What do you think?
Rate this book
Atomic Quest
- GenresScience
370 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1956
1 person is currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Holly Compton
50 books1 followerAmerican physicist Arthur Holly Compton shared a Nobel Prize of 1927 for his discovery of the effect.
An electron scatters electromagnetic radiation, especially an x-ray or a gamma-ray photon, and Compton effect increases its wavelength.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
An electron scatters electromagnetic radiation, especially an x-ray or a gamma-ray photon, and Compton effect increases its wavelength.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 28, 2023
Personal account by Arthur Compton on his contribution and interactions with other main players in the Manhattan project and the years before and after. Compton was a key player in the project. Due to his position as a physics professor in Chicago, he was one of the high management that was elected to work on nuclear chain reactions. In the Manhattan Project, Compton was the director of the Metallurgic Project. This was the team (6000 people) that delivered the technology of uranium 235 and plutonium. Their task was to enable the Los Alamos team to fabricate the bomb with their materials.
One of the key location for the work was Chicago, when the group of Fermi achieved criticality in a uranium moderated stack as part of the Metallurgic project. Getting the materials on short notice in full during war were typical challenges Compton tells about. At the same time, installations for the enrichment of uranium and the X-10 plutonium breeder pilot plant were build in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This was build in a grand project between Du Pont and the Metallurgic project team and run by the University of Chicago until the end of the war after which Oak Ridge was handed to Monsanto.
The story also adds significant thoughts about unleashing the powers of The gods. In the first chapters, Greek gods enter the story to introduce atomic power: Pandora (curiosity), Prometheus (wanted to tame the fire of the gods) and Daedalus (who forget the sword to make a king great). The decision making to use the bombs in Japan is accurately described in the later chapters, showing that the chain of command decision was more than "the military wanted to use their toys" as is often said now. People took the responsibility to truly explorw what it means to obliterate 100000 people with one bomber flight. Little Boy was the equivalent of a 2000 bombers run, an unprecedented step in warfare and destructive power. People were considering and thinking hard about responsibility to country and mankind and extrapolating on expectations of Japan invasion and so on.
The final part in the book covers the question of "now what". Various big themes are given consideration:
- The change of the face of war from death to utter destruction
- The use of atomic power in science and technology, but also the merit of them in life
- The spread of Communism across the world, and the way the free Western World interacts
- Compon's values and believes as a Christian.
This last part basically summarizes the worldview from Compton's perspective and hence gives an historic framework of common themes in the 1950's. Because I started to read this book as part of my interest in science, technology and management of the Manhattan project, I found myself less interested in the historic narrative after that. However, I appreciate the well laid reasoning and writing. 5 Stars
One of the key location for the work was Chicago, when the group of Fermi achieved criticality in a uranium moderated stack as part of the Metallurgic project. Getting the materials on short notice in full during war were typical challenges Compton tells about. At the same time, installations for the enrichment of uranium and the X-10 plutonium breeder pilot plant were build in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This was build in a grand project between Du Pont and the Metallurgic project team and run by the University of Chicago until the end of the war after which Oak Ridge was handed to Monsanto.
The story also adds significant thoughts about unleashing the powers of The gods. In the first chapters, Greek gods enter the story to introduce atomic power: Pandora (curiosity), Prometheus (wanted to tame the fire of the gods) and Daedalus (who forget the sword to make a king great). The decision making to use the bombs in Japan is accurately described in the later chapters, showing that the chain of command decision was more than "the military wanted to use their toys" as is often said now. People took the responsibility to truly explorw what it means to obliterate 100000 people with one bomber flight. Little Boy was the equivalent of a 2000 bombers run, an unprecedented step in warfare and destructive power. People were considering and thinking hard about responsibility to country and mankind and extrapolating on expectations of Japan invasion and so on.
The final part in the book covers the question of "now what". Various big themes are given consideration:
- The change of the face of war from death to utter destruction
- The use of atomic power in science and technology, but also the merit of them in life
- The spread of Communism across the world, and the way the free Western World interacts
- Compon's values and believes as a Christian.
This last part basically summarizes the worldview from Compton's perspective and hence gives an historic framework of common themes in the 1950's. Because I started to read this book as part of my interest in science, technology and management of the Manhattan project, I found myself less interested in the historic narrative after that. However, I appreciate the well laid reasoning and writing. 5 Stars
Displaying 1 of 1 review