Plutonium: A History of the World's Most Dangerous Element

by Jeremy Bernstein

When plutonium was first manufactured at Berkeley in the spring of 1941, there was so little of it that it was not visible to the naked eye. It took a year to accumulate enough so that one could actually see it. Now there is so much that we don't know what to do to get rid of it. We have created a monster. The history of plutonium is as strange as the element itself. When scientists began looking for it, they did so simply in the spirit of inquiry, not certain whether there were still spots to fill on the periodic table. But the discovery of fission made it clear that this still-hypothetical element would be more than just a scientific curiosity?it could be a powerful nuclear weapon. As it turned out, it is good for almost nothing else. Plutonium's nuclear potential put it at the heart of the World War II arms race?the Russians found out about it through espionage, the Germans through independent research, and everybody wanted some. Now, nearly everyone has some?the United States alone has about 47 metric tons?but it has almost no uses besides warmongering. How did the product of scientific curiosity become such a dangerous burden? In his new history of this complex and dangerous element, noted physicist Jeremy Bernstein describes the steps that were taken to transform plutonium from a laboratory novelty into the nuclear weapon that destroyed Nagasaki. This is the first book to weave together the many strands of plutonium's story, explaining not only the science but the people involved.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Chemistry, Physics, Politics, Audiobook

214 pages, Hardcover

First published March 30, 2007

Reviews

[cellomerl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neat little book about a truly fascinating subject. The author is a physicist with first-hand experience of some of the people and places described. The book is written in an engaging, informal way, as if you were chatting with the author.
My only real complaint about this book (if it could be called a complaint) is that the first part is mostly about the history of the discovery of nuclear fission, and you have to get about 70% through the book before the star of the show appears in any detail.
I would have liked to have read more details on the crystal structures and chemical reactions of plutonium but the book was a bit too short for that. Some of the references might be worth tracking down for more detailed information. In truth there are not very many books dedicated to plutonium’s history or its physical and chemical properties, so this was welcome learning experience.

[Jarvis Friesen]

Writing is very engaging, especially during the parts driven by historical narratives. However, things became quite confusing to me when I realized that this book is probably meant for readers more versed in chemistry and physics than I. I must return to this once I have a better understanding of these ideas.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worthwhile but a bit of a disappointment depending on what you're looking for. Tells a comprehensive account of Plutonium's discovery and features a long and educational discourse into its atomic structure, but doesn't devote the same care to most of its post-Manhattan Project history. Also leaves some questions strangely unanswered - why is it so incredibly toxic? How do the modern containment and disposal procedures render it less of a threat? Really not a bad book, but compared to Richard Rhodes' atomic bomb books and the various Oppenheimer biographies out there (including Bernstein's own), lacking in context and insight beyond the science.

[Grayson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of plutonium requires the explaining of a lot of physics and chemistry. This was one of the most difficult books I've ever read on science history, but Bernstein does a brilliant job of communicating the science involved to the lay reader. It's rewarding to make it through this book, and it's a fascinating subject, but unless you know a lot about the science involved already, be prepared for an uphill climb as you get deeper into the book. It's well worth it, though. Great book.

[Garnet · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I said earlier, I felt I was re-reading "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" all over again but in an abbreviated way. The subject matter, plutonium, really doesn't enter until at least half-way through this small book, and a discussion on it's unusual properties not until the next to last chapter. I felt that chapter was still missing a lot of interesting info. Knowledge of physics and quantum mechanics sure helps on some passages but overall this book is geared for common consumption.

[Mark Desimone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dug it! It was pleasantly challenging for a lay person to read. The fast pace was very nice, and helpful in keeping me interested. I feel like the last chapter was very brief, and I'll need to go through it again at some point to really grasp the magnitude of what actually happened in the nuclear age.

