I humbly offer my gratitude to Dr. Dieter Hoffmann for his helpful advice and communication. May American academics learn something not only from his decades of scholarship on German science, but also from his hospitality to a nonspecialist.
For enormous language and cultural translation help, I thank Dr. Imke Listerman and Candice Novak. (Any residual translation errors are without a doubt mine alone.)
For generous, enjoyable, and immensely helpful discussions on many technical topics in this book, I thank Dr. Horacio Camblong.
For the sabbatical of 2012–2013, I thank my Dean’s office, as well as my faculty union, the USFFA. I thank the University of San Francisco’s faculty development fund for supporting international travel, and translation fees. I also thank my home department for great support and camaraderie throughout this project.
I acknowledge the cooperation and assistance of the following archives and institutes: Archiv der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin-Dahlem, with special thanks to Dr. Kristina Starkloff, Dirk Ullmann, Susanne Uebele, and Bernd Hoffmann; the Deutsches Museum Archiv in Munich, with special thanks to Dr. Matthias Röschner; the Archives of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, with special thanks to Earle Spamer; the American Institute of Physics, with special thanks to Melanie Mueller; the Emilio Segre Visual Archives, with special thanks to Savannah Gignac; the Niels Bohr Library, with special thanks to Felicity Pors; Brookhaven National Laboratory, with special thanks to Jane Koropsak; Stadtmuseum Kassel, with special thanks to Dr. Alexander Link; and finally Germany’s Bundesarchiv, with special thanks to Sabrina Bader.
For helpful conversations and good ideas along the way, I thank Morgen Daniels, Dr. Bob Eason, Dr. Michael Eckert, Arden Hendrie, Peter Hennings, Victor Lin, Dr. Elliot Neaman, Spin City Coffee, Dr. Dean Rader, Rachel Reed, Dr. Jennifer Turpin, Dr. Aparna Venkatesan, Pete Zuraw, and Terry Zuraw.
I thank my agent Jennifer Lyons for her advice and advocacy.
I thank my editor Jeremy Lewis and his great team at Oxford University Press for guidance, enthusiasm, and clarity.
I thank my dozens of teachers, professors, and colleagues who sparked and honed interest. For writing training, I thank in chronological order: Mom, Dad, Mrs. Gohmert, Ms. Miller, Max Apple, Glen Blake, Ehud Havezelet, and Rich Daniels. For years of writing instruction and special advice for this project, I also thank Marjorie Sandor and Tracy Daugherty. For reporting training, I want to thank Johnny Mac and all my fellow Santa Cruz slugs.
Finally, I thank my wife, Dana Smith, for years of brainstorming, months of proofreading, and endless patience with my Planck obsessions.