Uranium Wars: The Scientific Rivalry that Created the Nuclear Age (Macsci) [Hardcover]

Amir D. Aczel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0230613748 | ISBN-13: 978-0230613744 | Edition: 1

Uranium, a nondescript element when found in nature, in the past century has become more sought after than gold. Its nucleus is so heavy that it is highly unstable and radioactive. If broken apart, it unleashes the tremendous power within the atom—the most controversial type of energy ever discovered.

Set against the darkening shadow of World War II, Amir D. Aczel's suspenseful account tells the story of the fierce competition among the day's top scientists to harness nuclear power. The intensely driven Marie Curie identified radioactivity. The University of Berlin team of Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner--he an upright, politically conservative German chemist and she a soft-spoken Austrian Jewish theoretical physicist--achieved the most spectacular discoveries in fission. Curie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, raced against Meitner and Hahn to break the secret of the splitting of the atom. As the war raged, Niels Bohr, a founder of modern physics, had a dramatic meeting with Werner Heisenberg, the German physicist in charge of the Nazi project to beat the Allies to the bomb. And finally, in 1942, Enrico Fermi, a prodigy from Rome who had fled the war to the United States, unleashed the first nuclear chain reaction in a racquetball court at the University of Chicago.

At a time when the world is again confronted with the perils of nuclear armament, Amir D. Aczel’s absorbing story of a rivalry that changed the course of history is as thrilling and suspenseful as it is scientifically revelatory and newsworthy.

http://amirdaczel.com/books.html

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Author and Boston University research fellow Aczel (Fermat's Last Theorem) shares a scientist's history of nuclear chemistry in the 20th century, and its eventual application in the form of the atomic bomb. In the first half, Aczel covers figures of early modern science like the Curies in Paris, the Meitner-Hahn group in Berlin, and Italian physicists before they were driven out by the Fascists. (One of WWII's greatest ironies is that the science Nazis dubbed "Jewish physics" gave the Allies their conquering weapon.) Newly released documents and post-war memoirs also help Azcel chronicle German scientists, like Werner Heisenberg, who participated in the Nazi bomb project. Aczel is at his most intriguing analyzing Truman's decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima; further declassified U.S. documents reveal that the U.S. knew Japanese ambassadors were making peace offers in Moscow before the bombing, and that the destruction of Hiroshima was also meant to send a message to the Soviets. Using a wealth of new source material, Azcel covers the triumphs and mistakes that come from powerful, cutting-edge science, while sounding a cautionary alarm regarding ongoing global conflicts with terrorists and nations.

Review

“Combining these themes in a single, brief narrative is a difficult trick but one Aczel pulls off well. . .[he] writes with colour, lucidity and conviction.”—The Financial Times

“The book covers several new developments of interest to atomic aficionados...Mr Aczel’s research is thorough and his conclusions interesting.”—The Economist

“Fascinating...the history, especially of the second world war, make this a worthwhile book.”—New Scientist

 

“The combination of clear, in-depth scientific explanation and outstanding research make this book, from the author of Fermat’s Last Theorem, the one you should grab.”--Discover

 

“Aczel ponders the moral conduct of the scientists involved…he has developed rich anecdotes about their personalities and discoveries.”—The Globe and Mail

 

“Endlessly compelling…Aczel is a skilled science writer”—Library Journal

 

“A readable account of how nuclear bombs came to be made, deployed and developed…Aczel brings the story up to date.”--The Times

 

“A fascinating examination of the events, the personalities, and the science that have led to the atomic bomb. A very timely book at an era in which nuclear proliferation has become a real danger.” -- Mario Livio, best-selling author of Is God A Mathematician?

 

“Reinforced by Aczel’s intent review of the historical controversy surrounding the 1941 meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, and of the decision (which Aczel criticizes) to use the new doomsday weapon on Japan, this synthesis of early atomic history strengthens Aczel’s reputation for writing accessible, well received popular works on physics and mathematics.”--Booklist

"A concise and cogent review of one of the most exhilarating, yet fearsome, eras in the history of scientific discovery.  Aczel sharply profiles the brilliant--and often conflicted--men and women who led us into the nuclear age."  -- Marcia Bartusiak, author of Einstein's Unfinished Symphony

 

