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Fly in the Cathedral : How a Small Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the Race to Split the Atom
If you want to understand how something works, you can dismantle it and study its pieces. But what if the thing you're curious about is too small to see, even with the most powerful microscope? Brian Cathcart's The Fly in the Cathedral tells the intriguing story of how scientists were able to take atoms apart to reveal the secrets of their structures. To keep the story gripping, Cathcart focuses on a time (1932, the annus mirabilis of British physics), a place (Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory), and a few main characters (Ernest Rutherford, the "father of nuclear physics," and his protégés, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton).
Rutherford and his team knew that the long-accepted atomic model was held together by nothing more than trumped-up math and hope. They hoped to find out what held oppositely charged protons and electrons together, and what strange particles shared the nucleus with protons. In a series of remarkable experiments done on homemade apparatus, these Cambridge scientists moved atomic science to within an inch of its ultimate goal. Finally, Cockcroft and Walton--competing furiously with their American and German peers--put together the machine that would forever change history by splitting an atom. The Fly in the Cathedral combines all the right elements for a great science history: historical context, gritty detail, wrenching failure, and of course, glorious victory. Although the miracles that occurred at Cambridge in 1932 were to result in the fearful, looming threat of atomic warfare, Cathcart allows readers to find unfiltered joy in the accomplishments of a few brilliant, ingenious scientists. --Therese Littleton
320 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2004
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489 people want to read
About the author
Brian Cathcart
13 books13 followersBrian Cathcart is a journalist by background, having worked for Reuters, the London Independent papers and the New Statesman, and he is now professor of journalism at Kingston University London. Some of his books (including The Case of Stephen Lawrence, which won the Orwell Prize and a CWA Gold Dagger) have grown out of news and journalism; others (such as The Fly in the Cathedral) reflect his love of history. His latest, The News From Waterloo, combines the two. Cathcart is also a campaigner, having co-founded Hacked Off in 2011 to make the case for a free and accountable press. He is married with grown-up sons and lives in London, where he feeds the birds in the garden and from which he escapes occasionally to walk the Pennine Way.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 6, 2021
...the laboratory director ushered his guest into the high-voltage room, which did not fail to impress. It was, wrote the young Ritchie Calder, "a darkened chamber full of strange objects, rather weird but very wonderful, such as exists nowhere else in the world, not even in the imagination of Hollywood"...This was, he reported, "the most scientific laboratory in the world" and for all the talk about the secrets of matter and the possibility of atomic energy, the physicists there loved their research "not for its results, but for itself." The last word he left to Lord Rutherford, who with a laugh offered his own simple justification for the taming of the atomic nucleus: "We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works."
Brian Cathcart's The Fly in the Cathedral recounts the epic story of how two scientists at Cavendish Laboratory, Walton and Cockcroft, were the first to "split the atom." Cathcart balances the elements of human interest and abstract scientific principals well. He does not water down the science nor does he neglect to clearly convey the humanity of the people involved.
For example, note how Cathcart explains the significance of Max Planck's equation:
The equation balanced and the sums added up, but Planck's technique had a significant drawback: it worked only if you set aside an essential component of the classical laws, the principal of continuity. Continuity has an analogy in the kitchen: in baking, milk is "continuous" in the sense that any given amount may be measured out and added to the mixture, while eggs tend to be "discontinuous"--it is a perverse cookbook that asks you to separate one-quarter of an egg. In physics, the classical laws considered light, motion, heat, and energy generally be like milk rather than eggs; they could come in any quantity, no matter how small. When atoms absorbed energy or gave it out, therefore, they must obey this principal and deal in infinitely variable quantities. Not so, said Planck. Black body radiation could be explained satisfactorily only if it was assumed that atoms deal with energy in discrete and regular amounts. It was not a case of milk but of eggs--or in Planck's terms, "quanta," for this was the birth of the quantum theory.
