The Impossible Man

Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius

Patchen Barss

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Hardback

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English

Atlantic
28 January 2025

The first biography - 'a stunning achievement' (Kai Bird, American Prometheus) - of the dazzling and painful life of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger PenroseWhen he was six years old, Roger Penrose discovered a sundial in a clearing near his house. Through that machine made of light, shadow, and time, Roger glimpsed a ""world behind the world"" of transcendently beautiful geometry. It spurred him on a journey to become one of the world's most influential mathematicians, philosophers, and physicists.

Penrose would prove the limitations of general relativity, set a new agenda for theoretical physics, and astound colleagues and admirers with the elegance and beauty of his discoveries. However, as Patchen Barss documents in The Impossible Man, success came at a price: He was attuned to the secrets of the universe, but struggled to connect with loved ones, especially the women who care for or worked with him. Both erudite and poetic, The Impossible Man draws on years of research and interviews, as well as previously unopened archives to present a moving portrait of Penrose the Nobel Prize-winning scientist and Roger the human being. It reveals not just the extraordinary life of Roger Penrose, but asks who gets to be a genius, and who makes the sacrifices that allow one man to be one.

By: Patchen Barss
Imprint: Atlantic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions: Height: 241mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 595g
ISBN: 9781838959326
ISBN 10: 1838959327
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 28 January 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

1: THE JUNGLE 2: UNEXPECTED SIMPLICITY 3: THE ARROW OF TIME 4: THE IMPOSSIBLE TRIANGLE 5: BLINK BONNIE 6: JABLONNA AND BAARN 7: ASSASSINATION 8: THE SKY IN A DIAMOND 9: THE PENROSE SINGULARITY THEOREM 10: HAWKING AND PENROSE 11: JUDITH DANIELS 12: TRIESTE 13: APERIODIC 14: FAITH

Patchen Barss is a Toronto-based science journalist who has contributed to the BBC, Nautilus Magazine, Scientific American, and the Discovery Channel (Canada), as well as to many science and natural history museums. His previous books include The Erotic Engine: How Pornography has Powered Mass Communication, from Gutenberg to Google, and Flow Spin Grow: Looking for Patterns in Nature.

Reviews for The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius

Patchen Barss uses the skills of a fine novelist to tell the story of one of the true giants of 20th century mathematics and physics, Roger Penrose, in a biography that reveals the complex and compelling character of the man alongside the importance of his contributions to geometry, relativity, and a wide range of other fields. The biography that Penrose deserves. * David Schwartz, author of THE LAST MAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHING * Phenomenal. Blisteringly candid, elegiac and utterly compelling, The Impossible Man strips away the myths to expose the frailties and foibles of a mathematical genius who inspired generations. A new landmark of scientific biography. * Ananyo Bhattacharya, author of The Man from the Future * One day in 1965 Roger Penrose is crossing a London street and suddenly his imagination is working in four dimensions. The result is an insight that transforms Einstein's relativity theorem. Patchen Barss writes lyrically about this scientific quest, but he also explores the frail human side of Penrose's journey. The result is a page-turner reminiscent of James Gleick's Genius, the best-selling biography of Richard Feynman. The Impossible Man is a stunning achievement. * Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and co-author with Martin J. Sherwin of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer—the inspiration of Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer * A cosmic romance, at once intimate and grand. The Impossible Man is charming and gripping, edifying and soulful, a lot like Roger Penrose himself. * Siobhan Roberts, author of Genius at Play, The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway *