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Boon recommendation: The making of the atomic bomb by Richard Rhodes. An extremely interesting book that starts at a time when electrons were known but atoms
by dilippkumar 5y ago
Boon recommendation:
The making of the atomic bomb by Richard Rhodes.
An extremely interesting book that starts at a time when electrons were known but atoms were a disputed concept. It traces the development of nuclear physics by following the people, the close relationships within the nuclear science community and every incremental discovery and realization and insight that led to understanding nuclear fission, chain reaction and ultimately the two bombs that would end WW2.
Despite the title of the book, the focus is really on the story of how we came to understand nuclear physics. The bombs happen to be an unavoidable part of this story - so the book is forced to eventually turn to project Manhattan and all that follows.
- Wistar 5y agoAlso the excellent John McPhee book, "The Curve of Binding Energy," centered on Dr. Edward Teller, the "father of the hydrogen bomb."
- jazzyjackson 5y agoi'll see your book and raise you one, "turing's cathedral" covers the origins of computers from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds to Princeton and Los Alamos, leading up to the ENIAC and how von Nuemann used it to simulate the detonation of the hydrogen bomb, how the shockwaves would reflect off the interior of the shell to reach the pressure to kick off fusion. the narratives of people and machines are well balanced for an entertaining read.
- brundolf 5y agoImagine being the first scientist who realized what might be about to happen
- dilippkumar 5y agoThe opening hook in the book happens to be Leo Szilard realizing that a nuclear chain reaction is possible while crossing a street :-) It then goes back in time to Rutherford.
- atombender 5y agoFantastic book. The way it explains the history of nuclear science is better than anything else I've read. The "sequel", "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb", is also great, though there's a bit less science innit; much of it is about what happened to Oppenheimer after the Manhattan Project. As a companion book, "American Prometheus", by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, is a superb biograph of J. Robert Oppenheimer.