Brighter than a Thousand Suns (book)
Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists,[1] by Austrian Robert Jungk, is the first published account of the Manhattan Project and the German atomic bomb project.
History[edit]
The book studied the making and dropping of the atomic bomb from the viewpoints of the atomic scientists. The book is largely based on personal interviews with persons who played leading parts in the construction and deployment of the bombs.
In 1956 the book was published in German by Alfred Scherz Verlag with the title Heller als tausend Sonnen. James Cleugh translated it into English, and it was published in 1958 by Harcourt, Brace and Company.
The book's title is based on the verse from the Bhagavad Gita that J. Robert Oppenheimer is said to have recalled at the Trinity nuclear test.[2]
Controversy[edit]
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Later in life Robert Jungk no longer stood behind some portions of his book. In a foreword published in a 1990 book on Germany's wartime atomic research [3] he appeared to accuse Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Werner Heisenberg, both of whom he consulted during the writing, of misleading him about the intentions of German physicists during World War II.[4]
In The New World, 1939–1946, a history commissioned by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and published in 1962, historians Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson describe the book as "hopelessly inaccurate".[5]
In a 1967 interview, the military head of the Manhattan Project, General Leslie Groves, said:
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Originally published in German: Heller als tausend Sonnen. Das Schicksal der Atomforscher (Stuttgart, 1956)
- ^ Robert Jungk (1958), Brighter than a thousand suns: a personal history of the atomic scientists, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-15-614150-5, p.201
- ^ Robert Jungk, 'Vorwort', in Mark Walker, Die Uran-maschine, Mythos, and Wirklichkeit der deutschen Atombombe, Berlin, 1990, pp. 7-10
- ^ Referenced in Mark Walker, Physics and Propaganda: Werner Heisenberg's Foreign Lectures under National Socialism, Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences,Vol. 22, No. 2 (1992), pp. 339-389 (on JStor).
- ^ Hewlett, Richard G.; Anderson, Oscar E. (1962). The New World, 1939–1946. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 662.
- ^ Ermenc, Joseph J, ed. (1989). Atomic Bomb Scientists: Memoirs, 1939-1945. Westport, CT & London: Meckler. p. 249. ISBN 0-88736-267-2.
Books about the Manhattan Project
Books about scientists
1958 non-fiction books
Nuclear topic book stubs
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Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists
by Robert Jungk (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 72 ratings
Edition: First Edition
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An account of the remarkable scientists who discovered that nuclear fission was possible and then became concerned about its implications. Index. Translated by James Cleugh.
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From other countries
Kai Lee
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that described a unique and bitter/sweet page of human history
Reviewed in the United States on 11 December 2021
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I first read “Brighter than a Thousand Suns” at the end of 1970. While remembering that I thought highly of the book then, I no longer have much recollection of its contents.
Recently, after finishing a couple of books on the history of Maxwell equations, hydrodynamics and thermodynamics, it occurred to me that I would enjoy reading “Brighter than a Thousand Suns” again.
The year 1970 was at the height of the cold war between superpowers with nuclear weapons that can wipe out civilization in seconds. The doomsday clock in 1971 was set by the Editors of the publication “Bulletin of Atomic Scientists” to 23.50, or 10 minutes to midnight. Now in 2021, although the nuclear threat is still there, one would think that the world should be much further from midnight than in 1970, since, after all, it has been 36 years ago that the cold war was declared to have ended. To my great surprise, when I look it up, the doomsday clock in 2021 is only 100 seconds from midnight! This time, humankind faces not only nuclear bombs but also the devastating threat of climate change. At the beginning of 2021, The Bulletin stated that the current issues are "the most dangerous situation that humanity has ever faced."
The book told the events before, during and after the second World War, covering not only the building of the atomic bomb but also the hydrogen bomb, which for a while was known as the Super.
Most of the book is heavy reading, as it is filled with serious matters, as well as conflicts of various kinds.
The exception is Chapter 2, with the exquisite title “The Beautiful Years 1923-32”. Here it described the time when scientists, students, and professors were free from politics, with stories which were amusing and nostalgic.
Every reader who is not a physicist will smile at mathematician David Hilbert’s remark that “Physics is obviously too difficult for physicists.”
