A Tale of Two Continents: A Physicist's Life in a Turbulent World

Einstein's biographer (Subtle Is the Lord) has now collected memories of his own life, strung together like beads, with nothing to link them but a slack chronological filament. Pais, one of the foremost physicists of this century and former professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, has led his life at the center of a most interesting field at one of its most interesting times, and it is unfortunate that the reader of his autobiography gets so little sense either of the man or of his contributions to our understanding of the physical realm. Perhaps Pais himself sees no context or overarching theme to his life and therefore imparts one so seldom. Though admirable in a physicist, such reticence can be exasperating in an autobiographer. What he sees in retrospect as the important part of a trip to the Caribbean, for example, is a meeting with cellist Pablo Casals and not that he told his wife they should divorce. When he comprehends a larger framework for the events of his life, though, as in his story of the deportation of his sister to the death camp of Sobibor, his language becomes compelling and he is engaged in the tale. More often, we are left with a catalogue of a life's events related in a curious monotone that gives equal weight to all events: introduction to sex, arrest by the Gestapo, study with Niels Bohr, residence at Princeton, vacation trips, research papers, persecution of J. Robert Oppenheimer, birth of a son, deaths of parents and mountain climbing. This author has had a memorable life, but his account does little justice to it. Those who do not know Pais's work will find some interesting vignettes that are sometimes compelling, and those who are familiar with his name will enjoy these disjointed reminiscences of a chatty grandfather who, ultimately, seems like a tourist in his own existence. Photos not seen by PW. (May)