In the chemistry and physics classrooms, I used a whirling tube to demonstrate the concept of quantum movement--the speed of the tube would change tone from one step to another without "sliding" between the two. The milk and eggs analogy works well, and Cathcart returns to the analogy several times afterwards to explain experiments.
Cathcart avoids the sensationalism of barraging the reader with continual, hyperbolic prose noting the significance of these events in birthing the atomic age, in setting the stage for the creation of the atomic bomb. Rather, he quietly recounts the drama as it unfolded. His prose is clear, easy to read. He moves from event to event logically and never wallows in tangential events or gossip.
Brian Cathcart's The Fly in the Cathedral recounts the epic story of how two scientists at Cavendish Laboratory, Walton and Cockcroft, were the first to "split the atom." Cathcart balances the elements of human interest and abstract scientific principals well. He does not water down the science nor does he neglect to clearly convey the humanity of the people involved.
For example, note how Cathcart explains the significance of Max Planck's equation:
The equation balanced and the sums added up, but Planck's technique had a significant drawback: it worked only if you set aside an essential component of the classical laws, the principal of continuity. Continuity has an analogy in the kitchen: in baking, milk is "continuous" in the sense that any given amount may be measured out and added to the mixture, while eggs tend to be "discontinuous"--it is a perverse cookbook that asks you to separate one-quarter of an egg. In physics, the classical laws considered light, motion, heat, and energy generally be like milk rather than eggs; they could come in any quantity, no matter how small. When atoms absorbed energy or gave it out, therefore, they must obey this principal and deal in infinitely variable quantities. Not so, said Planck. Black body radiation could be explained satisfactorily only if it was assumed that atoms deal with energy in discrete and regular amounts. It was not a case of milk but of eggs--or in Planck's terms, "quanta," for this was the birth of the quantum theory.
In the chemistry and physics classrooms, I used a whirling tube to demonstrate the concept of quantum movement--the speed of the tube would change tone from one step to another without "sliding" between the two. The milk and eggs analogy works well, and Cathcart returns to the analogy several times afterwards to explain experiments.
Cathcart avoids the sensationalism of barraging the reader with continual, hyperbolic prose noting the significance of these events in birthing the atomic age, in setting the stage for the creation of the atomic bomb. Rather, he quietly recounts the drama as it unfolded. His prose is clear, easy to read. He moves from event to event logically and never wallows in tangential events or gossip.
October 12, 2020
This is a wonderful history laying out how Cockcroft and Walton did their work to get a Nobel prize for "splitting the atom" (even though they were the first to "split" the nucleus, and not "chip" at it). But Cathcart also weaves in the story of Rutherford, the Cavendish laboratory, and the international competition to be the first to use particles to probe the nucleus and learn its secrets.
The book contains no equations, but explains the experimental layouts extremely well, and is also remarkably clear on the science, its importance, and the way physics research was done in the early 20th century. I was constantly impressed by how well the concepts were being relayed, and I thoroughly enjoyed the mini-biographies of the cast of scientists we meet as progress is made in understanding the nuclei of atoms.
I would heartily recommend it to anyone. I'm sure many will still think it is "too technical" (at least the descriptions of the experiments, though I cannot imagine why you would read this if you weren't curious about this), but I thought it had a wonderful balance for a lay audience, and did so while not harming the understanding of the science itself.
The book contains no equations, but explains the experimental layouts extremely well, and is also remarkably clear on the science, its importance, and the way physics research was done in the early 20th century. I was constantly impressed by how well the concepts were being relayed, and I thoroughly enjoyed the mini-biographies of the cast of scientists we meet as progress is made in understanding the nuclei of atoms.
I would heartily recommend it to anyone. I'm sure many will still think it is "too technical" (at least the descriptions of the experiments, though I cannot imagine why you would read this if you weren't curious about this), but I thought it had a wonderful balance for a lay audience, and did so while not harming the understanding of the science itself.
