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القنبلة الذرية: التاريخ السري- أولى حروب الفيزياء
يصحبنا هذا الكتاب في رحلة مثيرة ومروعة في الآن نفسه. دراما إنسانية واقعية تتفوق على كل خيالات الكتاب والفنانين يقدم لنا وجبة دسمة، يمتزج فيها العلم بالتاريخ بالسير الذاتية بمغامرات الجاسوسية بتضارب المصالح والمعتقدات. إذ يبدأ كل شيء مع اكتشاف الانشطار النووي في عالم يموج بالصراع لنرى كيف تلاعبت السياسة ودراما الحياة بأشهر العلماء، كيف استحضروا المارد الجبار بدوافع إنسانية فطرية بدائية، تلهث ونحن نتابع الصراع المحموم والسرد الرشيق لباجوت ينتقل بنا بين المختبرات في ألمانيا وبريطانيا وفرنسا وأمريكا والاتحاد السوفيتي، بين رؤساء الدول والسياسيين والجنود والمعارك على الأرض وفي الخفاء في برقيات سرية مشفرة وتسريبات خطيرة. ليس هذا الكتاب عن القنبلة الذرية فحسب ولا يكشف أسرارها وأسرار تلك الفترة الملتهبة فقط بل يكشف لنا الإنسان وطبائعه وهو في أضعف حالاته، يتأمل الكتاب في معضلات أخلاقية عويصة ويدعونا إلى تحمل مسؤولياتنا تجاه أنفسنا والعالم. هذا كتاب ضروري لكل من يهتم بالعلم والتاريخ والسياسة والأخلاقيات، يأتي في سرد مميز، أقرب لرواية طويلة تحبس الأنفاس وتحرك القلوب وتثير الألباب
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First published March 31, 2006
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About the author
Jim Baggott
25books141followersJim Baggott completed his doctorate in physical chemistry at the University of Oxford and his postgraduate research at Stanford University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
January 8, 2015
Workmanlike, decent overview of the dawn of the atomic age. Not as comprehensive as the two Rhodes books covering the atomic bomb and the hydrogen. My quibbles arose from the attempt to structure the story as the titular "war" between the groups of physicists. While the fear of a nazi bomb may have been what spurred the creation of the Manhattan Project, it's very clear early on that its a one sided affair and shifts focus to the Soviet espionage efforts. This is presented in a straightforward manner that's informative if not wholly entertaining. A "recommend" for those new to the subject matter, but if you want a deep dive, go with either/both of the Rhodes works, Dark Sun or The Making of the Atomic Bomb
August 25, 2020
“This book is my attempt to answer these and many other questions through a popular, accessible account of the race to build the first atomic bombs, centred on the individual stories of the physicists directly involved.�
A worthy goal, but Baggott failed to deliver. Great material, poor presentation. Didn’t know England had a nuclear weapon program in World War Two? Or Canada? Those are among the surprises.
‘Yes, it would be possible to make a bomb,� Bohr declared, ‘but it would take the entire efforts of a nation to do it.�
Lots of direct quotes from those involved. How close were the Germans? Were they even trying? Did Hitler accelerate research in the West by hounding talent out of Germany. Did that same talent become a conduit through which western secrets were shared with Stalin?
“It is one of the great ironies of the first war of physics that, at precisely the moment the German atomic bomb project formally ceased to exist, the palpable fear of a German atomic weapon that had continued to build in Britain and the United States was about to be translated into action.�
Many typos of the OCR scanning sort, but the worst errors are the obscure construction requiring much backtracking and re-reading.
“The opportunity to halt what would soon become a madness of atomic weapons proliferation quietly slipped away. The simple truth was that international control appeared to suit nobody.�
An agenda-driven polemic. Baggott’s opinions are loud and clear. Maybe it’s me, but it seems these days more authors are foisting their opinion on others in the guise of objective truth.
“The fear remains. If the time for protest has ended, the time for vigilance has not.�
A worthy goal, but Baggott failed to deliver. Great material, poor presentation. Didn’t know England had a nuclear weapon program in World War Two? Or Canada? Those are among the surprises.
‘Yes, it would be possible to make a bomb,� Bohr declared, ‘but it would take the entire efforts of a nation to do it.�
Lots of direct quotes from those involved. How close were the Germans? Were they even trying? Did Hitler accelerate research in the West by hounding talent out of Germany. Did that same talent become a conduit through which western secrets were shared with Stalin?
“It is one of the great ironies of the first war of physics that, at precisely the moment the German atomic bomb project formally ceased to exist, the palpable fear of a German atomic weapon that had continued to build in Britain and the United States was about to be translated into action.�
Many typos of the OCR scanning sort, but the worst errors are the obscure construction requiring much backtracking and re-reading.
“The opportunity to halt what would soon become a madness of atomic weapons proliferation quietly slipped away. The simple truth was that international control appeared to suit nobody.�
An agenda-driven polemic. Baggott’s opinions are loud and clear. Maybe it’s me, but it seems these days more authors are foisting their opinion on others in the guise of objective truth.
“The fear remains. If the time for protest has ended, the time for vigilance has not.�
November 27, 2021
Book: The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939-1949
Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: � Icon Books (2 July 2015)
Language: � English
Paperback: � 576 pages
Item Weight: � 489 g
Dimensions: � 20 x 14 x 4 cm
Country of Origin:� India
Price: 399/-
Little Boy plummeted approximately six miles in forty-three seconds.
It exploded 1,890 feet above Hiroshima, about 550 feet southeast of directly over the Aioi Bridge. By then, the Enola Gay was six miles away, flying as fast as her engines could take her.
The shock wave smashed into the plane nine miles east of Hiroshima. The B-29 shuddered and groaned. The crew shouted, wondering if the Enola Gay would break apart in midair�. All hell broke loose �.
The catastrophe was to repeat again �.
A seaside city, Nagasaki was home to 253,000 people.
Fat Man exploded 1,890 feet above the city. The plutonium core generated the force of 21,000 tons of TNT—one and a half times greater than Little Boy.
The weapon missed the aiming point by almost two miles, but the damage was catastrophic.
Some 40,000 people perished instantaneously. Another 70,000 would die from radiation-related injuries and infirmity. The bomb destroyed a three-mile area and more than a third of the city’s 50,000 buildings.
In a stroke of poetic justice, the munitions plant that manufactured the torpedoes used at Pearl Harbor was obliterated.
This book tells us the back story of the bomb.
Evidently, the bomb was created by some of the world’s finest physicists, many of them Nobel laureates � physicists who, only a few years before, had been leading a sequence of revolutions in theoretical science and shaking the very reinforcements of Man’s perception of physical realism.