Among the many heart-warming stories was the one about a young student in University of Gottingen in Germany. He was walking along in a dream, stumbled and fell flat on his face. When a fellow student rushed up and tried to help him to his feet, the fallen student, still on the ground, vigorously repulsed his helper’s efforts, shouting “Leave me alone will you? I’m busy!” Apparently. a new brilliant solution had just occurred to him.
Unfortunately, the beautiful years soon came to an end. The Nazis took over Germany in 1933 and was poised to invade countries in Europe. When Einstein moved to the U.S. in the autumn of 1933, taking up the position in the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, the French Physicist Paul Langevin said that “The Pope of Physics has moved and the United States will now become the center of the natural sciences.”
The main story was about why and how the American Government decided to build the atomic bomb, how the effort, designated as the Manhattan Project, was organized, and what life and work at Los Alamos and at Oak Ridge were like for the scientists.
Particularly interesting were the episodes depicting the personalities of some famous scientists and mathematicians, including Oppenheimer, Feynman, Dirac, Bethe, Teller, Einstein, Hilbert, von Neumann, among others.
The decision processes regarding whether to use the atomic bomb against Japan, whether to proceed with the hydrogen bomb etc. were documented in detail. It is somber to read “The widespread underestimation in the West, during the first four years after the war, of Russia’s capacity to construct atom bombs within a foreseeable time is almost more astonishing than the earlier overestimation of Germany’s atomic potential.“.
There were brief descriptions of the state of atomic physics research in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, particularly the work of Hahn, Joliet-Curie, Frank, Frisch, Rutherford, and Szilard. The later part of the book detailed the origin, the debate, and the production and testing of the hydrogen bomb, Oppenheimer’s role in the tragedy of his friend Haakon Chevalier, and the hearing to take away the security clearance of Oppenheimer.
In the chapter concerning Oppenheimer, the author made the following observation about the modern-day scientist: “His remarkable admission perhaps explains why the twentieth-century Faust allows himself, in his obsession with success and despite occasional twinges of conscience, to be persuaded into signing the pact with the Devil that confronts him: What is ‘technically sweet’ he finds nothing less than irresistible”.
I found the above observation eerily similar to a recent remark a former comedian made on the show of a current comedian:
“I love scientists and they do good work. But they are going to kill us all. Here’s how I believe the world ends, and I say this to you in sincerity…….The world ends, the last words man utters are somewhere in a lab, a guy goes, huh huh, it worked.”
Comedians aside, “Brighter than a thousand suns” vividly described a unique and bitter/sweet page of human history. It should be a must read for anyone seeking to gain some understanding of the complicated modern world.
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M. EDWARDS
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, but marred by typos
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 August 2023
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I have read this book several times and always enjoy the background and trials and politics of the development of the atomic bomb.
It is clear that the Kindle version has been produced by OCR'ing a printed version of the book. It is also apparent that no one has ever proof read the result. The number of typos is disturbing and leaves the reader having the guess at the word that is missing.
Hence 4 stars
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Delta
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesante perspectiva sobre el proyecto Manhattan.
Reviewed in Spain on 26 May 2023
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¿Para cuándo una versión en ebook para la gente con baja visión?
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jay pister
5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Jungk tells a revealing story of the atmosphere that had existed in Gottingen Germany among the best physics minds in the
Reviewed in the United States on 1 October 2014
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Werner Heisenberg I believe to be the biggest hero of the last century. No one could have helped humanity anymore that the act of saving us from a nuclear holocaust.
The real shame is that he is not generally recognized for the heroic deed that he had accomplished. . The report done by Dr. Samuel Gaudsmit was biased. Dr. Gaudsmit had a built in hatred for anything that was German. His own parents were both killed by Nazi's. . He pointed to the math calculations of Dr. Heisenberg's as being "faulty" Of course, to pull off and misdirect the German bomb program, it has to be assumed that these numbers would be erroneous. How could they be anything else? the real question then becomes "did Dr. Werner Heisenberg make the errors on purpose? This subject is more fully covered in the the misdirection that Werner Heisenberg intended they would have to be faulty.
Robert Jungk tells a revealing story of the atmosphere that had existed in Gottingen
Germany among the best physics minds in the world. .The books by Robert Jungk and Thomas Powers should both be read to gain an understanding into the thoughts both scientific and moral that had gone into the actual making of the bomb.
