The Making Of The Atomic Age

Author : Richard Rhodes
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439126224
Total Pages : 890 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Making of the Atomic Bomb written by Richard Rhodes and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 890 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: **Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award** The definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb. This sweeping account begins in the 19th century, with the discovery of nuclear fission, and continues to World War Two and the Americans’ race to beat Hitler’s Nazis. That competition launched the Manhattan Project and the nearly overnight construction of a vast military-industrial complex that culminated in the fateful dropping of the first bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Reading like a character-driven suspense novel, the book introduces the players in this saga of physics, politics, and human psychology—from FDR and Einstein to the visionary scientists who pioneered quantum theory and the application of thermonuclear fission, including Planck, Szilard, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller, Meitner, von Neumann, and Lawrence. From nuclear power’s earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G. Wells to the bright glare of Trinity at Alamogordo and the arms race of the Cold War, this dread invention forever changed the course of human history, and The Making of The Atomic Bomb provides a panoramic backdrop for that story. Richard Rhodes’s ability to craft compelling biographical portraits is matched only by his rigorous scholarship. Told in rich human, political, and scientific detail that any reader can follow, The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a thought-provoking and masterful work.

Author : Steve Olson
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393634981
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age written by Steve Olson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling narrative of scientific triumph, decades of secrecy, and the unimaginable destruction wrought by the creation of the atomic bomb. It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable explosive power. In a matter of months, the Hanford nuclear facility was built to produce and weaponize the enigmatic and deadly new material that would fuel atomic bombs. In the desert of eastern Washington State, far from prying eyes, scientists Glenn Seaborg, Enrico Fermi, and many thousands of others—the physicists, engineers, laborers, and support staff at the facility—manufactured plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and for the bombs in the current American nuclear arsenal, enabling the construction of weapons with the potential to end human civilization. With his characteristic blend of scientific clarity and storytelling, Steve Olson asks why Hanford has been largely overlooked in histories of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Olson, who grew up just twenty miles from Hanford’s B Reactor, recounts how a small Washington town played host to some of the most influential scientists and engineers in American history as they sought to create the substance at the core of the most destructive weapons ever created. The Apocalypse Factory offers a new generation this dramatic story of human achievement and, ultimately, of lethal hubris.

Author : Glenn Theodore Seaborg
Publisher : Farrar Straus & Giroux
ISBN 13 : 9780374299910
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Adventures in the Atomic Age written by Glenn Theodore Seaborg and published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned physicist describes his Nobel Prize-winning career, his work with the Manhattan Project, his discovery of the element that makes atomic bombs explode, and his term as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Author : Alwyn McKay
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Making of the Atomic Age written by Alwyn McKay and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1984 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Francis George Gosling
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0788178806
Total Pages : 75 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Manhattan Project written by Francis George Gosling and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1999 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the origins and development of the American atomic bomb program during WWII. Begins with the scientific developments of the pre-war years. Details the role of the U.S. government in conducting a secret, nationwide enterprise that took science from the laboratory and into combat with an entirely new type of weapon. Concludes with a discussion of the immediate postwar period, the debate over the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and the founding of the Atomic Energy Commission. Chapters: the Einstein letter; physics background, 1919-1939; early government support; the atomic bomb and American strategy; and the Manhattan district in peacetime. Illustrated.