But how did these men become such extremely significant military resources in a war that was to redefine the very meaning of barbarity, a war that was to recalibrate what it means to be heartless?
How did these other-worldly ‘eggheads� find themselves centre-stage in such a performance of gallant enterprise, disruption, spying, counter-espionage, murder and dreadful obliteration that it now seems hardly believable as fiction?
How did they come, in the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer, to know ‘peccadillo�?
This book is the author’s effort to respond to these and many other questions through an accepted, reachable explanation of the race to build the first atomic bombs, centred on the individual stories of the physicists openly involved.
The book spans 10 momentous years, beginning with the detection of nuclear fission in early 1939 and closing shortly after ‘Joe-1�, the first Soviet atomic bomb test in August 1949.
These were men such as Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Otto Frisch, Klaus Fuchs, Werner Heisenberg, Yuli Khariton, Igor Kurchatov, Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, and many, many more.
Diverted from their academic obsessions by the biggest military quarrel in human history, they became intensely embroiled in the biggest of human dramas.
They found themselves drawn inexorably into a project to build the world’s most awful weapon of war, a weapon judged to be ‘practically irresistible� at a time when the world was threatened by the darkest evil.
The book is organised in four parts:
1) Part I covers the mobilisation of nuclear physicists around the world following the outbreak of war in September 1939 and early work on atom bomb and reactor physics.
2) Part II recounts the early frustrations and progress in weapon design, the development of bomb and reactor materials in Germany, Britain and America, the spectacular sabotage of the heavy water plant at Vemork by Norwegian commandos, and the establishment of the Soviet espionage operation codenamed ENORMOZ.
3) In Part III the book addresses the direct involvement of Allied scientists in the hunt for their German counterparts in war-torn Europe following the D-Day landings, the successful Trinity test at Alamogordo in New Mexico, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the reactions of the captured German scientists on hearing of the Allied success.
4) Finally, Part IV describes the origins of the Cold War, the acceleration of the Soviet atomic programme, proliferation of weapons technology, the Venona project, the unmasking of Soviet spies, and the first successful Soviet test in August 1949.
The book concludes with an extended epilogue which attempts to tie up many of the loose ends, describing the American and Soviet H-bomb programmes and the Cuban missile crisis which brought the world to the very perimeter of catastrophe.
Much recommended.
Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: � Icon Books (2 July 2015)
Language: � English
Paperback: � 576 pages
Item Weight: � 489 g
Dimensions: � 20 x 14 x 4 cm
Country of Origin:� India
Price: 399/-
Little Boy plummeted approximately six miles in forty-three seconds.
It exploded 1,890 feet above Hiroshima, about 550 feet southeast of directly over the Aioi Bridge. By then, the Enola Gay was six miles away, flying as fast as her engines could take her.
The shock wave smashed into the plane nine miles east of Hiroshima. The B-29 shuddered and groaned. The crew shouted, wondering if the Enola Gay would break apart in midair�. All hell broke loose �.
The catastrophe was to repeat again �.
A seaside city, Nagasaki was home to 253,000 people.
Fat Man exploded 1,890 feet above the city. The plutonium core generated the force of 21,000 tons of TNT—one and a half times greater than Little Boy.
The weapon missed the aiming point by almost two miles, but the damage was catastrophic.
Some 40,000 people perished instantaneously. Another 70,000 would die from radiation-related injuries and infirmity. The bomb destroyed a three-mile area and more than a third of the city’s 50,000 buildings.
In a stroke of poetic justice, the munitions plant that manufactured the torpedoes used at Pearl Harbor was obliterated.
This book tells us the back story of the bomb.
Evidently, the bomb was created by some of the world’s finest physicists, many of them Nobel laureates � physicists who, only a few years before, had been leading a sequence of revolutions in theoretical science and shaking the very reinforcements of Man’s perception of physical realism.
But how did these men become such extremely significant military resources in a war that was to redefine the very meaning of barbarity, a war that was to recalibrate what it means to be heartless?
How did these other-worldly ‘eggheads� find themselves centre-stage in such a performance of gallant enterprise, disruption, spying, counter-espionage, murder and dreadful obliteration that it now seems hardly believable as fiction?
How did they come, in the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer, to know ‘peccadillo�?
This book is the author’s effort to respond to these and many other questions through an accepted, reachable explanation of the race to build the first atomic bombs, centred on the individual stories of the physicists openly involved.
The book spans 10 momentous years, beginning with the detection of nuclear fission in early 1939 and closing shortly after ‘Joe-1�, the first Soviet atomic bomb test in August 1949.
These were men such as Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Otto Frisch, Klaus Fuchs, Werner Heisenberg, Yuli Khariton, Igor Kurchatov, Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, and many, many more.
Diverted from their academic obsessions by the biggest military quarrel in human history, they became intensely embroiled in the biggest of human dramas.
They found themselves drawn inexorably into a project to build the world’s most awful weapon of war, a weapon judged to be ‘practically irresistible� at a time when the world was threatened by the darkest evil.
The book is organised in four parts:
1) Part I covers the mobilisation of nuclear physicists around the world following the outbreak of war in September 1939 and early work on atom bomb and reactor physics.
2) Part II recounts the early frustrations and progress in weapon design, the development of bomb and reactor materials in Germany, Britain and America, the spectacular sabotage of the heavy water plant at Vemork by Norwegian commandos, and the establishment of the Soviet espionage operation codenamed ENORMOZ.
3) In Part III the book addresses the direct involvement of Allied scientists in the hunt for their German counterparts in war-torn Europe following the D-Day landings, the successful Trinity test at Alamogordo in New Mexico, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the reactions of the captured German scientists on hearing of the Allied success.
4) Finally, Part IV describes the origins of the Cold War, the acceleration of the Soviet atomic programme, proliferation of weapons technology, the Venona project, the unmasking of Soviet spies, and the first successful Soviet test in August 1949.
The book concludes with an extended epilogue which attempts to tie up many of the loose ends, describing the American and Soviet H-bomb programmes and the Cuban missile crisis which brought the world to the very perimeter of catastrophe.
Much recommended.
April 10, 2015
I've read lots of books about the Manhattan Project, and one each on the German and Japanese efforts to develop atomic weapons, but this book brings those threads together in one place. If you only read one book about the US effort, I recommend Richard Rhodes' authoritative instead, but if you have time for two, this is the other one you should look into.