We failed to give due credit to some of the finest heroes of the entire nuclear development. Hitler, could have made a bomb without the misdirection of Werner Heisenberg.
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cncgeek
5.0 out of 5 stars History, drama, science, tragedy.
Reviewed in the United States on 20 February 2021
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Perhaps my favored book ever. Just read the first two paragraphs, and you will be hooked.
Not just a history of atomic physics and the bomb (though it is that and damned well done), but a philosophical bomb as well.
How did these scientists, physicists, and mathematicians, from all over the world: most of them pacifists, come together to make a weapon so terrible it was only used nearly 100 years ago and never since?
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Long term Prime Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book on the making of the bomb
Reviewed in the United States on 18 April 2021
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A non-partisan view of the development of the A bomb. Much in depth description of the project.
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Morris39
2.0 out of 5 stars Biased. Bought book b/c some reviewers said there was ...
Reviewed in Canada on 1 February 2018
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Biased. Bought book b/c some reviewers said there was more emphasis on the technical issues and less on social/personal compared to The Making of The Atomic Bomb. Not so. Virtually no description of the progress in the physics. Rhodes book is interesting and a more balanced presentation but just too long. Author presents with noticeable Euro and academic bias.One example is the treatment of General Rhodes who had inordinately wide responsibility and power for the complete bomb project. Here he is described as a "rough man" having significant conflicts with the scientists and always as colonel not general. Rhodes had a masters in engineering and accomplishments before his appointment. No descriptions are provided of the conflicts.
Who wrote those 5 * reviews and why?
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MaryK
4.0 out of 5 stars 340 page with epilogue, plus two appendices discussing the ...
Reviewed in the United States on 11 June 2018
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340 page with epilogue, plus two appendices discussing the politics of the atomic bomb (written before a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.) Penned in a pleasant style, slightly political but not offensive.
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michael blades
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is absolutely fascinating. It gives data that ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 May 2015
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This book is absolutely fascinating .It gives data that puts into context a lot of the mystery of the 1950s anxiety about Nurclear War.
To one who as a small bay remembers the newspaper furore over the Execution of the Roseberges in the USA .This book sheds light on such matter.
In the light of a resurgence of Nuclear Arms Racing. It is worth the careful reading.
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R. EDWARDS
5.0 out of 5 stars I first read this on publication years ago - on ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2015
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I first read this on publication years ago - on rereading it I was impressed with the soundness of the research and the clarity of the writing. It captures the emotional uncertainty of the participants and the world view of the bomb at the time. A "must read" for anyone with an interest in physics and human nature.
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big red
5.0 out of 5 stars Just gets Better
Reviewed in the United States on 23 January 2019
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Even more interesting now than when it was a prescribed text for Matriculation class in 1966
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S K Bhowmik
5.0 out of 5 stars Review
Reviewed in India on 19 March 2019
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Very good book who loves history. History of making of Atom Bomb and roles of countries amazing.
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Virgil A. Hammon
5.0 out of 5 stars History of the science of the development of the bomb with personal lives.
Reviewed in the United States on 6 June 2014
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From the amazing days of discovery of radioactivity/quantum theory at Gottengen Univ to the overt sabotage of Hitler's plans by brave German scientists during the war to the final dynamics of producing the bomb, this book gives the personal-social connection that makes science real in the minds of readers.
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Octagon
5.0 out of 5 stars Atomic Scientists
Reviewed in the United States on 25 April 2014
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Anyone in the know has read this book. well written, concise, and full of informative events that have shaped the nuclear vision. If your interested in the people, events, and evolution of nuclear development this is a great book. I highly recommend.
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Dan
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on 27 May 2018
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This is actually the full version, not the censored one I used to read back in Eastern Europe...
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Angsujit Bhattacharya
5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing
Reviewed in India on 8 March 2020
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Wonderful reading experience
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Dr Zhu Weiguang
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic book, because I am a physicist.
Reviewed in Singapore on 11 May 2021
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A very good book.
