The Dilemmas of an Upright Man

“An important book to which all students of science as a human institution should be referred… This story of a fruitful but ultimately tragic life is extremely well told and needs to be more widely known.”—John Ziman, The Times Higher Education Supplement

“Heilbron gives a very readable, and very balanced, account of the successes and disasters of this great physicist, without attempting to pass judgment. But the character of the man comes clearly through the narrative.”—Rudolf Peierls, The New York Review of Books

“A fascinating account of the life of one of the founders of modern physics. [Heilbron] takes every opportunity to draw parallels between the evolution of science and the social upheavals which accompanied the process.”—Tania Monteiro, New Scientist

“The Dilemmas of an Upright Man is a reissue of the life of Max Planck… Hollywood would title it Triumph and Tragedy. Planck’s quantum theory transformed physics, but his career period was rocked by two world wars. He stayed in Nazi Germany throughout… Although he could have escaped, he wouldn’t leave. Some contemporaries found his obduracy hard to understand.”—Science News