"Subtle is the Lord" is widely recognized as the definitive scientific biography of Albert Einstein. The late Abraham Pais was a distinguished physicist turned historian who knew Einstein both professionally and personally in the last years of his life. His biography combines a profound understanding of Einstein's work with personal recollections from their years of acquaintance, illuminating the man through the development of his scientific thought. Pais examines the formulation of Einstein's theories of relativity, his work on Brownian motion, and his response to quantum theory with authority and precision. The profound transformation Einstein's ideas effected on the physics of the turn of the century is here laid out for the serious reader. Pais also fills many gaps in what we know of Einstein's life - his interest in philosophy, his concern with Jewish destiny, and his opinions of great figures from Newton to Freud. This remarkable volume, written by a physicist who mingled in Einstein's scientific circle, forms a timeless and classic biography of the towering figure of twentieth-century science.

作者，(美) A.派斯

译者简介

戈革（1922年1月-2007年12月29日），男，号红莩，一号拜鞠。河北省献县人，1949年毕业于北京大学物理系，1952年毕业于清华大学物理研究所，后即从事物理教学工作，直至退休。原习理论物理学，中年以后治量子物理学史，专研伟大学者尼耳斯·玻尔的生平、工作和思想。2001年被丹麦女王授予“丹麦国骑士勋章”。平生著译数十种，共约一千五百万言。正业面外，有多种文人爱好，能作旧体诗词，尤嗜治印。主要译、著作品有12卷本的《尼耳斯·玻尔集》《宏观电磁场论》、《玻尔——他的生平、学术和思想》、《史情室文帚》等。