Britain and the H-Bomb [Hardcover]

Lorna Arnold (Author), Katherine Pyne (Assistant)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312235186 | ISBN-13: 978-0312235185 | Publication Date: June 9, 2001

Britain and the H-Bomb reveals why, in the 1950s, the government wanted a British H-bomb, how the scientists and engineers developed it in only three years, and what were the historic consequences of their achievements.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...a work of record...written with zest, narrative drive and a manifest affection for those men behind the Aldermaston wire.” —Financial Times

“...an excellent book that sheds needed light on the world's third thermonuclear power.” —Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

“Clearly written and persuasively argued, it makes a major contribution to a vital subject.” —Choice

About the Author

Lorna Arnold is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Institute of Contemporary British History.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (June 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312235186
• ISBN-13: 978-0312235185
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,913,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The British H-Bomb Secrets, October 7, 2005

By 

Ara Barsamian (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Britain & the H-Bomb (Hardcover)

This is an absolutely amazing book that details design and construction features of the first British H-bombs,things which are still classified SECRET RESTRICTED DATA in the US.

There are detailed descriptions of the British-equivalent of the Sakharov "Sloika", and the various radiation implosion experimental setups, with emphasys on the design of the "secondary" bomb, the fusion package (which we call in the US the "canned sub-assembly").

The detailed descriptions of the British secondary bombs include the number of shells, the materials used, their thickness, etc., absolutely amazing...

What is amazing also is that the British started with a spherical secondary, because they felt it was more amenable to easy calculations with early computers compared with the US preference for a cylindrical secondary (which, according to E. Teller, was natural to the process in which the radiation flows...). This also happens to produce higher compressions and better efficiency per unit mass, and is also more forgiving of assymetries..It took the US until 1962 to test a spherical secondary, called Tuba, in operation Dominic, test shot Harlem, which doubled the Polaris W-47 yield from 600kT to 1200kT!

Lorna Arnold had complete access to the archives of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), its successor, AWE, the Ministry of Defense,and other British archives, and the book was published under the auspices, and it is copyrighted by the Ministry of Defense.

As a "insider", Ms. Arnold has a biased view of who the "father" of the British H-bomb was, first, by discounting its importance, then discounting John Wards seminal re-discovery of the radiation implosion, and finally taking the bureaucratic "team-developed", "the work of many people" approach. Unfortunately, the main protagonists, John Ward and Keith Roberts have both passed away and unavailable for elucidating the point.

Otherwise, Ms. Arnold repeats verbatim many passages from other authors, such as Richard Rhodes "Dark Sun" opus on the history of the US Hydrogen bomb. Nevertheless, it is packed with technical informtion that you can't find anywhere else, an thus an absolute read for all students of nuclear weapons history.

Of course, this begets the question, why are we in the US keeping secret things that are already published openly in other countries? Is it to stifle intelligent discussions by our citizenry questioning the waste of untold billions? The proliferation excuse is thin; proliferation is an issue of materials, not know how. Certainly whoever did not wish us well had its spies at our weapons Labs "taking us to the cleaners" a long time ago...

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read for New Millenium Strategists, November 16, 2003

By 

Earl Clark (Atlanta, Ga) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Britain and the H-Bomb (Hardcover)

This factual account of why Britain decided to build an H-Bomb reveals the pervasive fear that existed about the sinister threat to Great Britain's future in the 1950s. This is the reasons behind why their government not only wanted to build a British H-bomb, but the fact that they "ahd to build " it to maintain Britain in the world power sphere.. It explores how their scientists and engineers from the time ot the joint American an British Manhattan Project and the British "Tube Alloys Project" evolved to develope an H-bomb in only three years.
I have recently read an account, "albeit a fiction" of how far advanced the Nazi's were in this technology. . ."The Sky Club" by Ian Feldman, ISBN: 0974367303.
It's result could have been even more catastrophic!