March 25, 2022
Sometime in the 1920s, enough was known about the atom to realize that the nucleus probably contained something else except protons... but no one knew how to go about figuring out how to investigate this. An international community of physicists, stretching from Russia to California, but with a major center in the Rutherford lab in Cambridge, UK, was dedicated to understanding the atom, from the electron to the nucleus. This involved a certain amount of theoretical physics, of course, but for Ernest Rutherford and his team it was all about experimental evidence. It was known that bombarding atoms could knock out an electron or two, or even a proton... but were there other types of nuclear reactions that could be investigate? It turned out that this was first and foremost a tecnical question : how to bombard atoms with the appropriate particles, and then how to detect the results of any disintegration of the nucleus? Several groups were interested in this question, including Lawrence in Berkeley (inventor of the cyclotron) and other American and German groups. Ultimately, it was a team of two people in Cambridge, UK, who won that race.
What I liked about the book was that it did not try to explain the inexplicable (quantum mechanics is beyond me) but that it focused on the human endeavor of building the experimental set-up to perform the right experiment. So here and there it got a little technical, but at least now I know what a transformer is! There was also a very human interest in the personalities involved - the larger-than-life Rutherford, the reserved Cockford, the ebullient Gamow, the diffident Walton.
Although the title seems to hint that this is a book about intense competition between labs, I actually experienced it more as a book about the joy of science, the pleasure of finding things out, the satisfaction of understanding things.
What I liked about the book was that it did not try to explain the inexplicable (quantum mechanics is beyond me) but that it focused on the human endeavor of building the experimental set-up to perform the right experiment. So here and there it got a little technical, but at least now I know what a transformer is! There was also a very human interest in the personalities involved - the larger-than-life Rutherford, the reserved Cockford, the ebullient Gamow, the diffident Walton.
Although the title seems to hint that this is a book about intense competition between labs, I actually experienced it more as a book about the joy of science, the pleasure of finding things out, the satisfaction of understanding things.
September 14, 2013
Got this book at a bargain price at a book fair and took me long enough to actually read it. It was hard to get past some of the scientific details (especially the description of the apparatus and machines) and sometimes my thoughts wandered off to another universe. The first half took all the willpower I had to plod on, which is a testimony to my ever-decreasing attention span than the quality of the book itself. However I soon got caught up with the excitement of the race to 'split the atom', and was silently supporting and willing the Cavendish team to get ahead of the others, despite knowing the historical outcome. If this were a fictional account, (which it is not), the author had done a great job in making me root for the main characters.
Some diagrams would have done what took pages of text to explain. Also, though the author aims to create a non-jargony account of the scientific principles involved, I still prefer a more scientific approach.
I loved the background stories that were interwoven into the book. It shows a very human side to those great names. Rutherford himself has a very interesting and vibrant character!
I got so caught up with the later part of the story that tears were literally spilling out of my eyes when *spoilers* the lithium nucleus was finally split into alpha particles. I felt as though I had traveled back through time and was in the laboratory, seeing the events with my own eyes. I shared the excitement of the scientists, and ended the book with a tinge of regret.
Overall, a great read. I'm glad I read the entire book despite struggling to keep up my interest at the start.
Some diagrams would have done what took pages of text to explain. Also, though the author aims to create a non-jargony account of the scientific principles involved, I still prefer a more scientific approach.
I loved the background stories that were interwoven into the book. It shows a very human side to those great names. Rutherford himself has a very interesting and vibrant character!
I got so caught up with the later part of the story that tears were literally spilling out of my eyes when *spoilers* the lithium nucleus was finally split into alpha particles. I felt as though I had traveled back through time and was in the laboratory, seeing the events with my own eyes. I shared the excitement of the scientists, and ended the book with a tinge of regret.
Overall, a great read. I'm glad I read the entire book despite struggling to keep up my interest at the start.
October 9, 2014
This book is a perfect example of why I love nonfiction. Cathcart found an exciting and concise thread to follow to tell the story of the Cambridge scientists who helped open the door to nuclear physics, in particualr the two men who first split an atomic nucleus in a measurable way. This was an achievement that can be said to have changed the world.
