A portrait of Albert Einstein shares critical insights into both the genius and hubris of modern physics, linking Einstein's popular downfall through the final decades of his life to the same imagination and self-confidence that ignited his early successes.

Widely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his theory of relativity and helped to lead us into the atomic age. Yet, in the final decades of his life, he was ignored by most working scientists, his ideas opposed by even his closest friends. As writer David Bodanis explains here, this stunning downfall can be traced to Einstein's earliest successes and to personal qualities that were at first his best assets. Einstein's imagination and self-confidence served him well as he sought to reveal the universe's structure, but when it came to newer revelations in the field of quantum mechanics, these same traits undermined his quest for the ultimate truth. Bodanis traces the arc of Einstein's intellectual development across his professional and personal life, showing how his conviction in his own powers of intuition proved to be both his greatest strength and his ultimate undoing. This intimate and enlightening biography of the celebrated physicist reveals how much we owe Einstein today--and how much more he might have achieved if not for his all-too-human flaws.--Adapted from dust jacket.