March 30, 2025
before i checked this book out from the library, i looked at the reviews on here first and didn’t expect much, but weirdly felt like some felt too highly critical. as a starting point, i’ve read multiple books about the bomb and nuclear weapons, reactors, and physics in general, including the one that always gets mentioned� the making of the atomic bomb by richard rhodes.
even so i have found a lot of things to learn from this book, and what was “repetitive� was still displayed in a refreshing, frequently witty light that i didn’t mind learning again. objectively speaking, i found this book to include a lot more information about the soviet and german bomb projects that has been missing from a lot of the “general� books about the bomb, including rhodes� two. i assume part of this is also because of the transcripts from farm hall being declassified in 1992, although i find rhodes to be lacking on the german bomb/reactor project.
therefore i will more directly have to disagree with the reviews saying this has nothing to add, it portrays the other bomb projects as being on the same scale (i assume this person did not finish the book as the author makes clear over and over that this was NOT the case), and that the author is too opinionated on his stance on morality (he stays as objective as he can be until the epilogue, and even so every single book i’ve ever read on the bomb has been very clear on how unnecessary, arrogant, and individualistic a lot of choices surrounding nuclear weapons are� again, including richard rhodes).
i think this is a great book and found it to be a sort of mini mix of rhodes� two, bastard brigade by sam kean, and a book on the soviet program that i haven’t read yet. it’s a great “starter� book that i would recommend to anyone interested in the bomb project, and almost wish i had read this first before the others.
even so i have found a lot of things to learn from this book, and what was “repetitive� was still displayed in a refreshing, frequently witty light that i didn’t mind learning again. objectively speaking, i found this book to include a lot more information about the soviet and german bomb projects that has been missing from a lot of the “general� books about the bomb, including rhodes� two. i assume part of this is also because of the transcripts from farm hall being declassified in 1992, although i find rhodes to be lacking on the german bomb/reactor project.
therefore i will more directly have to disagree with the reviews saying this has nothing to add, it portrays the other bomb projects as being on the same scale (i assume this person did not finish the book as the author makes clear over and over that this was NOT the case), and that the author is too opinionated on his stance on morality (he stays as objective as he can be until the epilogue, and even so every single book i’ve ever read on the bomb has been very clear on how unnecessary, arrogant, and individualistic a lot of choices surrounding nuclear weapons are� again, including richard rhodes).
i think this is a great book and found it to be a sort of mini mix of rhodes� two, bastard brigade by sam kean, and a book on the soviet program that i haven’t read yet. it’s a great “starter� book that i would recommend to anyone interested in the bomb project, and almost wish i had read this first before the others.
January 15, 2021
It’s difficult to imagine the research which must have gone into this book, and yet it’s all drawn together in a way which elevates the stories beyond a mere recitation of facts.
Baggott focuses more on the people than the Physics, so this might not suit those looking for a purely scientific review. This gives more space however to explore the impulses and implications of the work which came to shape so much in the subsequent decades, and which exemplifies the destruction that was (rightly or wrongly) justified by the fight for “good�.
Baggott focuses more on the people than the Physics, so this might not suit those looking for a purely scientific review. This gives more space however to explore the impulses and implications of the work which came to shape so much in the subsequent decades, and which exemplifies the destruction that was (rightly or wrongly) justified by the fight for “good�.
June 26, 2019
So good. I'm looking forward to jumping into Rhodes' version eventually, which is supposedly more comprehensive than this one.
Shout out to Baggott for including a time line and a list of key characters. Absolute lifesaver.
Shout out to Baggott for including a time line and a list of key characters. Absolute lifesaver.
July 16, 2015
This book covers the development of the atomic bomb from the point of the first “what if?� theoretical thought about nuclear fission up until present day. The author does not just look at America’s race to develop the bomb but also reviews what was happening in Germany, Britain, Canada, the USSR and elsewhere.
Divided into four sections the book covers the recruitment of nuclear physicists as World War 2 begins and the status of early nuclear research in all countries. This is followed by a review of the difficulty of obtaining materials and the first attempts to create an atomic pile or critical, self-sustaining nuclear reaction. The author takes us on an interesting side trip to discuss the sabotage of the heavy water plant in Norway which the German’s were counting on in their atomic bomb program. If you have read the books Assault In Norway by Thomas Gallagher, The Real Heroes of Telemark: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler's Atomic Bomb by Ray Mears or Skis Against the Atom by Knut Haukelid or have seen the movie The Heroes of Telemark, you know this story. Having read and seen all of the above, Baggott does a great job of summarizing that stories place in the development of the atomic bomb.
Part 3 of the book discusses the search for German nuclear scientists after the D-Day landings and the development and testing of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos and its devastating use in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The last part of the book discusses the beginnings of the Cold War, espionage related to the atomic bomb, the development of the hydrogen bomb and the scientists attitude and thoughts on what they have unleashed.
The author does a great job of bringing to life the many real-life scientists, engineers, soldiers and spies in this story, including: Fermi, Bohr, Heisenberg, Oppenheimer, Groves, Fuchs, Teller, Szilard, Sakharov, Rosenberg, and many others.
While this book may sound like a dry topic to many, if you have an interest in World War 2, the development of the atomic bomb, or the beginnings of the Cold War, I believe that you will find it an entertaining and elucidating read.
Divided into four sections the book covers the recruitment of nuclear physicists as World War 2 begins and the status of early nuclear research in all countries. This is followed by a review of the difficulty of obtaining materials and the first attempts to create an atomic pile or critical, self-sustaining nuclear reaction. The author takes us on an interesting side trip to discuss the sabotage of the heavy water plant in Norway which the German’s were counting on in their atomic bomb program. If you have read the books Assault In Norway by Thomas Gallagher, The Real Heroes of Telemark: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler's Atomic Bomb by Ray Mears or Skis Against the Atom by Knut Haukelid or have seen the movie The Heroes of Telemark, you know this story. Having read and seen all of the above, Baggott does a great job of summarizing that stories place in the development of the atomic bomb.
Part 3 of the book discusses the search for German nuclear scientists after the D-Day landings and the development and testing of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos and its devastating use in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The last part of the book discusses the beginnings of the Cold War, espionage related to the atomic bomb, the development of the hydrogen bomb and the scientists attitude and thoughts on what they have unleashed.
The author does a great job of bringing to life the many real-life scientists, engineers, soldiers and spies in this story, including: Fermi, Bohr, Heisenberg, Oppenheimer, Groves, Fuchs, Teller, Szilard, Sakharov, Rosenberg, and many others.
While this book may sound like a dry topic to many, if you have an interest in World War 2, the development of the atomic bomb, or the beginnings of the Cold War, I believe that you will find it an entertaining and elucidating read.
June 19, 2010
Picked this book up while incredibly bored when I was stuck for two days at the Omaha airport. Am very glad I did. This is a well-written book detailing the development of the atomic bomb.
As a science geek who recently took a quantum physics class, I was amazed at the number of names I recognized. Pretty much every famous physicist from that era (memorialized in their named equations, methods) makes a cameo in the book and was somehow involved with bomb development.