"Amir Aczel skillfully and lucidly traces the twists and turns of uranium: a once obscure metal that became, through chance discoveries and a string of intricate decisions, the chief character of one of the central political, military, and scientific developments of the twentieth century.  Rarely has the story of nuclear fission been told in so clear and riveting a fashion.” -- Michael D. Gordin author of Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War

 

“Uranium Wars is a fascinating story of discovery, intrigue, clash of egos, spying, and international conflict. Aczel tells this amazing story in a racy and accessible style - with authority but lightness-of-touch to hold the reader spell-bound.” --David Clark, author of Newton's Tyranny

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230613748
• ISBN-13: 978-0230613744
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Amir D. Aczel, Ph.D., is the author of 17 books on mathematics and science, some of which have been international bestsellers. Aczel has taught mathematics, statistics, and history of science at various universities, and was a visiting scholar at Harvard in 2005-2007. In 2004, Aczel was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is also the recipient of several teaching awards, and a grant from the American Institute of Physics to support the writing of two of his books. Aczel is currently a research fellow in the history of science at Boston University. The photo shows Amir D. Aczel inside the CMS detector of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the international laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, while there to research his new book, "Present at the Creation: The Story of CERN and the Large Hadron Collider"--which is about the search for the mysterious Higgs boson, the so-called "God particle," dark matter, dark energy, the mystery of antimatter, Supersymmetry, and hidden dimensions of spacetime.
See Amir D. Aczel's webpage: http://amirdaczel.com
Video on CERN and the Large Hadron Collider: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ncx8TE2JMo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars why I would not recommend this book, April 2, 2010

By 

David Chopin "True Crime Lawyer" (Gainesville,FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Uranium Wars: The Scientific Rivalry that Created the Nuclear Age (Macsci) (Hardcover)

This book is a very shallow but capable treatment of the major personalities involved in the development of the atomic bomb.

I've read many of the books about the development of the bomb and was enjoying this book's easy-reading stories about some of the major people involved in the development until I got about 75% finished with the book.

At that point the author made it very obvious that his real point in writing the book was to criticize the USA for actually dropping the bomb on Japan. He covered this from every angle and made it clear that while he was pretending to be fair what he really wanted to say was that the USA was wrong in dropping the bombs.

I've personally thought long and hard about this myself and what I find is that most modern people who have this opinion that America was wrong in dropping the bombs are usually never able to transport themselves back in time to that era and remember how things really were.

Yes its very easy in 2010 to criticize America for the bombs but I try to think what it would be like if I had lived in 1945 and my 2 sons were getting ready to invade Japan. I think about everything that happened on both sides leading up to August 1945. Why is Japan's role in getting the bombs dropped on them played down?

He makes very obvious that he feels Japan wanted desperately to surrender. I ask this scholar the simple question.. . if Japan wanted to surrender and therefore we not drop the bombs...then Japan could have solved this problem quite quickly but just surrendering. But JAPAN choose to keep killing Americans and we ended it. But of course in 2010 killing Americans is OK and we should understand why Japan did what they did and we should be more sympathetic. I should also note that while the bombs were absolutely horrible I think everyone agrees that ultimately less lives were lost as compared to an all-out invasion of Japan.

There are many books out there on the dropping of the bomb especially Richard Rhodes masterpiece. I have a small collection of these books in my library and while all of them mention the debate about the dropping of the bomb, especially Szilard's efforts, it seems like the main purpose of this book in its last 50-60 pages is to remind us Americans(very subtly of course) that we are a horrible and ruthless people for what we did.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Riddled with errors, November 26, 2010

By 

Bruce Cameron Reed "fizzicksprof" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Uranium Wars: The Scientific Rivalry that Created the Nuclear Age (Macsci) (Paperback)

I am extensively familiar with the history, physics, and personalities of the Manhattan Project - it is my professional research area, in which I have published a book and numerous papers in physics and history-of-physics journals. Aczel's book is one of a number available which surveys the development of nuclear physics and the Manhattan Project. As is common with this genre he begins with the discoveries of Becquerel, Rutherford, the Curies, etc., and works up through the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, their aftermaths, the Cold War, and the current world situation. The best example of this genre (despite its numerous digressions) is still probably Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb". Unfortunately, Aczel's "Uranium Wars" falls far short of the mark and cannot be recommended. It is so riddled with errors, confusing statements and poor editing that I gave up on reading it after getting only half-way through. This is particularly disappointing given Aczel's Berkeley physics and math background and his previous experience as a writer on science and math topics.