The author does a brilliant job of describing the circumstances, the luck, and the massive effort that led to this feat. Painting the picture by describing the other scientists at work in the field at the time (an impressive collection), the discoveries that preceeded their success, as well as the basics of the theoretical ideas that affected the work of Cockcroft and Walton, Cathcart successfully lays the foundation for understanding this momentuous achievement in terms that are clear and comprehensible.
Anyone with an interest in particle physics, engineering, or simply human ingenuity will enjoy this well paced, thoroughly researched, and elegantly organized book. The truly astonishing thing to me in the end was how primitive the equipment was. The people pretty much built a particle accelerator with wood, glass and Plasticine! (And some pioneering transformers from Metro-Vick, but still!)
The author does a brilliant job of describing the circumstances, the luck, and the massive effort that led to this feat. Painting the picture by describing the other scientists at work in the field at the time (an impressive collection), the discoveries that preceeded their success, as well as the basics of the theoretical ideas that affected the work of Cockcroft and Walton, Cathcart successfully lays the foundation for understanding this momentuous achievement in terms that are clear and comprehensible.
Anyone with an interest in particle physics, engineering, or simply human ingenuity will enjoy this well paced, thoroughly researched, and elegantly organized book. The truly astonishing thing to me in the end was how primitive the equipment was. The people pretty much built a particle accelerator with wood, glass and Plasticine! (And some pioneering transformers from Metro-Vick, but still!)
May 31, 2025
Written by Brian Cathcart, The Fly in the Cathedral retells how John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton successfully split the atom in April 1932 at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge University under their professor, Ernest Rutherford. The team faced many challenges. One was trying to develop a particle accelerator, an apparatus used to split lithium atoms into alpha particles, capable of producing enough energy to fully split an entire atom in half. All the while, the team had to compete against other physicists throughout the globe to be the first. An example of this was the American Ernest Lawrence, whose particle accelerator was able to reach over 1 million volts, while Rutherford’s team struggled to reach 700,000. For the record, the amount of energy assumed to be necessary was around 6 million electron volts.
The book weaves the chronological events of this story with more details about the lives of Cockcroft and Walton, along with a few other important figures that aided the development of the apparatus, such as Ernest Rutherford and George Gamow. This book as a whole intends to show how extraordinary it was that, despite all odds, Cockcroft and Walton were able to achieve the unimaginable, with less of a budget for the construction of an apparatus compared to the Americans.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book was extremely detailed in describing the many people involved in splitting the atom, those who did help, and those who were working to be first before the Cambridge team. I also think that the facts and descriptions about the different personalities of the people involved added to the storytelling. It created a clearer picture of who the scientists were as people, instead of only focusing on what they’ve accomplished. Cathcart included both their strengths and flaws. For example, I liked how Cathcart described Cockcroft as being an “exceptionally good listener, patiently hearing everything that was said and jotting things down in tiny spiderish script in a black notebook” (62), yet as also being “quite absent-minded, then preoccupied” (63).
The book also includes details from quotes of people who knew them, as another way of describing them. I personally really enjoyed seeing the pictures of the apparatus, the notes and diagrams of its construction, and photos of the team that were included. It helped me be able to picture Cockroft, Walton, and the particle accelerator in my mind as I was reading.
In my opinion, the one thing keeping it from 5 out of 5 stars is that the book seemed hard to follow in some cases. There were analogies written in the book to try and explain the science behind what the team was trying to find out; for instance, one analogy used was a “football kicked against the lorry” (Cathcart, 211) to explain kicking protons from wax used during testing, however I still had to reread it a couple times to picture what was happening. Another thing was that the novel felt a bit slow at the introduction in the beginning, but I do think that the story picked up by the middle of the book, specifically when the team was beginning to build the particle accelerator.
Overall, I feel that The Fly in the Cathedral was a good read, and it was insightful learning about how Cockcroft and Walton came to accomplish their goal of splitting the atom.