The book also does a remarkable job of clearly (assuming you have a science background to begin with) describing the physics of fission, fusion, and weapon design. Now I finally understand why the bombs dropped on Japan were called "fat man" and "little boy" (a function of their triggering mechanism and thus size/shape), why uranium-235 is so important versus uranium 238, etc. The book also describes the complexity of the motivations and morality of developing a nuclear bomb, and also using them on Japan.
If you love science and history, I'd highly recommend this book.
As a science geek who recently took a quantum physics class, I was amazed at the number of names I recognized. Pretty much every famous physicist from that era (memorialized in their named equations, methods) makes a cameo in the book and was somehow involved with bomb development.
The book also does a remarkable job of clearly (assuming you have a science background to begin with) describing the physics of fission, fusion, and weapon design. Now I finally understand why the bombs dropped on Japan were called "fat man" and "little boy" (a function of their triggering mechanism and thus size/shape), why uranium-235 is so important versus uranium 238, etc. The book also describes the complexity of the motivations and morality of developing a nuclear bomb, and also using them on Japan.
If you love science and history, I'd highly recommend this book.
September 16, 2024
A passable history of the race for the atomic bomb.
February 2, 2016
How close did Hitler come to an atomic bomb? The disturbing answer is “a lot closer than you might think.�
The received story of German nuclear development in World War II goes something like this. Hitler and the Nazis didn’t even come close to developing an atomic bomb. They lost many of their brilliant scientists anyway because they were Jewish and fled to Britain or America because of Nazi persecution. Those German scientists who remained were way behind their counterparts in Britain and the U.S. in understanding nuclear reactions . They were in any case half-hearted about working on a bomb for Hitler and soft-pedalled, leading the Nazis to think the project was unachievable. They lacked the industrial muscle to separate s Uranium 235 on an industrial scale (like the Manhattan project) and didn’t even manage to build a working nuclear reactor. Their half-hearted efforts were hampered and eventually were over-run by allied bombing and the D-Day invasion of Europe.
This is in some ways a comforting narrative � one that is much easier to deal with than trying to envisage London or New York after a nuclear explosion, and Britain and the U.S. on their knees begging Hitler for mercy. But how accurate is it? A 2009 book by Dr Jim Baggott, Atomic: the first war of physics, examines in detail the race to develop nuclear weapons by Britain, Germany, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, based on declassified documents and captured German archives and tells a fascinating story � one that is some important respects very different from the received view.
Many German Jewish scientists did seek refuge in Britain and America. But those that stayed behind were first rate minds and included many scientists who had made the initial discoveries about nuclear fission. Indeed, in its infancy, nuclear fission was very much a German science.
Nuclear fission was discovered in April 1939 by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassman. Both continued to work at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute throughout the war on nuclear chemistry, though neither worked specifically on a nuclear weapon. Werner Heisenberg, Germany’s most illustrious physicist was appointed by the Wermacht to run the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, which they took over, and lead nuclear research.
The idea that all or most of these scientists were covertly anti-Nazi is a discovery that many of them made after the war when they were in Allied hands. For example, In 1941, with Germany master of all western Europe, Heisenberg told Nils Bohr (a Dane) “How important it was that Germany should win the war . . . the occupation of Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland was a sad thing but as regards the countries in eastern Europe it was a good development because these countries were not able to govern themselves.�
While some of the German scientists might have been averse to mass killings, the fact is that most if not all of them saw the highest good of Europe in a German victory and German hegemony.
In the first months of the war, German scientist formed the Uranverein � the “Uranium Club� � and set out to explore whether nuclear fission could be used either for energy in a reactor, or in a weapon, or both. All three teams of scientists working on the question � Britain, U.S. and Germany � reached remarkable agreement within months of each other.
It was understandably Britain � alone and under attack from the Luftwaffe � that reached the conclusion that a bomb was possible a few months before the others. In July 1941, the British MAUD committee reported that “The committee considers that the scheme for a uranium bomb is practicable and is likely to lead to decisive results in the war.�
American policy-makers received a similar report from Nobel laureate Arthur Compton in November. Compton estimated that, with access to a uranium-heavy water reactor running at 100,000 kilowatts for two months, the Germans could have enough plutonium for six atomic bombs by the end of 1942. It was this galvanised the U.S. into action.
That the Germans in fact lagged behind was to some extent down to luck. Both British and German scientists realised at an early stage that the uranium fuel in a reactor would need to be surrounded by a “moderator� to slow down neutrons so that they could cause fissions to take place, and that the most suitable material would be either graphite or heavy water.
Of these two, graphite was far easier to produce and handle but one British scientist, Leo Szilard, realised early on that the graphite would have to be of extreme purity or it would not work. The Germans tried graphite but failed to spot that its effectiveness was negated by minute impurities caused by the manufacturing process. They thus dropped graphite and turned to heavy water � rare and costly to produce, difficult to handle and available to them only through the Norsk Hydro factory in occupied Norway. Their new interest in this plant tipped off the Allies that they were researching nuclear fission and caused SOE repeatedly to sabotage heavy water production, setting German research back significantly. If they had stuck to graphite, they probably would not have shown their hand to the Allies and they would have accelerated their programme forward by many months � perhaps to a fully operational reactor.
But if they had bad luck over their choice of moderator, the Germans had (unintended) good luck on another crucially important front.
There are two ways to make a fission bomb. The first is to separate the radioactive isotope Uranium 235 from common Uranium for use as the bomb core (the Hiroshima bomb was a uranium device). The second is to use plutonium as the bomb core (as in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.)
Separating enough U235 for a bomb is a long, complex, arduous and costly industrial process, usually done by passing uranium in the form of a highly reactive and toxic gas, uranium hexafluoride, through hundreds of individual centrifuges. It was setting up and managing this colossal industrial endeavour in secret that was the great achievement of the Manhattan project.
Producing Plutonium is much simpler, because it is a by-product of the reactions taking place in the core of a uranium reactor. Because it is chemically distinct from uranium it is easy to separate out in pure form � no need for complex industrial scale separation plant. Pure plutonium is twice as reactive to neutrons so you only need a piece the size of a grapefruit to make a bomb.
However, plutonium was a brand new element at the time. It wasn’t even given a name until Glen Seaborg called it plutonium in 1941 and was simply referred to as element 94. Because it was so new and its properties poorly understood, it wasn’t taken up by the British and Americans as their primary aim. It was merely an afterthought, once they had got a reactor going successfully.
Because the Germans, on the other hand, had only small quantities of heavy water available, they were compelled to focus all their attention on producing a reactor, rather than building a bomb. But this meant that -if they succeeded � they would automatically have access to plutonium for a weapon, instead of enriched uranium. They would, in fact, have won the race by quite a distance.