[Patricrk patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

a lot of interesting history of how plutonium came to be and just the right dose of science to go with it.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book. More about the people involved with PU over the years vs. about PU. Not what I had expected.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the personal flavor of the author and the extended quotations of the period chemists. Seeing the real people behind real discoveries is always a joy.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent little book, packed with plenty of science, history, and short biographies. The great physicists involved with nuclear science and the eventual construction of fission bombs of this entire period, say 1905-1945, are near household names, Einstein, Fermi, Szilard, Bohr, Lawrence, Heisenberg, Meitner, Frisch, et al. and nearly all are mentioned at various times. But many were also chemists and metallurgists who are somewhat less well known, Hahn, Strassman, Seaborg, Smith et al., who are also given due 'credit'. One can look back and still ask about all of them, were they heroes or demons? Scientific curiosity has been and perhaps always will be nearly devoid of moral compass, if it can be studied (and made profitable) it will be. Of course the war and the threat of a German bomb was obviously involved as well. One of the interesting sidebars is how the Allies interred ten of the German physicists considered most likely to have been active in the Nazi bomb program at Farm Hall, England after the war and secretly taped them. It became apparent that they were really nowhere close to getting a bomb and frankly the entire atomic arms race might well have been avoided had this been known. Unfortunately, the Allies had no Klaus Fuchs feeding them information!

Anyway, there is excellent introductory to perhaps medium complexity atomic science and chemistry concepts throughout the book, well explained with diagrams, a few equations and some interesting photos. Even the scrawled original notes (1872) that preceded Mendeleev's periodic table are shown. I learned a lot about the periodic table especially the discovery and nature of the lanthanides (rare earth elements) and actinides (radioactive, of which Plutonium (Pu) is one). In the end, 'we' (humanity) created a lot of plutonium (estimated at somewhere near 150 metric tons in the book) and it remains a big problem. Plutonium fires at 1957 and 1969 at the Rocky Flats nuclear facility just 16 miles northwest of Denver illuminated the issue in the U.S. along with the cleanup at the Hanford nuclear site on the Columbia River cost around $7 billion. A map of known plutonium storage sites around the world shows dozen of sites in the former Soviet Union and probably China. It is still a wonder to me that no one has created crude A-bomb for nefarious purposes with all this material sitting around in a country that seems to be self-destructing (with a strong helping hand from the 'good' West). One of the funnier stories in the book was how Bernstein learned that you could actually (as of 2007) order U-235 and/or PU-239 from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and showing copies of the ordering forms with all the specs and mailing details (Quantity discounts available!) of the samples. Does Amazon know this yet? Excellent last minute Christmas presents!

[Philip Girvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Like everything connected with plutonium, there are complications" (98)

Complications abound in this brief, not overly technical history. Human relations, atomic behaviours, the first atomic arms race... It's really quite amazing what people can do when they think that they other guy is going to kill them first.

Fun, informative little read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

MTF: Author had personal connections with the Manhattan Project scientists and intimately knew his subject.

[Nithesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book on the worst thing to ever grace the periodic table.

[Junessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little technical

[Thomas Olsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plutonium is an element with some fascinating properties. There are hardly any books on the subject and that is why this book was written. Some stories from the early days when man started to create plutonium in nuclear power plants and then isolate it. The first samples were so small they they could not be seen, only measured.

[Teejay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always HATE rating a book on science as less than five stars. Here, Jeremy Bernstein undertook creating a book on an esoteric topic which few, in our graceless and dumbed-down age, would ever read.

I did, and I appreciate his effort.

There is an awful lot to be learned here, especially regarding valence bonding, orbital shell occupation, allotrope deltas, and similar. In my (this reader's) case, the most fascinating chapter was Chapter X, which begins with the dire imprecation "this chapter is the most technically-demanding chapter in the book."

"Bring it ON, Jeremy!!" :) But even to a "popular" audience, is this the best to which America can aspire?!?

My two missing stars stem from two Major Observations:
A) I wanted more, deeper, science and mathematics, and also more physiological facts regarding the medical implications of Pu ingestion. More "meat".
B) Mister Bernstein inserted too, too-many instances of phrasing that ultimately made me doubt the validity of his effort (and this pains me to say.) I can't recount the number of times he wrote "as far as I know", or "to the best of my awareness", etc.

The reader emerges from a pretty-entertaining book, wondering if the research has **really** been done.

I mean no censure - but A & B above, really vitiated my enjoyment.

Peace, Mister Bernstein, and thanks!

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read it in 2015 and noted this quote by the author "The plutonium story, as I hope I have convinced you, is full of ironies, not the least of which is that what once cost us millions to produce will now cost us billions to get rid of."