The book weaves the chronological events of this story with more details about the lives of Cockcroft and Walton, along with a few other important figures that aided the development of the apparatus, such as Ernest Rutherford and George Gamow. This book as a whole intends to show how extraordinary it was that, despite all odds, Cockcroft and Walton were able to achieve the unimaginable, with less of a budget for the construction of an apparatus compared to the Americans.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book was extremely detailed in describing the many people involved in splitting the atom, those who did help, and those who were working to be first before the Cambridge team. I also think that the facts and descriptions about the different personalities of the people involved added to the storytelling. It created a clearer picture of who the scientists were as people, instead of only focusing on what they’ve accomplished. Cathcart included both their strengths and flaws. For example, I liked how Cathcart described Cockcroft as being an “exceptionally good listener, patiently hearing everything that was said and jotting things down in tiny spiderish script in a black notebook” (62), yet as also being “quite absent-minded, then preoccupied” (63).
The book also includes details from quotes of people who knew them, as another way of describing them. I personally really enjoyed seeing the pictures of the apparatus, the notes and diagrams of its construction, and photos of the team that were included. It helped me be able to picture Cockroft, Walton, and the particle accelerator in my mind as I was reading.
In my opinion, the one thing keeping it from 5 out of 5 stars is that the book seemed hard to follow in some cases. There were analogies written in the book to try and explain the science behind what the team was trying to find out; for instance, one analogy used was a “football kicked against the lorry” (Cathcart, 211) to explain kicking protons from wax used during testing, however I still had to reread it a couple times to picture what was happening. Another thing was that the novel felt a bit slow at the introduction in the beginning, but I do think that the story picked up by the middle of the book, specifically when the team was beginning to build the particle accelerator.
Overall, I feel that The Fly in the Cathedral was a good read, and it was insightful learning about how Cockcroft and Walton came to accomplish their goal of splitting the atom.
May 25, 2024
Good book overall and an interesting look into some (relatively speaking) overlooked scientists at Cavendish and the practices of Cavendish itself at this time. Very readable, interesting, and always neat to hear how all the physics greats in the earlier 1900s were so intertwined. Such a unique time.
In some respects so, this is a very normal story - and we probably need more of those. Walton and Cockcroft are two extremely hardworking individuals whose dedication and patience pays off in the long run. That is solid physics, and it’s good to see individuals like them who aren’t all about themselves or embroiled in complex problems make fundamental discoveries and breakthroughs. I personally get easily tired by the hype of the flamboyant and charismatic in any field, so this story was refreshing in that I didn’t have to battle the main characters the entire time.
Only two slight criticisms (coming from someone who likes the science) are that some of the passages about what happened in the laboratory are very normal sounding. The breaking of equipment, long periods of waiting, repairs - to me (I’m sure not everyone) those are givens in fundamental research. 2nd, I of course wanted to dive headfirst into the science, but there are other books for that (and Cathcart did a great job on what he talked about).
In some respects so, this is a very normal story - and we probably need more of those. Walton and Cockcroft are two extremely hardworking individuals whose dedication and patience pays off in the long run. That is solid physics, and it’s good to see individuals like them who aren’t all about themselves or embroiled in complex problems make fundamental discoveries and breakthroughs. I personally get easily tired by the hype of the flamboyant and charismatic in any field, so this story was refreshing in that I didn’t have to battle the main characters the entire time.
Only two slight criticisms (coming from someone who likes the science) are that some of the passages about what happened in the laboratory are very normal sounding. The breaking of equipment, long periods of waiting, repairs - to me (I’m sure not everyone) those are givens in fundamental research. 2nd, I of course wanted to dive headfirst into the science, but there are other books for that (and Cathcart did a great job on what he talked about).
August 8, 2025
3.5 stars. Lots of great detail. Lots of great physics. But the detailed description of each day's experiment sometimes overwhelmed the big picture. I even got confused, and I'm a physicist.