The final question is perhaps most fascinating of all. If Hitler had acquired a plutonium bomb in 1944, what exactly would he have done with it?
His main strategic aim in the west was to defeat the allies so he could carry out his eastern plan to occupy the lands of the soviet union unhindered. He had no strategic wish to crush Britain and its empire � indeed, he had long dreamed of an “Aryan� partnership. He would probably have hesitated to destroy London. It is more likely that he would have demonstrated his nuclear capacity to the Allies by destroying a target that to him was unimportant and for whose inhabitants he cared nothing.
Where this would have been is anyone’s guess, but the mind boggles at the possibilities. Moscow? But this would leave the capital of the new German eastern empire contaminated. Paris? But this would destroy a favourite playground for German officers. New York? This seems a more likely target. America would have been powerless to retaliate and would have been relegated to minor status for generations. The war would have been ended overnight and Hitler free to carry out his plans.
The received story of German nuclear development in World War II goes something like this. Hitler and the Nazis didn’t even come close to developing an atomic bomb. They lost many of their brilliant scientists anyway because they were Jewish and fled to Britain or America because of Nazi persecution. Those German scientists who remained were way behind their counterparts in Britain and the U.S. in understanding nuclear reactions . They were in any case half-hearted about working on a bomb for Hitler and soft-pedalled, leading the Nazis to think the project was unachievable. They lacked the industrial muscle to separate s Uranium 235 on an industrial scale (like the Manhattan project) and didn’t even manage to build a working nuclear reactor. Their half-hearted efforts were hampered and eventually were over-run by allied bombing and the D-Day invasion of Europe.
This is in some ways a comforting narrative � one that is much easier to deal with than trying to envisage London or New York after a nuclear explosion, and Britain and the U.S. on their knees begging Hitler for mercy. But how accurate is it? A 2009 book by Dr Jim Baggott, Atomic: the first war of physics, examines in detail the race to develop nuclear weapons by Britain, Germany, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, based on declassified documents and captured German archives and tells a fascinating story � one that is some important respects very different from the received view.
Many German Jewish scientists did seek refuge in Britain and America. But those that stayed behind were first rate minds and included many scientists who had made the initial discoveries about nuclear fission. Indeed, in its infancy, nuclear fission was very much a German science.
Nuclear fission was discovered in April 1939 by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassman. Both continued to work at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute throughout the war on nuclear chemistry, though neither worked specifically on a nuclear weapon. Werner Heisenberg, Germany’s most illustrious physicist was appointed by the Wermacht to run the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, which they took over, and lead nuclear research.
The idea that all or most of these scientists were covertly anti-Nazi is a discovery that many of them made after the war when they were in Allied hands. For example, In 1941, with Germany master of all western Europe, Heisenberg told Nils Bohr (a Dane) “How important it was that Germany should win the war . . . the occupation of Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland was a sad thing but as regards the countries in eastern Europe it was a good development because these countries were not able to govern themselves.�
While some of the German scientists might have been averse to mass killings, the fact is that most if not all of them saw the highest good of Europe in a German victory and German hegemony.
In the first months of the war, German scientist formed the Uranverein � the “Uranium Club� � and set out to explore whether nuclear fission could be used either for energy in a reactor, or in a weapon, or both. All three teams of scientists working on the question � Britain, U.S. and Germany � reached remarkable agreement within months of each other.
It was understandably Britain � alone and under attack from the Luftwaffe � that reached the conclusion that a bomb was possible a few months before the others. In July 1941, the British MAUD committee reported that “The committee considers that the scheme for a uranium bomb is practicable and is likely to lead to decisive results in the war.�
American policy-makers received a similar report from Nobel laureate Arthur Compton in November. Compton estimated that, with access to a uranium-heavy water reactor running at 100,000 kilowatts for two months, the Germans could have enough plutonium for six atomic bombs by the end of 1942. It was this galvanised the U.S. into action.
That the Germans in fact lagged behind was to some extent down to luck. Both British and German scientists realised at an early stage that the uranium fuel in a reactor would need to be surrounded by a “moderator� to slow down neutrons so that they could cause fissions to take place, and that the most suitable material would be either graphite or heavy water.
Of these two, graphite was far easier to produce and handle but one British scientist, Leo Szilard, realised early on that the graphite would have to be of extreme purity or it would not work. The Germans tried graphite but failed to spot that its effectiveness was negated by minute impurities caused by the manufacturing process. They thus dropped graphite and turned to heavy water � rare and costly to produce, difficult to handle and available to them only through the Norsk Hydro factory in occupied Norway. Their new interest in this plant tipped off the Allies that they were researching nuclear fission and caused SOE repeatedly to sabotage heavy water production, setting German research back significantly. If they had stuck to graphite, they probably would not have shown their hand to the Allies and they would have accelerated their programme forward by many months � perhaps to a fully operational reactor.
But if they had bad luck over their choice of moderator, the Germans had (unintended) good luck on another crucially important front.
There are two ways to make a fission bomb. The first is to separate the radioactive isotope Uranium 235 from common Uranium for use as the bomb core (the Hiroshima bomb was a uranium device). The second is to use plutonium as the bomb core (as in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki.)
Separating enough U235 for a bomb is a long, complex, arduous and costly industrial process, usually done by passing uranium in the form of a highly reactive and toxic gas, uranium hexafluoride, through hundreds of individual centrifuges. It was setting up and managing this colossal industrial endeavour in secret that was the great achievement of the Manhattan project.
Producing Plutonium is much simpler, because it is a by-product of the reactions taking place in the core of a uranium reactor. Because it is chemically distinct from uranium it is easy to separate out in pure form � no need for complex industrial scale separation plant. Pure plutonium is twice as reactive to neutrons so you only need a piece the size of a grapefruit to make a bomb.
However, plutonium was a brand new element at the time. It wasn’t even given a name until Glen Seaborg called it plutonium in 1941 and was simply referred to as element 94. Because it was so new and its properties poorly understood, it wasn’t taken up by the British and Americans as their primary aim. It was merely an afterthought, once they had got a reactor going successfully.
Because the Germans, on the other hand, had only small quantities of heavy water available, they were compelled to focus all their attention on producing a reactor, rather than building a bomb. But this meant that -if they succeeded � they would automatically have access to plutonium for a weapon, instead of enriched uranium. They would, in fact, have won the race by quite a distance.
The final question is perhaps most fascinating of all. If Hitler had acquired a plutonium bomb in 1944, what exactly would he have done with it?
His main strategic aim in the west was to defeat the allies so he could carry out his eastern plan to occupy the lands of the soviet union unhindered. He had no strategic wish to crush Britain and its empire � indeed, he had long dreamed of an “Aryan� partnership. He would probably have hesitated to destroy London. It is more likely that he would have demonstrated his nuclear capacity to the Allies by destroying a target that to him was unimportant and for whose inhabitants he cared nothing.