Author : James Hershberg
Publisher : Plunkett Lake Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 599 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age written by James Hershberg and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James B. Conant (1893-1978) was one of the titans of mid-20th-century American history, attaining prominence and power in multiple fields. Usually remembered as an educational leader, he was president of Harvard University for two tumultuous decades, from the Depression to World War II to the Cold War and McCarthyism. To take that job he gave up a scientific career as one of the country’s top chemists, and he left it twenty years later to become Eisenhower’s top diplomat in postwar Germany. Hershberg’s prize-winning study, however, examines a critical aspect of Conant’s life that was long obscured by government secrecy: his pivotal role in the birth of the nuclear age. During World War II, as an advisor to Roosevelt and then Truman (on the elite “Interim Committee” that considered how to employ the bomb against Japan), Conant was intimately involved in the decisions to build and use the atomic bomb. During and after the Manhattan Project, he also led efforts to prevent a postwar nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union that, he feared, threatened the survival of civilization — an apocalyptic prospect he glimpsed in the first instant of the new age, when he witnessed the first test of the new weapon at Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. “... a vivid inquiry... a model of historiography; evocative reading...[Conant was] central to atomic policy and progress; the bomb would be as much Conant’s as it was anyone’s in Government. His inner response to that burden responsibility has long been obscured, but it is illumined here.” — Philip Morrison, The New York Times Book Review “In his splendid portrait of Conant, James Hershberg has illuminated the life of a pivotal figure in the making of U.S. nuclear, scientific, educational and foreign policy for almost a half-century. But the book is much more: It is not only an insightful narration of Conant’s life; it is also a brilliant and important account of the making of the nuclear age, a chronicle that contains much that is new... Hershberg’s superb study... is a chronicle of Conant’s moral journey and we are the wiser for his having charted Conant’s path.” — S.S. Schweber, Washington Post Book World “James G. Hershberg ably comes to grips with Conant and his hazardous times... His book is vibrantly written and compelling, and it breaches Conant’s shield of public discretion in masterly fashion, making extensive use of unpublished interviews, diaries, reports, and correspondence pried from private and governmental repositories. It is a huge, ambitious work — a history of the Cold War as Conant encountered it as well as a study of the man.” — Daniel J. Kevles, The New Yorker “... a well-written, comprehensive, nonjudgmental but sensitive biography... Conant was involved in so many and such critical events that students of almost any aspect of our public life over the past half-century will find useful the new material and helpful insights in this book... This fine biography of one of the most important and complicated of America’s twentieth-century leaders immediately establishes James Hershberg as one of America’s outstanding young historians.” — Stephen E. Ambrose,Foreign Affairs “... magnificent... Any reader interested in nuclear weapons, Cold War history or American politics from FDR to JFK will find this biography riveting.” — Priscilla McMillan, Chicago Tribune “... masterful... The prose is clear, the narrative forceful and the author’s judgments are balanced and judicious. This is simply splendid biography... The highest praise one can give for a book of this sort is that the historian has not shrunk from speaking truth to power. This book quietly but insistently does so. It should be read by the public at large as one of the definitive texts on the cold war and the nuclear age... Hershberg’s triumph is that he has prevailed over all the official lies to give us one more layer of the historical truth.” — Kai Bird, The Nation “... riveting... an impressive achievement... honest and comprehensive in its scholarship, the author has shown himself to be a historian of notable achievement and promise.” — McGeorge Bundy, Nature “Hershberg’s outstanding, balanced biography lifts the self-imposed secrecy surrounding a key architect of U.S. Cold War policy and of the nuclear age.” —Publisher’s Weekly “... [an] impressive and substantial achievement. [Hershberg] has used the life of one strategically placed individual to illuminate the most important issues surrounding America’s role and conduct in the nuclear age. His book will be invaluable to scholars assessing the impact and legacy of the group who acquired the epithet ‘wise men’ now that the Cold War has receded.” — Carol S. Gruber, Science “... definitive... a far more textured picture than one finds in Conant’s own guarded and unrevealing autobiography... an important and rewarding book... illuminating... Conant led a remarkable and eventful life in remarkable and eventful times. James Hershberg has explored that life, and those times, in exhaustive and revealing detail.” — Paul Boyer, The New Republic “James G. Hershberg has achieved the impossible. He has written a huge biography of a Harvard president that is fascinating, informative and as valuable a piece of American history as anything I have read in years... Mr. Hershberg has brought us back vividly to an age that seems remote, so long ago, but the questions about nuclear proliferation are the same, even while the answers are still ambiguous. As we watch men struggling with unanticipated post-Cold War problems and civil wars sprouting like Jason’s men at arms, it is good to read this story about a complex man who deserves an important place in our history because he helped make that history possible.” — Arnold Beichman, The Washington Times “... engrossing... A magisterial study of an awesome and intriguing public career.” —Kirkus Reviews “... entertaining... thought-provocative.” — Dick Teresi, The Wall Street Journal “Hershberg’s book helps us more clearly understand the postwar Establishment and offers a challenging appraisal of the role of elites, of universities and of the state.” — Gar Alperovitz, In These Times “Hershberg deserves great credit for cracking a tough New England walnut, analyzing this very important public figure, demonstrating how he fit into his own time and showing us what we can learn from the man.” — Daniel R. Mortensen, The Friday Review of Defense Literature “... a compelling account... an engaging examination of one of the central figures of the nuclear age. It succeeds in showing ‘one man’s intersection with great events and issues’ and in the process illuminates those issues for us all.” — American Historical Review “... well-written... Conant’s participation in one of our country’s most dynamic periods is, thanks to Hershberg, now much better understood.” — Library Journal “A reader of the book will enter the realm of the greats, the shapers of worlds created by the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki... Conant was no bit player in Cold War history... [the book is] very successful in weaving Conant’s subsurface persona in with his ups and downs as a prominent and committed public figure. And it leaves out little detail in describing top-level decisions involving the Cold War geopolitics of nuclear weaponry. Conant was a participant in most of these decisions—with Presidents Roosevelt and Truman themselves, their Secretaries of War and State, and, of course, all the major scientific figures of the time.” — Chemical & Engineering News “A wonderfully rich portrait that emerges from a carefully documented account of Conant’s role in the development of the atomic bomb and post-war nuclear policy... An extraordinarily well written text... Hershberg lays bare the person behind the persona — warts, dimples and all.” — Stanley Goldberg, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Author : Cynthia C. Kelly
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9812567100
Total Pages : 201 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Remembering the Manhattan Project written by Cynthia C. Kelly and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2005-01-27 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, nations raced to construct the worldOCOs first nuclear weapon that would determine the future of the world. The Manhattan Project, one of the most significant achievements of the 20th century, was the culmination of AmericaOCOs war effort. Today, although the issue of nuclear weapons frequently dominates world politics, few are aware of the history behind its development. Part I of this book, comprised of papers from the Atomic Heritage FoundationOCOs Symposium on the Manhattan Project, recounts the history of this remarkable effort and reflects upon its legacy. Most of the original structures of the Manhattan Project have been inaccessible to the public and in recent years, have been stripped of their equipment and slated for demolition. Part II proposes a strategy for preserving these historical artifacts for the public and future generations."