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Andrew Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent history book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 March 2019
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An excellent, detailed history of the numerous scientists involved with early nuclear research
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Nadine
19 reviews
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November 29, 2017
The thing I remember most about this book was the sense of Greek tragedy unfolding, as the Americans raced to finish the bomb, fearful that the Nazis would get there first. Meanwhile the scientists who were working for the Nazis dragged their feet as much as they could. As a reader you can see both sides but they could not see each other, and there is no hope that the ending will be different than what you know; you continue reading but with a strong sense of fatalism, more than any book I read I think.
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Henning
105 reviews · 32 followers
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August 28, 2020
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
This book was written back in the 1950s and should still be a warning to all of us today. We are literally sitting on weapons that could easily extinguish the entire human race within a couple weeks.
Robert Jungk created an outstanding documentation about the global race to the nuclear bomb which basically started with the discovery of the neutron and its possible applications by James Chadwick back in 1932.
The university of Göttingen was a hotspot for nuclear physicists in the 1920s and early 1930s. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Werner Heisenberg for example studied and worked there.
With the rise of Nazi Germany most of them were forced to leave the country to be able to continue their work in the academic world. Two of them were Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer which both should play a major role later. Oppenheimer was appointed as director of the Manhattan-Project in 1943 while Einstein was able to connected the physicists with the politics due to his kind of stardom.
It took a couple of years before the US government was willing to really put effort into the development of a nuclear bomb. With the great fear that Hitler could be able to use nuclear bombs way earlier than the US they worked really hard to win this race without thinking about the great danger of their new discovery.
It was fascinating to see how the minds of the physicists changed from being enthusiastic to being very concerned about the danger of such a deadly weapon as soon as the US physicists realized that Nazi Germany wasn't even working on it. Due to Hitlers instruction, all new weapons had to be ready for action within six weeks after the construction started and it was just not possible to develop a nuclear bomb within this short period of time. Some physicist like Werner Heisenberg who stayed in Nazi Germany started to influence the German regime so that they would not start the development of the bomb.
In 1945 the US regime and the US nuclear physicists had huge discussions about how they should present the new weapon to the world. Many of them voted for a presentation in a desert where nobody can be killed. Some of them voted for Hiroshima or even for the historically significant Kyoto. Most physicists just wanted to show that this type of weapon should not be used in the future and they suggested that there should be some kind of a global monitoring of all that's going on in the nuclear science.
After Germany already surrendered and Japan already was open for surrender negotiations the US under president Harry S. Truman decided to shock the world with their basically last minute attack against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These two bombs alone killed over 200.000 people and even more suffered of some kind of cancer later.
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Chris S
241 reviews · 1 follower
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May 9, 2010
Utterly terrifying.
'If the radiance of a thousand suns
were to burst into the sky,
that would be like
the splendour of the Mighty One -'
...
'I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds'
- Bhagavad Gita
(uttered by Robert Oppenheimer, creator of the atomic bomb, upon seeing the first ever nuclear mushroom cloud)
history
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Ellen
926 reviews · 6 followers
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July 27, 2023
You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. The moral implications of the construction of the atomic bomb from the mid 1950s. (Heisenberg is a little too whitewashed for my liking, btw.)
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Kuba Jeziorski
50 reviews
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September 17, 2021
4.5
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James Smith
77 reviews
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July 1, 2021
An interesting book. It's a book about people. Very little scientific or technical detail is mentioned, but the interactions between the various scientists (initially), military and political figures are mostly discussed.
Interesting things to note here are the effects of the secrecy in the American government's operations. For example, at the end of the Second World War, the State Department knew very well that Japan was close to surrender, but they had no idea about the atomic bomb. Los Alomos on the other hand, was under the impression that Japan was nowhere close to surrender. Similarly, the Allied powers were all sure that Hitler was building the bomb, so they hurried to do the research themselves, but in reality it seems that the Nazis weren't that interested.
The book seems to have been written in the mid-to-late 50s, so it covers a bit of the conflict between Teller and everyone else regarding whether to build a "super" or thermonuclear bomb (which of course they do in the end). It concludes with an account of the fall of Oppenheimer.
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Tatiana
18 reviews · 6 followers
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January 23, 2020
The title quote suggests that this book is more exciting than any novel and it is so very true. As exciting as it is scary. Detailed depiction of choices, circumstances and small incidents, all of which led to complete destroying of two cities, extinction of almost 300000 people and contamination by both atomic and thermonuclear weapon.