My 2009 review:
I don't know whether to class this as History or as Science (Chemistry/Physics). It is the history of the discovery of Plutonium, element 94 in the periodic table. It is also a description of the somewhat bizarre chemistry of Plutonium - due to the fact that the actinide series results from the filling of the inner f shells while the outer valence shell remains 'constant' across the series. It also weaves in some interesting sidelights on the making of the implosion type fission bomb in WW II. It explains, briefly, the differences, and reasons for the differences, between the gun-type process used for the Uranium bomb and the implosion process used for the Plutonium bomb.
The book seemed disjointed at times as the author chose to explain the chemistry in the middle of the history part of the story. But, the history of the discovery and characterization of a new element does not move in straight lines, so why should we expect a story to be linear?
Bernstein ends with a provocative chapter "What next?" What next indeed? There are tonnes of Plutonium made by many countries (U.S. U.K. France, Russia, China, Israel etc. How to safeguard them? How to safeguard us from the Plutonium? Plutonium is long lived, is a dangerous radioactive substance, and can be used to make fearsomely powerful boms.

[Nick Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amazon 2008-12-02. A definite disappointment -- Bernstein, now of the New Yorker, claims a physics doctorate but sure dumbed element 94 down for us, despite claiming a scientific approach and to "be the first book about plutonium's chemistry and physics." Note to Mr. Bernstein: a book without equations is the definition of pop science! Argh. Anyone moved to read this book has surely read the pop classics of nuclear physics ( The Making of the Atomic Bomb, American Prometheus, etc), and will find very little new here -- indeed, Bernstein helps himself to lengthy excerpts from such, including an entire page(!) on Meitner. Speaking of Meitner, Bernstein has some new and rather unsubstantiated attacks on Nobel Laureate Otto Hahn, including the shocking claim that "I doubt Hahn ever understood the physics of nuclear fission." ?!?! That chapter reads like PC revisionism of the first order.

Finally, a "history" of plutonium ought certainly cover, in my mind, mixed oxide fuels, the development of fast reactors for better plutonium burning, and issues pertaining to LWR's (particularly as used for maritime propulsion). Sigh! I could have written a better book about plutonium than this.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Tom Zoellner's history of uranium earlier this month and this book about plutonium seemed like a natural follow-up. Bernstein worked at Los Alamos and his book contains some fascinating behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the Manhattan Project and the United States' post-war nuclear program. Otherwise, Bernstein spends a considerable portion of an already minuscule book exploring rather adjacent topics: the early history of nuclear science, the discovery uranium, and extremely dumbed-down atomic physics. There's some interesting discussion of the chemistry & metallurgy of plutonium, nuclear proliferation, but sadly this is far from a comprehensive history.

[Paul McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic explanation on the discovery of plutonium, what it takes to produce it, and why it is so complicated as it does not behave like any other compound. The writer does tend to wander off onto different tangents, but always comes back around. He does his best to simplify the science parts, but honestly many of the equations are way over my head, what the reader can understand are the basic concepts, and the author does a great job at this, he also lets you know when parts are going to be heavy science.

[Eugene Miya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bernstein while not a weaponeer or reactor engineer does a post-doc at LANL which does require a Q-clearance. The subtitle is a little alarmist, but knowing publishers I would not blame Bernstein. It does have state change table, but this is not the Pu metallurgy book. A light read; I think fine for general audiences.

[K.a. Bachelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry. The book was interesting, but it was written either by a scientist or someone with a scientific background.
I did read the book all the way through, hoping that the author would be a little more interesting. But he did convey the problematic situation we now face with this element which is useful only in bombs.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a history of the discovery of Plutonium, and its subsequent uses, which was quite fascinating. I had no understanding of the complexities involved and the author did a good job of laying things out in mostly layman's terms.

[Bengi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit hard to understand for a non-physics major but gives a simple view of Einsteins's working style.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[Mirrordance · Rating 1 out of 5]

Faticoso da seguire con tutte le sue divagazioni.

[Sabra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heavy on science which may be challenging for some

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rivetingly sciency.

[Eric Stiffler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult read for me. This was among the first scientific books I read in my life. I remember enjoying this and I plan to read it again.