Some examples (an incomplete list): On page 12 it is remarked that scientists working in America built the atom bomb "just ahead" of their counterparts in the Third Reich. This is nonsense. The Germans were nowhere close to developing a bomb; they had not even achieved a working reactor. This just-ahead-of-the-Germans theme appears frequently, implying a sort of neck-and-neck race that never was. In a cast of characters on page 17 we find John Wheeler credited as a co-discover of fission; in the same list there is no mention of the discovery of fission under the entry for Otto Hahn. Also on page 17 it is remarked that Rutherford identified the nucleus through his work "on uranium radiation"; in actuality his alpha-scattering experiments did not utilize uranium at all. On page 23 we read that the B-29 bomber was developed expressly for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions - this would be a surprise to the thousands of crew members who flew missions in them well before August 1945. On page 29 it is stated that half of any amount of U-238 will become lead after 4.47 billion years. This is the half life of U-238, but it decays to Thorium first. In a confusing discussion of Rutherford scattering on page 42 it is stated that gravity deflects the alpha particles; gravity plays no significant role in that phenomenon. On page 64 it is stated that the "magic numbers" (2, 8, 20, ...) of atomic and nuclear physics are not well understood; this would be a surprise to researchers in those fields. On page 72 appears a discussion of the possibility of uranium absorbing neutrons to form transuranic elements, followed by the statement that plutonium is formed by a "different process". In fact, this is exactly how plutonium is synthesized. On page 94, Pt-239 should be Pu-239. On page 124 the first deliberate observation of fission is attributed to a group at Columbia, but Otto Frisch had already done so in Denmark following his return from his famous meeting with his aunt, Lise Meitner, in early January 1939. A little lower down on the same page we learn that Leo Szilard was awarded a Nobel Prize! (As in many popular science books, there is an over-emphasis on Nobel prizes - it seems as if they are the only significant scientific-career recognitions worth mentioning.) On page 130 the headquarters of the Manhattan Engineer District is given as Los Alamos; it was at Oak Ridge. On page 134 we find the sentence "The Alsos Mission was the code name given to a secret Allied unit that, after the Nazi surrender in May 1945." Aside from being an improper sentence, the implication that the unit was formed after the German surrender is incorrect. On page 139 we read that Paul Harteck "brought the Nazis dangerously close to their goal" (of a nuclear weapon, that is). A few lines later we find that the Germans had not made enough plutonium in the Haigerloch reactor to make a weapons. Based on my own research I don't believe that they ever deliberately made **any** plutonium by any process. I could go on, but readers have surely gotten the idea by this point. Save your money.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big mistake, January 1, 2011

By 

Richard H. Martin (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Uranium Wars: The Scientific Rivalry that Created the Nuclear Age (Macsci) (Paperback)

Having enjoyed Fermat's Enigma (by Simon Singh) and mistakenly thinking I had read Aczel's Fermat's Last Theorem instead, I decided to ignore the negative reviews that Uranium Wars had begun to collect on Amazon.com. Big mistake. After a chapter or two only my morbid curiosity about what the author must have been trying to accomplish kept me reading to the bitter end of this strange little book. Not only does it seem to have been directed at a readership of early teenagers, its numerous technical inaccuracies and simplistic writing style make it read as though it was written by a very young and inexperienced author, and a rather sloppy one at that.

Readers are informed that U-235 constitutes only 0.7% of naturally occurring uranium nearly every time the subject of isotope separation comes up. On page 89, after alpha particles, protons and neutrons already have been discussed several times, we are told that "alpha rays are heavy particles--they consist of four little particles..." (On the other hand Aczel seems to assume that readers are already familiar with the principles of quantum mechanics and fails to discuss wave-particle duality.) Competition between early investigators always has to be described as "fierce." The list of insults to the intelligence of adults, even those with no background knowledge of science, goes on and on. And then on page 174 the author finds it necessary to tell us that observers of the Trinity nuclear test saw the flash before they heard the noise and felt the shock wave because "light, and radiation, travels so much faster than sound and air."

Not only do the extraordinary superficiality and numerous factual errors in Uranium Wars disqualify this book as a source of information about the interesting and timely subject of nuclear energy and weapons; the author's style makes it dull reading to boot. Don't make the same mistake that I did.