Book description
At a moment of great discovery, one Big Idea can change the world...
Oppenheimer and his Big Idea, the atomic bomb, exemplify one of the
very real dilemmas of modern science. Scientifically unprecedented yet
ethically questionable, atomic weapons may have brought World War II
to an end, saving thousands of lives, but at what cost?Hiroshima,
Nagasaki and a new political balance, teetering on the threat of
nuclear annihilation, were part of the legacy of the man best known as
"the father of the bomb".
Oppenheimer and the Bomb tells the gripping story of the
scientist behind The Manhattan Project, from his early days as a
Harvard prodigy to his final years as a victim of McCarthyism. A
brilliant snapshot of a man and his controversial work, Oppenheimer's
Big Idea offers a clear and engaging introduction to the complex
theoretical work behind the bomb, the context of the time and the
implications for our future.
The Big Idea series is a fascinating look at the greatest
advances in our scientific history, and at the men and women who made
these fundamental breakthroughs.
Paul Strathern was born in London and studied philosophy at Trinity
College, Dublin. He was a lecturer at Kingston University where he
taught philosophy and mathematics. He is a Somerset Maugham
prize-winning novelist of
A Season in Abyssinia
, as well as four other novels. He is also the author of the
Philosophers in 90 Minutes
series
.
He wrote
Mendeleyev's Dream
which was shortlisted for the Aventis Science Book Prize,
Dr.
Strangelove's Game: A History of Economic Genius
,
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
,
Napoleon in Egypt
and most recently,
The Artist, The Philosopher and The Warrior
,
which details the convergence of three of Renaissance Italy's most
brilliant minds: Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare
Borgia. He lives in London and has three grandchildren.