Author : Victoria Sherrow
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781560065852
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Making of the Atom Bomb written by Victoria Sherrow and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses various topics connected to the production of the atom bomb, including the development of nuclear energy, work on atomic weapons at the Los Alamos and other sites, and the decision to use the first atomic bomb during World War II.

Author : Francis Gosling
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781516908226
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Manhattan Project written by Francis Gosling and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a national survey at the turn of the millennium, journalists and historians ranked the dropping of the atomic bomb and the surrender of Japan to end the Second World War as the top story of the twentieth century. The advent of nuclear weapons, brought about by the Manhattan Project, not only helped bring an end to World War II but ushered in the atomic age and determined how the next war-the Cold War-would be fought. The Manhattan Project also became the organizational model behind the impressive achievements of American "big science" during the second half of the twentieth century, which demonstrated the relationship between basic scientific research and national security.

Author : F. G. Gosling
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781457858765
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Manhattan Project written by F. G. Gosling and published by . This book was released on 2014-12-03 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a national survey at the turn of the millennium, journalists and historians ranked the dropping of the atomic bomb and the surrender of Japan to end the Second World War as the top story of the twentieth century. Nuclear weapons, brought about by the Manhattan Project, helped bring an end to World War II and ushered in the atomic age and determined how the next war -- the Cold War -- would be fought. The Manhattan Project also became the organizational model behind the impressive achievements of American "big science" during the second half of the 20th century, which demonstrated the relationship between basic scientific research and national security. This is the revised edition of a comprehensive history of the origins and development of the American atomic bomb program during WWII. Includes a Bibliography and Manhattan Project Chronology. Figures. This is a print on demand report.