But the story is pretty amazing, how two young men were able to "split" the atom artificially. Rather than use "natural" alpha particles from elements like radium, Cockcroft and Walton were able to accelerate protons to about one million electron volts of energy. These protons then bombarded lithium nuclei which split into two alpha particles. The mass thus liberated (explained by Einstein's famous formula) meant that the alpha particles came out with more energy than was put in.
Of course they didn't do this from scratch. They had the full backing of Ernest Rutherford's Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, which had been doing groundbreaking research for years. So they were well equipped. Still the story makes clear that there is more than a little luck involved in winning a Nobel Prize (which they got in 1951). And it makes clear that most Nobel Prize winners aren't doing it to win a prize, but just for the joy of finding things out.
But the story is pretty amazing, how two young men were able to "split" the atom artificially. Rather than use "natural" alpha particles from elements like radium, Cockcroft and Walton were able to accelerate protons to about one million electron volts of energy. These protons then bombarded lithium nuclei which split into two alpha particles. The mass thus liberated (explained by Einstein's famous formula) meant that the alpha particles came out with more energy than was put in.
Of course they didn't do this from scratch. They had the full backing of Ernest Rutherford's Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge, which had been doing groundbreaking research for years. So they were well equipped. Still the story makes clear that there is more than a little luck involved in winning a Nobel Prize (which they got in 1951). And it makes clear that most Nobel Prize winners aren't doing it to win a prize, but just for the joy of finding things out.
April 20, 2019
This was quite the enjoyable book about many of the scientists and physics engineers who worked on figuring out how the center of an atom works and the mystery that we now know as a neutron. I hadn't realized some of our common x-ray, nuclear medicine, and radiology machines were already starting to be developed and thought of during the 1930s. While focusing on the team at Cambridge, the other key thought I had was how this work towards figuring out the atom was happening by teams in Germany, United States, and others at the same time and contributions were made by scientists from many countries. I hadn't realized how frequently the scientists had international meetings and how they had collaborated with each other. Having studied physics, it is amazing to think that what we think of as common place atomic knowledge was barely known or not even figured out then. I enjoyed the quote of Ernest Rutherford of "We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2025
Very readable and enjoyable account of the Cockcroft-Walton experiment (the first high-voltage particle acceleration experiment). The scientific context of the experiment is covered very ably. The human stories make the book a much more interesting and enjoyable read. There is a surprising amount of technical detail (in a good way) about the instruments built and the experiments conducted. My only complaint is that the book could have used more figures and illustrations to explain these details. It was sometimes difficult to follow them from verbal descriptions alone, so I often found myself searching for pictures online regarding some of these technical details.
When all is said and done, what pushes science forward is primarily building powerful instruments for observation and measurement. Building these instruments requires a remarkable amount of toil, stamina, and ingenuity, yet the efforts of instrument builders often take a back seat to the glory of theory and theorists in the popular imagination. It is nice to read popular science books like this that give instrument builders the proper credit that they deserve.
When all is said and done, what pushes science forward is primarily building powerful instruments for observation and measurement. Building these instruments requires a remarkable amount of toil, stamina, and ingenuity, yet the efforts of instrument builders often take a back seat to the glory of theory and theorists in the popular imagination. It is nice to read popular science books like this that give instrument builders the proper credit that they deserve.
November 25, 2018
I was a 16-year-old teenager fascinated by physics who knew nothing about nuclear physics and it's research when I got this book as a gift from a freind who knew I loved biographies and science. Skip to few months later, I was 16 and a half-year-old girl who understood the basics of nuclear physics and it's foundation. This story got me so interested in the wolrd of nucleus and atoms that I found myself going through many scientific books and youtube lectures in order to find out everything I could about it... So, I give this book a big 5 star review because it had such an influence on me that I could never forget it! The storytelling is great, the characters are interesting and well developed and I findit (after researching the other stories as much as possible) to be historically and scientifically as correct as possible!
