In the Shadow of the Bomb

In the Shadow of the Bomb
Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Total Pages : 279
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400849499
ISBN-13 : 1400849497
Rating : 4/5 (497 Downloads)

Book Synopsis In the Shadow of the Bomb by : S. S. Schweber

Download or read book In the Shadow of the Bomb written by S. S. Schweber and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create In 1945, the United States dropped the bomb, and physicists were forced to contemplate disquieting questions about their roles and responsibilities. When the Cold War followed, they were confronted with political demands for their loyalty and McCarthyism's threats to academic freedom. By examining how J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans A. Bethe—two men with similar backgrounds but divergent aspirations and characters—struggled with these moral dilemmas, one of our foremost historians of physics tells the story of modern physics, the development of atomic weapons, and the Cold War. Oppenheimer and Bethe led parallel lives. Both received liberal educations that emphasized moral as well as intellectual growth. Both were outstanding theoreticians who worked on the atom bomb at Los Alamos. Both advised the government on nuclear issues, and both resisted the development of the hydrogen bomb. Both were, in their youth, sympathetic to liberal causes, and both were later called to defend the United States against Soviet communism and colleagues against anti-Communist crusaders. Finally, both prized scientific community as a salve to the apparent failure of Enlightenment values. Yet their responses to the use of the atom bomb, the testing of the hydrogen bomb, and the treachery of domestic politics differed markedly. Bethe, who drew confidence from scientific achievement and integration into the physics community, preserved a deep integrity. By accepting a modest role, he continued to influence policy and contributed to the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963. In contrast, Oppenheimer first embodied a new scientific persona—the scientist who creates knowledge and technology affecting all humanity and boldly addresses their impact—and then could not carry its burden. His desire to retain insider status, combined with his isolation from creative work and collegial scientific community, led him to compromise principles and, ironically, to lose prestige and fall victim to other insiders. S. S. Schweber draws on his vast knowledge of science and its history—in addition to his unique access to the personalities involved—to tell a tale of two men that will enthrall readers interested in science, history, and the lives and minds of great thinkers.


In the Shadow of the Bomb Related Books

In the Shadow of the Bomb
Language: en
Pages: 279
Authors: S. S. Schweber
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-10-31 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create In 1945, the United States dropped the bomb,
In the Shadow of the Bomb
Language: en
Pages: 302
Authors: Silvan S. Schweber
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2000 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

By examining how Bethe and Oppenheimer - two men with similar backgrounds but divergent aspirations and characters - struggled with these moral dilemmas, one of
Genius in the Shadows
Language: en
Pages: 691
Authors: William Lanouette
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-09-01 - Publisher: Skyhorse

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Well-known names such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller are usually those that surround the creation of the atom bomb.
In the Shadow of the Bomb
Language: en
Pages: 120
Authors: David Krieger
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-08-24 - Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The poems in this volume have been written in the shadow of the bomb. They are poems of survival. They challenge the hubris of those who would rely on nuclear a
Under the Shadow
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: David Seed
Categories: American fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Atomic Bomb and Cold War Narratives. Prof. Seed, Liverpool University. Discusses such Cold War classics as On the Beach, plus the recent fiction of nuclear