And although author does not refrain himself from exploring personal stories of involved individuals it is more of “the bigger picture” book. Starting as a history of brilliant physicists at the dawn of the 20th century, this book slowly reveals historical, political and human aspects to the problems of nuclear weapon in the most unstable time.
The author did a great job placing pieces of the puzzle together in thorough yet elegant manner.
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Don Piccone
11 reviews
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April 1, 2023
Tragic story of excitement and enthusiasm of pursuit of knowledge and discovery of splitting the ⚛️ atom and remorse at success.
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Arun Chaganty
5 reviews · 10 followers
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September 11, 2018
The book presents vivid descriptions of what happened behind the scenes during the development of the atomic bomb and presents an amazing story of how the scientific community first lobbied the U.S. government to build the bomb and then struggled to prevent them from using it. I haven't read a better account of the moral quandaries that scientists at that time faced. As with all good historical accounts, it remains incredibly relevant today.
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Thomas
151 reviews · 1 follower
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March 4, 2023
This was the second book I read for my Junior year philosophy class, "Modern Physics and Moral Responsibility." It is essentially a history of atomic science from the end of World War I to the beginning of the Cold War in the 1950's. A large component of this book deals with the Manhattan Project (especially the secrecies surrounding Oak Ridge/Los Alamos and compartmentalization), and the US government's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I already wrote a lot about this book for my class, so I will keep this review brief.
The most interesting thing I learned from this book is that the Germans actually did not make much progress towards developing their own atomic bomb in World War II. The original purpose of the Manhattan Project was a defensive one: we needed to beat the Germans to an atomic bomb so Hitler couldn't destroy us.
However, once we realized that the Germans didn't have an atomic bomb, there was very little change in the mentality of military leaders of the Manhattan Project like General Groves. We were going to use the atomic bomb for war purposes regardless of the atomic situation in Germany.
The most intriguing character in this book was definitely J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who led scientific operations for the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer was a brilliant, yet controversial man. He earned his PhD at Gottingen in Germany in the 1920's (a flourishing academic institution at the time), and later became a professor at Berkely. The US government knew that Oppenheimer had communist connections, although they couldn't fire him because he was essential to the Manhattan Project.
Perhaps one of the most troubling anecdotes was Oppenheimer's betrayal of a friend named Chevalier, who he accused as being an "unknown intermediary" in Soviet communication. Ultimately, Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954, but this was eventually reinstated by the Biden Administration in 2022.
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Shweta Ramdas
145 reviews · 8 followers
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May 29, 2017
How accountable are scientists to be for the future consequences of their inventions? Should they remain within their domains of technical expertise, or should they step out to participate in political decisions? This is the primary question that "Brighter than a Thousand Suns" deals with. It is more an account of the minds behind the invention of the atomic bomb and less about the actual science.
It is also about the many accidents of fate that brought about the development of the bomb. These certainly made me wonder if the bomb would have developed in an age of Wikileaks, when there is considerably less left to guesswork!
It's not like the issues in the book aren't relevant today. There still is a moratorium on genetic editing of human embryos; eugenics is the elephant in the golden shiny room that CRISPR has unlocked. This is an important book for scientists: our inventions/discoveries can take paths we could never guess. The sooner we start thinking about these questions, the better.
non-fiction
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Lennart
43 reviews
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December 9, 2021
Ich wünschte jedes Geschichtsbuch wäre so geschrieben. Absolut perfekt!
Es ist leicht verständlich geschrieben, man muss nicht jeden Satz zehnmal lesen, bevor man ihn verstanden hat. Trotzdem ist es nicht stumpf geschrieben. Es ist hat einfach einen grandiosen Stil. Konnte kaum aufhören es zu lesen.
Dazu kommt die Recherche. Dass der Autor mit ganz viele Protagonisten selbst noch gesprochen hat und diese Zitate unterhaltsam in den Lesefluss einbindet, hilft auch ungemein, die Menschen hinter den Wissenschaftlern zu verstehen.
Denn hier wird nicht wie zB bei Lefebvre wahllos mit Namen um sich geworfen. Die Charaktere (und das sind nicht wenige!) werden mal kürzer, mal länger vorgestellt. Dadurch behält man ihre Namen, kann sie auch später noch zuordnen.
