| Description |
xiv, 400 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-379) and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue -- Brilliant in the darkness -- Rabbit from Antipodes -- Forces of nature -- Make physics boom -- Days of alchemy -- Persecution and purge -- Wonderful findings -- We may sleep fairly comfortably in our beds -- Cold room in Birmingham -- Maud Ray Kent -- Hitler's success could depend on it -- He said "bomb" in no uncertain terms -- We'll wipe the Japs out of the maps -- V.B. ok -- Best coup -- Beautiful and savage country -- Mr. Baker -- Heavy water -- Boon or disaster? -- This thing is going to be very big -- Germany had no atomic bomb -- Profound psychological impression -- Elongated trash can with fins -- It's Hiroshima -- Mother will not die -- New fact in the world's power politics -- Epilogue -- Notes and sources -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index. |
| Summary |
On December 26, 1898, Marie Curie announced the discovery of radium and observed that "radioactivity seems to be an atomic property." A mere 47 years later, "Little Boy" exploded over Hiroshima. Before the Fallout is the epic story of the intervening half century, during which an exhilarating quest to unravel the secrets of the material world revealed how to destroy it, and an open, international, scientific adventure transmuted overnight into a wartime sprint for the bomb. Weaving together history, science, and biography, Diana Preston chronicles a human chain reaction of scientists and leaders whose discoveries and decisions forever changed our lives. |
| Subject |
Science -- Moral and ethical aspects.
|
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Science -- Social aspects.
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Atomic bomb -- Moral and ethical aspects.
|
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Hiroshima-shi (Japan) -- History -- Bombardment, 1945.
|
| Added Title |
From Marie Curie to Hiroshima |
| ISBN |
0802714455 (alk. paper) |
| Standard No. |
9780802714459 |
|
YDXCP 2181886 |
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