Where this would have been is anyone’s guess, but the mind boggles at the possibilities. Moscow? But this would leave the capital of the new German eastern empire contaminated. Paris? But this would destroy a favourite playground for German officers. New York? This seems a more likely target. America would have been powerless to retaliate and would have been relegated to minor status for generations. The war would have been ended overnight and Hitler free to carry out his plans.
August 27, 2019
If I didn't know this story was the real thing I would think it was some made up spy thriller. Seriously, the story of the atom bomb is a real page turner- can't believe I didn't know more about it before. It starts with ominous fission discoveries by German physicists living in the shadow of Nazi Germany, continues with a bunch of good old fashioned American elbow grease (and paranoia, another oh so American trait), and ends with the whispery tentacles of the Cold War and the new state of uneasy mutual deterrence that continues until today. There are a bunch of excellent spy and sabotage plots thrown into the middle for good measure (I say that flippantly, but the lives lost are a very sad element of this indeed).
The most interesting themes of the book ended up being the philosophical and moral shades of feeling experienced by the scientists themselves in the wake of their colossal invention. Once WW2 ended and the terrifying figure of Hitler fizzled from the horizon, scientists were left clutching their horrifying invention in their hands and wondering what they had done. War provided a good excuse for letting the genie out of the bottle, but the rapid escalation of the hydrogen bomb, etc, after the conclusion of the war had nothing to do with Hitler. Some of the scientists chose to calm their consciences by leaking atomic secrets to the Soviets, reasoning that they were leveling the world playing field. Others attempted to become involved (unsuccessfully) in politics, hoping to create one world governance of atomic power. As far as I can see, none ultimately managed to completely overcome their conscience. Oppenheimer's words on this dichotomy are often powerful:
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."
It is perhaps foreseeable that once developed at such great cost the bomb had to be used, and once used it could never be used again (barring some doomsday scenario). In some ways it is ironic- life under the shadow of atomic power is more peaceful than has ever perhaps before been seen in humanity. Once the consequences of war become too great, we must finally learn to live in an uneasy peace.
Of particular interest:
-the whole subplot involving heavy water at the Vemork plant in Norway
-Heisenburg's weird and contradictory actions as chief physicist in Nazi Germany
-the various motivations behind the surprisingly wide network of Soviet spies. It is easy to forget the early idealism behind communist sympathizers.
-Anytime Stalin is described as having a "temper tantrum"
The most interesting themes of the book ended up being the philosophical and moral shades of feeling experienced by the scientists themselves in the wake of their colossal invention. Once WW2 ended and the terrifying figure of Hitler fizzled from the horizon, scientists were left clutching their horrifying invention in their hands and wondering what they had done. War provided a good excuse for letting the genie out of the bottle, but the rapid escalation of the hydrogen bomb, etc, after the conclusion of the war had nothing to do with Hitler. Some of the scientists chose to calm their consciences by leaking atomic secrets to the Soviets, reasoning that they were leveling the world playing field. Others attempted to become involved (unsuccessfully) in politics, hoping to create one world governance of atomic power. As far as I can see, none ultimately managed to completely overcome their conscience. Oppenheimer's words on this dichotomy are often powerful:
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."
It is perhaps foreseeable that once developed at such great cost the bomb had to be used, and once used it could never be used again (barring some doomsday scenario). In some ways it is ironic- life under the shadow of atomic power is more peaceful than has ever perhaps before been seen in humanity. Once the consequences of war become too great, we must finally learn to live in an uneasy peace.
Of particular interest:
-the whole subplot involving heavy water at the Vemork plant in Norway
-Heisenburg's weird and contradictory actions as chief physicist in Nazi Germany
-the various motivations behind the surprisingly wide network of Soviet spies. It is easy to forget the early idealism behind communist sympathizers.
-Anytime Stalin is described as having a "temper tantrum"
February 11, 2019
The first war of physics
Baggott, once an academic chemist and now a science writer, seems particularly prescient in his book given that news has just indicated that the US is withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the Soviet Union that was established in 1970.
Baggott’s long look at how nuclear proliferation was established is engaging and informative. While I have read other books on Oppenheimer and on the Atomic Bomb (most notably Rhodes� The Making of the Atomic Bomb�) and the more recent “The Girls of Atomic City�, Baggot’s book adds to the conversation. While he covers some of the territory of the Making of the Atomic Bomb (and none of the territory of the Girls of Atomic City), this is less about the science than it is about the politics, personalities and the progress. Baggot answers the question just how did we get to the non-proliferation treaty of 1970 and who was involved (and to some extent the why of both of these)? And, he answers the questions pretty thoroughly by providing a tri-fold view of atomic progress from the perspective of the Russians, the Germans and the Anglo Alliance. It is a factual book and Baggot is careful not to make assumptions or draw conclusions for which there is limited evidence. The book relies extensively on direct quotes.
He also provides an interesting look at how the various spies worked on the Manhattan project and how they were eventually caught, the attempts to bomb the heavy water plant in Norway, Heisenberg’s own work on the atomic bomb in Germany and the Soviet progress that was apparently aided and abetted by the Manhattan project spies.
The book is structured chronologically and is generally easy to follow, but there is a lot going on and a lot of people involved. He provides a very useful timeline in the back as well as a glossary of all the main participants.
Baggott, once an academic chemist and now a science writer, seems particularly prescient in his book given that news has just indicated that the US is withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the Soviet Union that was established in 1970.
Baggott’s long look at how nuclear proliferation was established is engaging and informative. While I have read other books on Oppenheimer and on the Atomic Bomb (most notably Rhodes� The Making of the Atomic Bomb�) and the more recent “The Girls of Atomic City�, Baggot’s book adds to the conversation. While he covers some of the territory of the Making of the Atomic Bomb (and none of the territory of the Girls of Atomic City), this is less about the science than it is about the politics, personalities and the progress. Baggot answers the question just how did we get to the non-proliferation treaty of 1970 and who was involved (and to some extent the why of both of these)? And, he answers the questions pretty thoroughly by providing a tri-fold view of atomic progress from the perspective of the Russians, the Germans and the Anglo Alliance. It is a factual book and Baggot is careful not to make assumptions or draw conclusions for which there is limited evidence. The book relies extensively on direct quotes.
He also provides an interesting look at how the various spies worked on the Manhattan project and how they were eventually caught, the attempts to bomb the heavy water plant in Norway, Heisenberg’s own work on the atomic bomb in Germany and the Soviet progress that was apparently aided and abetted by the Manhattan project spies.