Auch so ordnet der Autor viele Geschehnisse historisch ein, ohne dabei zu bewerten.
Genauso muss es sein.
Ich hoffe ich finde weitere Bücher in diesem Stil.
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Alan
29 reviews · 1 follower
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July 24, 2023
I read the 1964 Pelican Books reprint which has been on my tsundoku shelf for some decades. I was stimulated to read it prior to release of the ‘’Oppenheimer’ film in July 2021. I found the author’s use of English rather laboured with many torturous sentences, meaning I had to keep re-reading passages in order to understand exactly what he meant. I also found the Index curiously deficient . For example, I’ve had to add in the following: Bhagavad Gita (the sacred Hindu text quoted by Oppenheimer after the first test explosion), Chain Reaction, Deuterium Oxide Factory, Fat man, Thin Man, Fission discovery, Heavy Water, Hydrogen Bomb, Product Z, Site Y, Super Bomb, Titterton E, Trinity.
In reading this book I was struck by parallels between the apocalyptic fears of the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider in 2008 and those of the atomic and thermonuclear bombs. In the case of the LHC there were ‘Doomsday fears of the unknown’. People worried that black holes might be created that could swallow the planet. In the case of the atomic bomb, Fermi was taking bets at the test site of whether the World would end or not.
Nevertheless, I am sure this will prove to have been a valuable preparation prior to watching the Oppenheimer film.
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Claudio
275 reviews
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February 14, 2023
Affascinante, interessantissima storia dei lati umani della creazione della bomba atomica e di quella all'idrogeno, raccontati dal punto di vista "occidentale". Ho letto (sull'articolo di Wikipedia) che l'autore stesso, in seguito, non era più del tutto convinto delle affermazioni relative allo stato della ricerca in Germania durante la seconda guerra mondiale.
Si tratta comunque di una lettura indimenticabile per chi si interessa di questi argomenti, esattamente come The Making of the Atomic Bomb di Richard Rhodes
Letto come libro in tedesco.
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Miika Auvinen
4 reviews
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June 6, 2023
The energy of the stars is generated by the fusion reaction. When this phenomenon of physics was harnessed as a weapon, it seemed to symbolize humanity's ability to create communities with the ability to strive for incredible achievements. Hisorikki's best gift is the scientists' descriptions of their inner world (feelings) when they realized they had developed something destructive beyond comprehension. The work broadened my world view. The history of the world is often discussed through warlords and battles, although scientists and innovations play a more important role, especially when we consider the broad developments of the human species.
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Shiven Dash
3 books · 11 followers
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July 28, 2017
One of the best books which i read recently. This not only gives a vivid description of the events that actually changed the world scenario and got us into an arms race but also describes the science events in a story telling fashion which makes episodes like electron discovery as a heart warming event to even the layman. The story line is absolutely mind boggling and portrayal of the human side of some of the world famous scientists was a discovery in itself. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and so earnestly wish that there should have been a part II to this.
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Slow Reader
138 reviews
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March 25, 2020
His descriptions of German escapees fleeing death under Nazism, "the Institute's" paranoid functioning, Einstein's untoward letter, Oppenheimer's tragic affair with a communist past lover, the ridiculous ordeal of Bikini Island, and the softly obliterating inevitability for those not in Japan of what happened when the bomb dropped stay with this reader--horrifying doesn't come close. It's only been 75 years(ish) since this all happened. We have Wifi now and stuff
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Alex
115 reviews · 9 followers
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February 2, 2023
A remarkable history first published a scant decade after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and full of first-hand interviews with scientists who had witnessed the birth of atomic power in the West, Germany, and the East. Oppenheimer is a prominent figure from the middle onwards of course, but the book finds the same moral struggles and difficult loyalties throughout the physicists who developed The Bomb. Essential reading ahead of Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
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Ariel Gil
29 reviews
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July 29, 2023
It mostly delivers as expected - much more personal, but also much more far reaching - it follows the key heroes of physics and chemistry from the 20s all the way to the mid 50s - through the atom bomb, and the h-bomb.
As far as I can tell, it was subject to some controversy but documents declassified in the 90s (Farm hall documents) seem to have confirmed several of its accounts of history.
Very worth reading!