August 5, 2020
Somewhat pedestrian account of the 'Inner Space Race' to the center of the atom. Ultimately the poorest players in the race emphasized Rutherford's dictum: ‘We haven't the money, so we've got to think’. By changing the analogy, I hope to avoid giving away too much of the story. However, imagine several nations are competing to get to the South Pole, so they compete to build more and more powerful ice-breakers while ignoring the need for compasses.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 25, 2020A worthy addition to science history with glimpses into the lives of the first atomic physicists. The goal is to recount the big picture of what it took for the British to win the race to smash the atom.
June 14, 2020
Interesting, but maybe a bit too lengthy
June 21, 2022
Great book for the nerdy.
March 18, 2010
John Banville, writing in the Guardian, described Cathcart's book as 'unemphatic' and, while perhaps it's not as phlegmatic as that might suggest, 'The Fly in the Cathedral' (or 'the gnat in Albert Hall, as Rutherford put it) is a good solid account of the 1932 'splitting' of the atom.
The aspect of the book I found most interesting were the descriptions of working life at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, headed up Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford comes across as results-focused, theory-impatient, hurry-up-and-show-me-something, curious and excitable even in his 60s; a biography is high on my reading list. Despite his pushing of his staff and students to find stuff out already, under his lead research began around 10am each day, and the lab was firmly locked at 6pm, with the men sent home to 'read and think'. On the very rare occasion - like, for instance, when you've just bombarded some lithium with a highly concentrated beam of protons and proved the existence of the neutron - the lab might be opened up.
I think it's in James Watson's account of the cracking of the gene that Watson observes that this way of working - complete with four o'clock tea and buns - was still in place in the English universities. It's so different from how we expect people on the cutting edge of anything to work nowadays, and I find that quite fascinating.
The aspect of the book I found most interesting were the descriptions of working life at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, headed up Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford comes across as results-focused, theory-impatient, hurry-up-and-show-me-something, curious and excitable even in his 60s; a biography is high on my reading list. Despite his pushing of his staff and students to find stuff out already, under his lead research began around 10am each day, and the lab was firmly locked at 6pm, with the men sent home to 'read and think'. On the very rare occasion - like, for instance, when you've just bombarded some lithium with a highly concentrated beam of protons and proved the existence of the neutron - the lab might be opened up.
I think it's in James Watson's account of the cracking of the gene that Watson observes that this way of working - complete with four o'clock tea and buns - was still in place in the English universities. It's so different from how we expect people on the cutting edge of anything to work nowadays, and I find that quite fascinating.
October 31, 2011
A well researched, well told story of the Cavendish lab and the work that culminated in the discovery of the neutron and the splitting of the atom in the early 1930s. Experimentation gets short shrift in histories of science as compared to theory, but Ernest Rutherford is as interesting as just about any theorist and using a simple apparatus to essentially visualize the atom itself as Rutherford did in his scattering experiment is about as impressive as any theoretical feat. This book takes those as its prelude and focuses on Walton, Cockcroft and to a lesser degree Chadwick and Rutherford's ongoing role.
In the process, the book tells the interesting story of the inception of larger scale experimentation that moved beyond tabletop experiments by gentleman scientists to large machinery using large amounts of energy and teams of researchers.
The book is more thoroughly researched journalistic history that delves more deeply into the engineering complexities of building the apparatus than into nuclear physics itself, the only reason for not giving it a full five stars.
In the process, the book tells the interesting story of the inception of larger scale experimentation that moved beyond tabletop experiments by gentleman scientists to large machinery using large amounts of energy and teams of researchers.
The book is more thoroughly researched journalistic history that delves more deeply into the engineering complexities of building the apparatus than into nuclear physics itself, the only reason for not giving it a full five stars.
August 12, 2011
The title refers to the nucleus of an atom, which is so small in comparison with the atom, that it is like a fly in a cathedral.