The book is structured chronologically and is generally easy to follow, but there is a lot going on and a lot of people involved. He provides a very useful timeline in the back as well as a glossary of all the main participants.
October 23, 2017
In reading this I realised how difficult it must be to write a popular science book. It needs to be able to appeal to those previously ignorant of the subject as well as able to hold its own with more informed readers.
I feel this did both really well. It is detailed but not complicated. It also features a lot of quotes from the actual people involved which helps ground it and with its credibility.
It also gives details outside of the subject to help a reader with the timeframe. It is an enjoyable and informative read that most people could pick up and a lot of people could learn something from.
I feel this did both really well. It is detailed but not complicated. It also features a lot of quotes from the actual people involved which helps ground it and with its credibility.
It also gives details outside of the subject to help a reader with the timeframe. It is an enjoyable and informative read that most people could pick up and a lot of people could learn something from.
June 14, 2023
Well researched and informational, covering a broad scope. However, the writing style is very dry. It's almost just a list of names, dates and short facts. A single book of smaller scope or multiple books highlighting specific topics, groups or projects would have been a more enjoyable option. Great resource though.
October 15, 2017
One one hand I learned some tidbits tat I was unaware of before, but on the other hand the book goes into so much detail that it becomes exhausting.
It's amazing to look back and see the hold Communist ideology hand on people considering what we now know about it's implementation.
It's amazing to look back and see the hold Communist ideology hand on people considering what we now know about it's implementation.
February 16, 2019
A British part of the story
This is a British version of history of atomic weapons � with detailed description of spy games, European/German perspectives, and more. Quite complementary to the US versions of what happened in the Manhattan Project.
This is a British version of history of atomic weapons � with detailed description of spy games, European/German perspectives, and more. Quite complementary to the US versions of what happened in the Manhattan Project.
July 2, 2019
Świetna książka opisująca historię stworzenia broni atomowej. Szkoda tylko że nie ma polskiego tłumaczenia. Obowiązkowa pozycja dla wszystkich zainteresowanych historią fizyki jak i drugą wojną światową.
September 9, 2023
An entertaining read, more accessible than Rhodes� book(s) on the subject I think. But to me, with my background in physics, less informative than Rhodes book.
Fun fact: I read this while on holiday on the Greek island of…Rhodes.
Fun fact: I read this while on holiday on the Greek island of…Rhodes.
July 11, 2018
Comprehensive! Carefully, though, track your islands through this vast ocean of details!
June 13, 2022
Good book very Interesting
November 12, 2022
I found myself skimming but I enjoyed the reactor power levels, the physics, the alternative enrichment technologies and the spying.
Want to read
September 7, 2024Recommended by Greg Shepherd
November 17, 2011
The first fully realised popular account of the race between Nazi Germany, Britain, America and the Soviet Union to build atomic weapons.
Drawing on declassified material such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archive, Jim Baggott's monumental book spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to 'Joe-1', the first Soviet atomic bomb test in August 1949.
It includes dramatic episodes such as the sabotage of the Vemork heavy water plant by Norwegian commandos and the infamous meeting between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, the subject of Michael Frayn's stage play Copenhagen.
Baggott also tells of how Allied scientists were directly involved in the hunt for their German counterparts in war-torn Europe following D-Day; and brings to light the reactions of captured German scientists on hearing of the Allied success at Hiroshima.
Atomic is an epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding; a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.
--------------
‘I [have] read everything on the subject that I could lay my hands on, but I never read such a good, comprehensive account as Jim Baggott’s� Highly recommended.� A N Wilson, Reader’s Digest
‘High drama� fascinating reading� BBC Focus Magazine, March 09
‘Grimly compelling. Thorough and accessible.� Daily Telegraph
‘The best popular science book of the year to date by far.�
‘Baggott’s investigation is an accessible account of the race to build the world’s first atomic weapons. Compelling.� Good Book Guide
‘Atomic is the tale of the creation of the Atomic bomb during wartime, and the political fallout from the realization of these powerful weapons� Most importantly Atomic is about the people and personalities behind the bomb� It’s a disturbing book � simply because it’s a very disturbing story.� Book Geeks
‘Comprehensive and clear-flowing book by Jim Baggott� the real nub of this thriller of a book: the human brain is the thing that fills you wit fearful awe.’Diplomat Magazine
'This is an excellent example of popular science, explaining a series of difficult concepts clearly and coherently but without sacrificing accuracy. When combined with the personal stories of the scientists the result is an excellent study of the development of the first atomic bomb.�
‘Jim Braggott’s clear, elegant prose never falters, whether unveiling the scientists and spies who raced to unlock the secrets of the atom bomb, or describing the sub-atomic particle which drove the physicists on to what J Robert Oppenheimer later called “sin�.�
‘World War II changed many things and not the least among them was the relationship of science to the military. Readers interested in this important historic transformation will find Jim Baggott's engaging history replete with drama and insight.� Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Drawing on declassified material such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archive, Jim Baggott's monumental book spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to 'Joe-1', the first Soviet atomic bomb test in August 1949.
It includes dramatic episodes such as the sabotage of the Vemork heavy water plant by Norwegian commandos and the infamous meeting between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, the subject of Michael Frayn's stage play Copenhagen.
Baggott also tells of how Allied scientists were directly involved in the hunt for their German counterparts in war-torn Europe following D-Day; and brings to light the reactions of captured German scientists on hearing of the Allied success at Hiroshima.
Atomic is an epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding; a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.
--------------
‘I [have] read everything on the subject that I could lay my hands on, but I never read such a good, comprehensive account as Jim Baggott’s� Highly recommended.� A N Wilson, Reader’s Digest
‘High drama� fascinating reading� BBC Focus Magazine, March 09
‘Grimly compelling. Thorough and accessible.� Daily Telegraph
‘The best popular science book of the year to date by far.�
‘Baggott’s investigation is an accessible account of the race to build the world’s first atomic weapons. Compelling.� Good Book Guide
‘Atomic is the tale of the creation of the Atomic bomb during wartime, and the political fallout from the realization of these powerful weapons� Most importantly Atomic is about the people and personalities behind the bomb� It’s a disturbing book � simply because it’s a very disturbing story.� Book Geeks
‘Comprehensive and clear-flowing book by Jim Baggott� the real nub of this thriller of a book: the human brain is the thing that fills you wit fearful awe.’Diplomat Magazine
'This is an excellent example of popular science, explaining a series of difficult concepts clearly and coherently but without sacrificing accuracy. When combined with the personal stories of the scientists the result is an excellent study of the development of the first atomic bomb.�
‘Jim Braggott’s clear, elegant prose never falters, whether unveiling the scientists and spies who raced to unlock the secrets of the atom bomb, or describing the sub-atomic particle which drove the physicists on to what J Robert Oppenheimer later called “sin�.�
‘World War II changed many things and not the least among them was the relationship of science to the military. Readers interested in this important historic transformation will find Jim Baggott's engaging history replete with drama and insight.� Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
July 7, 2012
It's all here, the science, the history, the politics, the espionage. On one page you'll find some fairly-abstract discussion of nuclear physics (not to such a degree that it would overwhelm a laymen, but just enough detail for the reader to comprehend what they were doing) -- on another a "James-Bond"-esque sabotage mission deep into Norway to bomb a heavy water facilities in Norway.