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Lennroe
31 reviews
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July 31, 2023
This little book aspires to be one of the most influential reads in my life so far. I lively picture of physics before, during and after WW2 shows beauty and controversy of scientific career and even though most of the scientists have passed since, the message of the book is still on point and actually since there are more and more knowledge workers, not necessarily only scientists, it's more relevant than ever.
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James Barton
19 reviews
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July 15, 2023
An informative account of all the events leading up to the creation of the atomic bombs and the politics surrounding it. It reads like a novel, and you approach it as you would any other tragedy, the actors doomed by the narrative and unable to change the horror that is coming in spite of their best efforts. Would rate 4.5 stars if I could
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Dennis Cahillane
115 reviews · 7 followers
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October 1, 2018
Written in 1956 while the central players were still alive but after the "Atoms for Peace" conference and associated thawing of secrecy, the best non-fiction account I've read of the people behind the atomic and hydrogen bombs.
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Matt Jarvis
36 reviews · 2 followers
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October 28, 2021
A thoroughly researched and fascinating account of the scientists who worked on The Manhattan Project, with particular attention paid to their feelings after the fact, and towards the development of the even more monstrous thermonuclear weapons that followed.
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Vincent Fong
84 reviews · 5 followers
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February 20, 2022
Nice commentary on the development of Atomic energy.
I'm surprised how interconnected the scientific community was before the rise of the Nazis.
Read a bit on McCarthyism few years ago, the book gave me more insights on Oppie.
Defintely reading more on this topic in the future!
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Gautam Mitra
6 reviews
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August 19, 2023
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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Nate Hendrix
1,005 reviews · 6 followers
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August 15, 2018
Did not like it and did not finish it.
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squid read
17 reviews · 4 followers
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December 10, 2019
Read thai translation version. Love the content. Don’t like the translated language and style.
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Prabal Sanyal
3 reviews
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November 23, 2021
Most authentic and the best book on the Manhattan Project leading to the building of the Atom Bomb at Los Alamos, culminating into the Trinity Test
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Ted
36 reviews
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April 2, 2022
A fascinating history of the development of the atomic bomb during World War II, especially of the work at Los Alamos, and the personal stories of the lead scientists on the project.
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Andre
34 reviews
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August 9, 2022
Good
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Aakif Ahmad
3 reviews · 5 followers
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August 21, 2008
This is an amazing book. Told in narrative, story-like form, the author recreates the story of how scientific research evolved from one driven by love of knowledge and cross-border collaboration to one that became mired in politics and personal glory. He tells this story within the context of the preeminent scientific pursuit of the late 19th/early 20th century: the discovery of nuclear fission and the construction of the atomic bomb. The characters are so many of the names we know: Ernest Rutherford, Neils Bohr, Enrico Fermi, Heisenberg, Planck, Einstein, Oppenheimer, among many others who are not as well known, but critical (both in the scientific, military and political communities). The writing style is fluid and engaging and the author's extremely detailed research is evident in how easily he moves in simple sentence and paragraphs across complex subject matter and complex interpersonal relationships between the dozens of scientists whose life work merged into the this scientific journey of epic scale. The story telling his humorous at times, poignant, and brings to life the imperfect route, laiden with missteps, imperfect communication, greed; the personal conflicts felt by many of the scientists as they wrestled with the enormity of their work and the implications for humanity; and the underlying motivation of fear that scientsits of the allied forces had to get their first, before the Gernams or Russians. The drama, anxiety and intensity is captured beautifully by the author, leading up to the very difficult moment (for any one reading this book) when in just a few sentences, the bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and one is left to simple reflect and make one's own quite judgement on the enormous loss of life that resulted, and the sharp right turn human history took, when it realized that it had discovered a way to completely annhilate itself. What is unique about this book, is througouth the story, the author keeps his own opinions on the matter visible but not distracting - he is documenting history, but told in the voice and experience of the actors and he does a really magnificent job.
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Jim Razinha
1,283 reviews · 65 followers
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October 1, 2014
One of the New Scientist Top 25 Most Influential Popular Science Books (all of which I plan to read eventually), and mentioned in a recent read by Martin Gardner.
Fascinating. Part history, part biography, part political commentary, part social commentary, and part melodrama ("But Teller was not made to march with the rank and file.") unkind to Oppenheimer, but then the times and history were unkind...an unkindness that unfortunately passed to his children, or at least his daughter.
