The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb, 1939-1949

The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb, 1939-1949 PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1605987697
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 584

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Book Description
An epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding: the monumental race to build the first atomic weapons. Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a dramatic narrative that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to the aftermath of 'Joe-1,’ August 1949's first Soviet atomic bomb test. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? Could the soviets have developed the bomb without spies like Klaus Fuchs or Donald Maclean? Did the allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb program? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The First War of Physics is a grand and frightening story of scientific ambition, intrigue, and genius: a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.

The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb, 1939-1949

The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb, 1939-1949 PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1605987697
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 584

Get Book

Book Description
An epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding: the monumental race to build the first atomic weapons. Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a dramatic narrative that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to the aftermath of 'Joe-1,’ August 1949's first Soviet atomic bomb test. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? Could the soviets have developed the bomb without spies like Klaus Fuchs or Donald Maclean? Did the allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb program? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The First War of Physics is a grand and frightening story of scientific ambition, intrigue, and genius: a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.

The First War of Physics

The First War of Physics PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Pegasus Books
ISBN: 9781605980843
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding: the monumental race to build the first atomic weapons. Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a dramatic narrative that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to the aftermath of 'Joe-1,’ August 1949's first Soviet atomic bomb test. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? Could the soviets have developed the bomb without spies like Klaus Fuchs or Donald Maclean? Did the allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb program? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The First War of Physics is a grand and frightening story of scientific ambition, intrigue, and genius: a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.

Atomic

Atomic PDF Author: J. E. Baggott
Publisher: Icon Books Company
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
Atomic is the first fully realised popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's FarmHall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives.

Atomic

Atomic PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781848319929
Category : Arms race
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A new edition of the account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. This book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's FarmHall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives.

The Physics of the Manhattan Project

The Physics of the Manhattan Project PDF Author: B. Cameron Reed
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642147097
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
The development of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project is one of the most significant scientific events of the twentieth century. This book, prepared by a gifted teacher of physics, explores the challenges that faced the members of the Manhattan project. In doing so it gives a clear introduction to fission weapons at the level of an upper-level undergraduate physics student. Details of nuclear reactions, their energy release, the fission process, how critical masses can be estimated, how fissile materials are produced, and what factors complicate bomb design are covered. An extensive list of references and a number of problems for self-study are included. Links are given to several spreadsheets with which users can run many of the calculations for themselves.

The Physics of War

The Physics of War PDF Author: Barry Parker
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616148047
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
This fascinating blend of popular science and military history examines the science of war, demonstrating the close connection between the discovery of basic physical principles and the development of weaponry over the ages. Physics has played a critical role in warfare since the earliest times. Barry Parker highlights famous battles of the past as well as renowned scientists and inventors such as Leonardo, Galileo, Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein whose work had an impact on the technology of combat. Mechanics and the laws of motion led to improved shell trajectories; gas dynamics proved important to the interior ballistics of rifles and cannons; and space exploration resulted in intercontinental missiles, spy satellites, and drone aircraft. Parker emphasizes the special discoveries that had revolutionary effects on the art of warfare: the Chinese invention of gunpowder, the development of firearms, the impact of the Industrial Revolution, the deployment of the airplane in the First World War, and in our era the unleashing of the enormous power inherent in nuclear fission and fusion.

The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence PDF Author: Roger H. Stuewer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192562908
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
The two decades between the first and second world wars saw the emergence of nuclear physics as the dominant field of experimental and theoretical physics, owing to the work of an international cast of gifted physicists. Prominent among them were Ernest Rutherford, George Gamow, the husband and wife team of Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, Gregory Breit and Eugene Wigner, Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch, the brash Ernest Lawrence, the prodigious Enrico Fermi, and the incomparable Niels Bohr. Their experimental and theoretical work arose from a quest to understand nuclear phenomena; it was not motivated by a desire to find a practical application for nuclear energy. In this sense, these physicists lived in an 'Age of Innocence'. They did not, however, live in isolation. Their research reflected their idiosyncratic personalities; it was shaped by the physical and intellectual environments of the countries and institutions in which they worked. It was also buffeted by the political upheavals after the Great War: the punitive postwar treaties, the runaway inflation in Germany and Austria, the Great Depression, and the intellectual migration from Germany and later from Austria and Italy. Their pioneering experimental and theoretical achievements in the interwar period therefore are set within their personal, institutional, and political contexts. Both domains and their mutual influences are conveyed by quotations from autobiographies, biographies, recollections, interviews, correspondence, and other writings of physicists and historians.

The Physics of War

The Physics of War PDF Author: Barry R. Parker
Publisher:
ISBN: 1616148039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Shows how principles of modern physics have been used for warfare through the ages. His topics include the basic physics of early weapons, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the early English-French wars, how the discovery of gunpowder and cannons changed the art of war and the world, the impact of the industrial revolution, ballistics of rifle bullets and cannon shells, aerodynamics and the first airplanes, the machine gun in World War I, the development and use of radio and radar in war, and the atomic bomb. --Publisher's description.

Concepts of Force

Concepts of Force PDF Author: Max Jammer
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486150569
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This work by a noted physicist traces conceptual development from ancient to modern times. Kepler's initiation, Newton's definition, subsequent reinterpretation — contrasting concepts of Leibniz, Boscovich, Kant with those of Mach, Kirchhoff, Hertz. "An excellent presentation." — Science.

Boltzmann's Atom

Boltzmann's Atom PDF Author: David Lindley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684851865
Category : Atomic theory
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Ludwig Boltzmann, an Austrian physicist is considered the forgotten genius who set the atomic revolution in motion. However, he was unaware his vision would lead to the greatest chain of scientific discoveries ever made. His story is presented in this combination of expert storytelling with a deep understanding of physics.