Gino Segre Viking 352 pp. $27.95 (2011) Genetics and cosmology owe their origins to two physicists, Max Delbruck and George Gamow, respectively. In this insightful double biography, theoretical physicist Gino Segre portrays them as exemplary yet ordinary scientists who overcame personal struggles to work on big questions. He describes how Delbruck's flight from Nazi Germany turned him towards biology; and how Gamow's escape from Stalinist Russia to the United States led to him working on the hydrogen bomb and the formation of elements in the Big Bang.
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