Jungk seemed at times in this English translation full of adoration for these scientists and at other times condemning. I wonder if the German (Jungk was Austrian) original was as lyrical, poetic, or dramatic as the translation. Though I took German in high school, I remember near none and have no intention of reading this in its original language, so must be content with this. Again, fascinating...and as a young man, I might have read it with less of a skeptical eye. Still, an enjoyable read.
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Glglgl
138 reviews
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August 7, 2016
In his book, Robert Jungk sheds light on the development of the first nuclear weapons and the role of scientists in western countries, especially the USA, as well as the conditions in Nazi Germany. The subtitle of the book is "the fate of the nuclear researchers", but fortunately the author does not reduce the entanglements of those involved to fateful ones, nor does he all too easily assign blame.
The book does not aim to clarify the moral question, but provides an account of the period between the early days of Göttingen and the start of the arms race after World War II.
Of course, the moral question on this subject raises itself, but the author has resisted the temptation to give a moralizing answer. I thank him for that. His style is clear and readable. Although the book dates from the 60s, I still think it is very readable and exciting.
Paul
238 reviews
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February 6, 2014
In trying to struggle through reading Quantum, I recalled reading this book a fair amount of years ago. (It was much more readable than Quantum.) The story of the discovery of the theories of physics which lay behind the technology of the atomic bomb, the story of reducing the theory to the terrifying reality of the atomic bomb, and the insight to its terrible power, all left an impression on me.
Admiration for the brilliance of those who discovered the theory, wonder at the technology combined with a realization of the terrible power left me schizophrenice. Just like the human condition.
I can remember one vivid scene in which one of the theorists was bragging to his girl friend when they looked at the sun in the sky that he knew why the sun was the way it was.
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Dr. M
45 reviews
February 25, 2016
The author wanted to write a novel based on the development of the first atomic bomb. In the course of his research he realized that "facts were stranger than fiction" and decided to write facts instead of fiction. The book is an exciting experience on the beautiful years in Gottingen University where important original mathematical derivations were done on the coffee table in the cafeteria by great minds who discussed in the "rarefied atmosphere at the limits of human understanding". You will see the great birth-pangs of ideas, pettiness of great scientists and the ultimate insensitivity of political leadership to human suffering.
I recommend this book to every student and teacher of science and technology.
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Leah G
128 reviews · 11 followers
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May 1, 2013
The history of the scientists who built the atomic bomb. Lots of personal, close up stories of the Manhattan Project and its people. Pretty good and accurate and detailed especially considering how close to the time it was written, before stuff got declassified, so it was hard to cover all aspects of the story- yet he had the advantage of things still being relatively current and fresh and all the people still being around...just be aware of the pros and cons when reading it. Good read though, for sure.
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Trevor
77 reviews
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June 9, 2016
Though much of this information has undoubtedly been retread and updated many times over since this book was written more than 50 years ago, I imagine that the vast majority of it is still relevant and accurate. Moreover, the (former) timeliness of its subject matter, written in the middle of the great nuclear arms race, lends an immediacy to the writing that still resonates today. It certainly boosted by a significant degree my understanding of the scientific and political environment leading up to the development of the first atomic bomb and its explosive successors.
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Maggie
1 review
August 2, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. It's beautifully written and reads like a novel. The book was published in 1956 so it has an urgency to it that most books on atomic history today lack.
The drawback is that I feel it is overly hard on Oppenheimer.
It boiled him down too much, and I feel misrepresents his relationships with Teller and Chevalier.
It is interesting to read how people felt about him at the time though!
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Oakhands
17 reviews
February 18, 2013
This is truly an excellent book. One of the few I'd classify as must read, especially to anyone considering a life in the sciences. An account of the time, with source material from the who 's who of modern physics, uncluttered by anachronistic interperation. It might be interesting to get a footnoted updated version if it existed.
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Andreea
2 reviews · 5 followers
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July 20, 2012
I never had any interest in science and I usually associated the names of the scientists with formulas. After I read this book I discovered that names like Curie, Einstein, Oppenheimer or Bohr are more than a mass of letters, they conceal feelings, memories, sacrifices.
for-my-soul
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