The Effect of Science on the Second World War

by G. Hartcup

Overview

The latest advances in science were fully exploited in the Second World War. They included radar, sonar, improved radio, methods of reducing disease, primitive computers, the new science of operational research and, finally, the atomic bomb, necessarily developed like all wartime technology in a remarkably short time. Such progress would have been impossible without the cooperation of Allied scientists with the military. The Axis powers' failure to recognise this was a major factor in their defeat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349398768
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	05/09/2000
Edition description:	1st ed. 2000
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.99(h) x (d)

About the Author

GUY HARTCUP served in the British and Indian Armies 1939-45 after which he took an Honours Degree at Cambridge in 1947. From 1948-60 we worked as an Historian in the Air Historical Branch of the Air Ministry. He then became an English editor with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 1961-2. After returning to England the author was an Assistant Historian in the Cabinet Office Historical Section and, finally, was Historian in the Treasury from 1965-76. His books include Code Name Mulberry: the Planning, Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours; Camouflage: a History of Concealment and Deception in War; Cockroft and the Atom (with

T. E. Allibone); The War in Invention: Scientific Developments, 1914-18; The Silent Revolution: Development of Conventional Weapons, 1945-85; Operational Research in the RAF; and The Challenge of War: Scientific and Engineering Contributions to World War Two.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Organisation of Science for War Radar: Defence and Offence Diverse Applications of Radio and Radar Acoustic and Underwater Warfare The Acquisition of Signals Intelligence Birth of a New Science: Operational Research The Transformation of Military Medicine Unacceptable Weapons: Gas and Bacteria Premature Weapons: The Rocket and the Jet The Ultimate Weapon: The Atomic Bomb Conclusion Sources Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"Hartcup's penetrating clarity of understanding is matched only by his ability to provide explanations which are easy to take in and, skillfully, he neither confuses nor patronizes the reader. He includes several areas often missed out. This is a most valuable book essential to any proper understanding of the conflict." --W.J.R Gardner, author of Decoding History: The Battle of the Atlantic and Ultra

"The author has gathered a great deal of information, which he presents in a lucid and readable manner...I am impressed by [his] knowledge and ability to carry his reader with him. Anybody interested in the wartime development of these topics will acquire a great deal of information in a painless manner...This book is an excellent description of science at war..." -- Hermann Bondi, The Times Higher Education Supplement

From the Publisher