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After a devastating world war, culminating in the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was clear that the United States and the Soviet Union had to establish a cooperative order if the planet was to escape an atomic World War III. In this provocative study, Campbell Craig and Sergey Radchenko show how the atomic bomb pushed the United States and the Soviet Union not toward cooperation but toward deep bipolar confrontation. Joseph Stalin, sure that the Americans meant to deploy their new weapon against Russia and defeat socialism, would stop at nothing to build his own bomb. Harry Truman, initially willing to consider cooperation, discovered that its pursuit would mean political suicide, especially when news of Soviet atomic spies reached the public. Both superpowers, moreover, discerned a new reality of the atomic age: now, cooperation must be total. The dangers posed by the bomb meant that intermediate measures of international cooperation would protect no one. Yet no two nations in history were less prepared to pursue total cooperation than were the United States and the Soviet Union. The logic of the bomb pointed them toward immediate Cold War.

Cold War. --- Atomic bomb --- A-bomb --- Atom bomb --- Bombs --- Nuclear weapons --- World politics --- Political aspects. --- United States --- Soviet Union --- Foreign relations --- International groups

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Personal letters reveal the quandary of a prominent German physicist during the Nazi years and the strength he shared with his loving wife Nobel Prize-winning physicist Werner Heisenberg lived far from his wife, Elisabeth, during most of the Second World War. An eminent scientist, Werner headed Germany's national atomic research project in Berlin, while Elisabeth and their children lived more safely in Bavaria. This selection of more than 300 letters exchanged between husband and wife reveals the precarious nature of Werner's position in the Third Reich, Elisabeth's increasingly difficult everyday life as the war progressed, and the devoted relationship that gave strength to them both.   These letters provide a fascinating new perspective on Werner's much-debated wartime work and his attitude toward the atomic bomb. They also shed light on his reluctance to emigrate despite the urging of friends. An excerpt from his private diary, an introduction and notes by his daughter, and a selection of personal family photographs complete this compelling volume.

Atomic bomb --- Science and state --- LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Letters. --- A-bomb --- Atom bomb --- Bombs --- Nuclear weapons --- History --- Heisenberg, Werner, --- Heisenberg, Elisabeth, --- (fast)Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976 --- (nbc)33.01 history of physics --- (lcgft)Personal correspondence --- (fast)Records and correspondence

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History of physics --- Polemology --- Oppenheimer, J. Robert --- Teller, E. --- Atomic bomb --- -Hydrogen bomb --- -H-bomb --- Nuclear weapons --- A-bomb --- Atom bomb --- Bombs --- History --- Teller, Edward --- United States --- Military policy. --- Hydrogen bomb --- History. --- Oppenheimer, J. Robert, --- Teller, Edward, --- -History --- H-bomb --- Teller, Ede, --- Ou-pên-hai-mo, --- Oppenheimer, Robert, --- Oppenheimer, Julius Robert,

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In the Shadow of the Bomb narrates how two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists--J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans A. Bethe--came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create. In 1945, the United States dropped the bomb, and physicists were forced to contemplate disquieting questions about their roles and responsibilities. When the Cold War followed, they were confronted with political demands for their loyalty and McCarthyism's threats to academic freedom. By examining how Oppenheimer and Bethe--two men with similar backgrounds but divergent aspirations and characters--struggled with these moral dilemmas, one of our foremost historians of physics tells the story of modern physics, the development of atomic weapons, and the Cold War. Oppenheimer and Bethe led parallel lives. Both received liberal educations that emphasized moral as well as intellectual growth. Both were outstanding theoreticians who worked on the atom bomb at Los Alamos. Both advised the government on nuclear issues, and both resisted the development of the hydrogen bomb. Both were, in their youth, sympathetic to liberal causes, and both were later called to defend the United States against Soviet communism and colleagues against anti-Communist crusaders. Finally, both prized scientific community as a salve to the apparent failure of Enlightenment values. Yet, their responses to the use of the atom bomb, the testing of the hydrogen bomb, and the treachery of domestic politics differed markedly. Bethe, who drew confidence from scientific achievement and integration into the physics community, preserved a deep integrity. By accepting a modest role, he continued to influence policy and contributed to the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963. In contrast, Oppenheimer first embodied a new scientific persona--the scientist who creates knowledge and technology affecting all humanity and boldly addresses their impact--and then could not carry its burden. His desire to retain insider status, combined with his isolation from creative work and collegial scientific community, led him to compromise principles and, ironically, to lose prestige and fall victim to other insiders. Schweber draws on his vast knowledge of science and its history--in addition to his unique access to the personalities involved--to tell a tale of two men that will enthrall readers interested in science, history, and the lives and minds of great thinkers.

Atomic bomb --- Nuclear physicists --- Oppenheimer, J. Robert, --- Bethe, Hans A. --- A-bomb --- Atom bomb --- Bethe, H. A. --- Bete, G., --- Ou-pên-hai-mo, --- Oppenheimer, Robert, --- Oppenheimer, Julius Robert, --- Physicists --- Bombs --- Nuclear weapons --- Moral and ethical aspects --- Oppenheimer, J. Robert --- Bethe, Hans Albrecht --- United States --- Nuclear physics --- Biography

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More than seventy years ago, American forces exploded the first atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing great physical and human destruction. The young scientists at Los Alamos who developed the bombs, which were nicknamed Little Boy and Fat Man, were introduced to the basic principles and goals of the project in March 1943, at a crash course in new weapons technology. The lecturer was physicist Robert Serber, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s protégé, and the scientists learned that their job was to design and build the world’s first atomic bombs. Notes on Serber’s lectures were gathered into a mimeographed document titled TheLos Alamos Primer, which was supplied to all incoming scientific staff. The Primer remained classified for decades after the war. Published for the first time in 1992, the Primer offers contemporary readers a better understanding of the origins of nuclear weapons. Serber’s preface vividly conveys the mingled excitement, uncertainty, and intensity felt by the Manhattan Project scientists. This edition includes an updated introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Richard Rhodes. A seminal publication on a turning point in human history, The Los Alamos Primer reveals just how much was known and how terrifyingly much was unknown midway through the Manhattan Project. No other seminar anywhere has had greater historical consequences.

Atomic bomb --- Physicists --- History. --- Manhattan Project (U.S.) --- Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory --- 1940s. --- american history. --- atom bomb. --- atomic bombs. --- controversial. --- fat man. --- hiroshima. --- japan. --- japanese history. --- lab work. --- little boy. --- los alamos primer. --- los alamos. --- manhattan project. --- nagasaki. --- nuclear bomb. --- nuclear weapons. --- scientific discovery. --- scientific history. --- scientists. --- untold story. --- wartime. --- weapons of mass destruction. --- weapons. --- world history. --- world war 2. --- wwii.