Infinite potential: the life and times of David Bohm

Throughout his life, David Bohm felt himself to be different, and this was reflected in his lifestyle and in his physics. His life was one of unfulfilled searching. If one compares mainstream physics to the church, with a solid hierarchy of cardinals, archbishops and bishops, Bohm was an ascetic hermit who would occasionally come in from the wilderness with a compelling message, only to disappear again. Bohmian quantum mechanics is not part of mainstream physics, but for those who do cross over, like John Bell, the commitment can be rewarding. In the post-war 'Un-American Activities' purge, Bohm lost a prestigious job at Princeton and t emporarily his US citizenship, and his nomadic career took him to Brazil, Israel and Bristol before he finally settled in London's Birkbeck College. A sensitive-written book about a gifted, unusual and sometimes provocative figure. The interaction between Bohm and Oppenheimer is especially interesting, while Bohm's later life was bizarre.