German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power, 1939-49 / Edition 1

by Mark Walker

Overview

This a paperback edition of Professor Walker's full-scale examination of the German efforts to harness the economic, military and political power of nuclear fission between 1939 and 1949. The book explains clearly, in terms that the non-specialist can understand, what was involved in the Germans' quest, and in what ways the German scientists succeeded or failed in the development of 'the bomb'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521438049
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/17/1992
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Lightning War: Nuclear fission; The German nuclear power project; Moderators, isotope separation, and uranium machines; Nuclear power and lightning war; Part II. The War Slows Down: The end of the lightning war; Nuclear power conferences; National Socialism and German physics; Progress and infighting; Part III. The War Comes Home: Wonder weapons; Uranium machines in Berlin-gottow; Greater Germany and cultural imperialism; Death from above and betrayal from within; Part IV. The War is Lost: Evacuation and self-preservation; The heavy water dries up; Harteck's circle, centrifuges, and special experiments; Uranium machines and rock cellars; Part V. The German Achievement in the American Shadow: The Alsos MIssion; Farm Hall; The Smyth Report; Part VI. The Legacy of German National Socialism: The occupation of Germany; Nazification and denazification; The Goudsmit/Heisenberg controversy; Part VII. The Myth of the German Atomic Bomb: Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Mark Walker's new history of the German bomb program...offers a revision of earlier accounts which is backed up by a great deal of original research in German archives...The result is a meticulous account of the German bureaucratic landscape in which a few dozen scientists and officials generated paper about proposals to build a bomb...Walker has resolved many confusions in the history of the German bomb project." The Atlantic

"...informative and well-researched...In general, this is a well-concieved and well-presented book." Peter Hayes, Science

"Walker provides a valuable new version of the story of the German quest for nuclear power before 1950." Raymond G. Stokes, American Journal of Physics

"...this book is as good as any written about nuclear power in World War II, and better than most. It raises questions which should be asked not just of German physics, but of science in other national traditions and under less fearsome governments." Bruce Hevly, Foundations of Physics

"This is an excellent book: intensely researched, well written, and balanced in its judgments. Its focus on the German scientists is novel, and its discussion of the position of science in a modern state is well worth pondering." Modern Europe

"...Walker maps a part of the German scientific community with reference to its ideological and political, as well as its scientific and technological, bearings. His survey is thorough, and he guides the reader surely to a better comprehension of this crucial episode in the history of modern science." Robert W. Seidel, Isis

From the Publisher