures at Harvard University. His work on the physics of elementary particles has been recognized through numerous prizes, among them the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Council (DFG), the High Energy Prize of the European Physical Society, and the Stern-Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society (DPG). In addition to research papers, he has published books on the asymmetry of matter and anti-matter, particle detectors, and the politics of German energy policy.

Preface.- Chapter 1: Einsteins Youth.- Chapter 2: Heisenbergs Youth.- Chapter 3: The Wonder Years.- Chapter 4: Impact of the Discoveries.- Chapter 5: Expulsion and the War Years.- Chapter 6: Social Affinities.- Important Concepts and Physicists.- Bibliography.- Index.