First published 2021
In 1925, a young Werner Heisenberg escapes to the remote Helgoland to confront a radical new theory of the universe. Grappling with hay fever and sleepless nights, he emerges with a revolutionary idea that will upend physics and our very understanding of reality. Carlo Rovelli's Helgoland charts the birth of quantum mechanics, a dazzling intellectual revolution that still shapes our world.
Genres: science, science-fiction, 20th-century, physics, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, grappling-with-new-ideas
Setting: Helgoland
Period: 1925, 20th-century, 21st-century
256 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books