Taking as its point of departure the tradition-rich Berlin Academy of Sciences – formerly the Prussian Academy of Sciences –, this book provides dual portraits of contemporaries, companions, and competitors in order to tell a wonderful academic history. The story includes Liebniz, the “universal genius,” along with renowned members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn, and Theodor Mommsen.