A biography of two maverick scientists whose intellectual wanderlust kick-started modern genomics and cosmology. Max Delbr ck and George Gamow, the so-called ordinary geniuses of Segr'̈s third book, were not as famous or as decorated as some of their colleagues in midtwentieth-century physics, yet these two friends had a profound influence on how we now see the world, both on its largest scale (the universe) and its smallest (genetic code). Their maverick approach to research resulted in truly pioneering science. Wherever these men ventured, they were catalysts for great discoveries. Here Segr ̈honors them in his typically inviting and elegant style and shows readers how they were far from "ordinary". While portraying their personal lives Segr,̈ a scientist himself, gives readers an inside look at how science is done--collaboration, competition, the influence of politics, the role of intuition and luck, and the sense of wonder and curiosity that fuels these extraordinary minds.