The book is an enjoyable history of the early days of nuclear physics – roughly 1900 to 1932, told from the perspective of the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge University. The high point of the story is the experiment in 1932 which for the first time split an atomic nucleus and released the energy predicted by Albert Einstein.
The book describes the experiments and the theoretical development in an easy-going way, but most of the space in the book is given to sketches of the researchers and their families during this period; how they lived and worked; their joys and frustrations. The world of the Cavendish is portrayed: its strong chief, Ernest Rutherford, the daily routine at the lab, and the organization and drive that made the laboratory a world leader in the field.
The book is an enjoyable history of the early days of nuclear physics – roughly 1900 to 1932, told from the perspective of the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge University. The high point of the story is the experiment in 1932 which for the first time split an atomic nucleus and released the energy predicted by Albert Einstein.
The book describes the experiments and the theoretical development in an easy-going way, but most of the space in the book is given to sketches of the researchers and their families during this period; how they lived and worked; their joys and frustrations. The world of the Cavendish is portrayed: its strong chief, Ernest Rutherford, the daily routine at the lab, and the organization and drive that made the laboratory a world leader in the field.
March 19, 2015
An extremely readable account of how the atom was split. Cathcart's biggest strength in this book, I think, is the balance between the science and the history/characters of the scientists involved. (The science itself is clearly explained; it probably helps that the author isn't a scientist himself and so can more easily resist the urge to fall back into jargon and digressions.)
I find a lot of pop sci books struggle with this balance - either they're too superficial regarding the science, or they overload it so the reader is struggling in a swamp of (often extraneous) detail. The Fly in the Cathedral is very well done in this regard. I felt an emotional connection to the people involved, and I felt I could understand - at least on a layperson's level - what it was they were doing. On top of that, I actually enjoyed reading it. Can't ask for much more than that.
I find a lot of pop sci books struggle with this balance - either they're too superficial regarding the science, or they overload it so the reader is struggling in a swamp of (often extraneous) detail. The Fly in the Cathedral is very well done in this regard. I felt an emotional connection to the people involved, and I felt I could understand - at least on a layperson's level - what it was they were doing. On top of that, I actually enjoyed reading it. Can't ask for much more than that.
February 7, 2017
I found the beginning and the end of this book to be absolutely fascinating. The middle 60% of the book was important, to have a full understanding of the story, but slightly boring. I also respect the authors caution in describing the temperament of these scientist. Some of them seemed to have a very bad rep, but the sources of these rumors were brought into focus. A clear sign of honest journalism.
April 11, 2013
This book was a fun read. The first ten pages were quite bland and I was afraid I didn't really want to continue it, but I like to get past the first chapter before I judge a book. After those first few pages, the book picked up and clearly illustrated the inventions, thoughts behind each test, and success and failures. I was quite honored to read a well polished book and gain a little more knowledge...
January 24, 2011
A well-written, highly readable history of the race to split the atom. We meet all the important characters and get to know them well as they carry out their almost unbelievable experiments using Heath Robinson-type machines/conglomerations (how the hell do you go about designing something intended to split an atom!!!?).
August 31, 2008
Interesting account of the lives of the scientists and physicists involved in the race to split the atom. More info on the lives of the scientists and less about the science involved in the process of splitting the atom. Some parts of the book didn't hold my interest.
May 6, 2013
A retelling of the events that led to the splitting of the atom by a team at Cambridge University in the 1930s. Cathcart pays moving tribute to the men involved, invoking a strong sense of individual character and expertly narrating the story in the manner of a detective novel.
February 15, 2015
Such a fun read exploring the world of discovery center on nuclear physics. It's striking to think that it's been less than 100 years since we came to understand what is happening at the atomic level. A truly enjoyable book and a good read for middle/school kids interested in science.
February 24, 2011
This was one of the 2006 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
September 13, 2014
Thoroughly researched, well written, gives great insight in how scientific discoveries
were and are made, and in the men who made them.
were and are made, and in the men who made them.
May 31, 2015
Fantastic book about the early days of atomic and nuclear physics.
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