"The First War of Physics" is an account of physicists engaged in what is on one level a thrilling, scientific and intellectual pursuit, coupled with the awareness of how said scientific venture was rendered subservient to U.S. military objectives. Academic and largely theoretical discussions give way to the growing realization of what they are in fact building, juggling moral reservations about their complicity in such with the simultaneous and compelling awareness that the Germans were in all probability engaged in the same pursuit of a weapon.
Also fascinating is the manner in which the news of the atomic bombings provoked within the German scientists an agonizing of how they had fallen so far behind in the race -- rather than face the prospect of academic embarassment (how could the Americans have achieved it first?) Heisenberg and others would instead fashion a revisionist history of the German nuclear program (the "Lesart"), whitewashing complicity and academic failure alike with a self-serving apologetic. In the words of Carl von Weizsäcker: "I believe the reason we didn’t do it was because all the physicists didn’t want to do it, on principle. If we had all wanted Germany to win the war we would have succeeded."
Or, how some Red-leaning physicists who betrayed nuclear secrets to the Soviets -- concerned about an American "monopoly" over nuclear energy and a desire to help our "allies" at the time -- subsequently repented of their actions during the Cold War, when "Papa Joe" Stalin's true totalitarian colors revealed themselves. (Such was the case of German-British spy Klaus Fuchs).
Of great benefit to the reader is Baggot's timeline of notable events (organized by country in parallel), a helpful "cast of characters" (and there are many!), and an extensive bibliography. I have since added to my reading list "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer."
"The First War of Physics" is an account of physicists engaged in what is on one level a thrilling, scientific and intellectual pursuit, coupled with the awareness of how said scientific venture was rendered subservient to U.S. military objectives. Academic and largely theoretical discussions give way to the growing realization of what they are in fact building, juggling moral reservations about their complicity in such with the simultaneous and compelling awareness that the Germans were in all probability engaged in the same pursuit of a weapon.
Also fascinating is the manner in which the news of the atomic bombings provoked within the German scientists an agonizing of how they had fallen so far behind in the race -- rather than face the prospect of academic embarassment (how could the Americans have achieved it first?) Heisenberg and others would instead fashion a revisionist history of the German nuclear program (the "Lesart"), whitewashing complicity and academic failure alike with a self-serving apologetic. In the words of Carl von Weizsäcker: "I believe the reason we didn’t do it was because all the physicists didn’t want to do it, on principle. If we had all wanted Germany to win the war we would have succeeded."
Or, how some Red-leaning physicists who betrayed nuclear secrets to the Soviets -- concerned about an American "monopoly" over nuclear energy and a desire to help our "allies" at the time -- subsequently repented of their actions during the Cold War, when "Papa Joe" Stalin's true totalitarian colors revealed themselves. (Such was the case of German-British spy Klaus Fuchs).
Of great benefit to the reader is Baggot's timeline of notable events (organized by country in parallel), a helpful "cast of characters" (and there are many!), and an extensive bibliography. I have since added to my reading list "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2014
It is with the privilege of familial legacy linked to this story of the race between US, Great Britain, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union to create the most destructive weapon ever imagined that prompted me to pick it up. I am glad I have. The backstory is haunting and all to0 real. My uncle was a nuclear physicist involved with security clearance WWII, friends with the eminent scientists and Nobel laureates that I even shared clambakes on the beaches near the Brookhaven Labs. My uncle used to take me on 'fieldtrips" to see such things as cyclotrons and listen to talks of fission and atom smashers.. So I have begun to wade into Jim Baggott's version. At times the law of physics overtakes the narrative but muscling through to the drama and personal stories is worth the effort. I will revisit a review when I am done.
October 13, 2013
This work is exhaustively comprehensive. From the various earliest discovery of energy released from fissioned atoms, to the coining of the term "fission" to the development of the Fat Man and Little Boy atomic bombs of WWII and finally to the arms race and the adopted concept of Mutually Assured Destruction, this book covers it all.
Written with an engaging style, we meet all the primary actors in this race to develop these weapons (and peaceful power) and we even get a good look at the politics of the time governing the development of the technology in the US, Britain, Germany and the USSR.
I highly recommend the book but be warned that it is an investment in time and effort as there are a lot of of physics, politics, intrigue and betrayal behind the story. Enjoy!
Written with an engaging style, we meet all the primary actors in this race to develop these weapons (and peaceful power) and we even get a good look at the politics of the time governing the development of the technology in the US, Britain, Germany and the USSR.
I highly recommend the book but be warned that it is an investment in time and effort as there are a lot of of physics, politics, intrigue and betrayal behind the story. Enjoy!
January 19, 2016
I picked up this book because it appeared to be about science and history. But it went much further than that. Not only do you get the science behind the bomb, and the history of its development, but you also get to know the various scientists involved. But wait! There's more: espionage, spies, daring commando raids, and political maneuvering. Thanks to the release of many secret documents in the 1990's we get to see the development of the bomb and of the cold war from the perspective of the U.S. Britain, Germany and the Soviet Union. The book is well written and an easy read, though a few times the science can get confusing. The book contains a timeline as well as a cast of characters - both of great value in following the complex history.
May 14, 2012
Really thought out, and in all honesty, quite frightening towards the end. It charts the trials and tribulations that the scientific community had to wrestle with to deal with the technical issues that surrounded the inital development the aftermath of the bomb, as well as agtermath of the nuclear detonations - both over Japan and the subsequent antmospheric testing.
It finished off with an anaylsis of the Cuban Missile crisis, and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that is still in force for both the US & Russia.
It finished off with an anaylsis of the Cuban Missile crisis, and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that is still in force for both the US & Russia.
December 20, 2012
A gripping read, with an outstanding cast of characters. Truly terrifying to learn that the world literally fell into the discovery of nuclear fission, but quickly realized its deadly potential. The discovery came at a time when the world was at war, casting the United States in a race with the Nazi’s that would lead to the building and dropping of the atomic bomb. If it wasn’t an actual historic retelling of events, the First War of Physics might make a great spy thriller. A great book for anyone who loves politics, history, psychology, physics, and philosophy.
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