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Pandora's Keepers: Nine Men and the Atomic Bomb
Many books have tried to shed light on why the greatest minds of 20th century physics designed the most horrific weapon in history. Brian VanDeMark tries a new tack in Pandora's Keepers: the group biography. Instead of focusing on just Oppenheimer, or Bohr, or Teller, this book encompasses the nine men at the core of the United States' effort to build an atomic bomb. By avoiding individual stories, he reveals that these men collectively were more than the sum of their brilliant parts.
It was no secret that Hitler was attempting to achieve nuclear fission, and many of the nine were Europeans who had seen the horrors of the Third Reich up close. Beyond any care for ethics or morals, they wanted to beat Hitler to the Bomb. But though they functioned as a scientific juggernaut together, some of the men suffered pangs of anxiety when alone. Leo Szilard, for instance, feared the results of his early experiments.
Szilard flipped the switch, saw the dreaded pulses, and watched them for several minutes with mounting horror.... "That night," Szilard later recalled, "there was very little doubt in my mind that the world was headed for grief."
Readers of Richard Rhodes' classic Making of the Atomic Bomb will find some new insights here as VanDeMark casts a wide net for relevant details. Pandora's Keepers tells this familiar story with new energy and immediacy, bringing to life the difficult drama of science in wartime. --Therese Littleton
416 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 22, 2023
Great read. You can really get a sense of the character of every one of these 9 larger than life scientists and the massive task that they undertook. The choice to include their activities post 1945 and how they dealt with the responsibility of having developed the bomb really adds a whole new and very necessary layer to the story of the Manhattan Project. Also the book is much more philosophical than one would expect from a history of science/history of warfare/history of whatever-the-hell-the-atomic-bomb-classifies-as book, but I guess the topic lends itself to such reflection (as many of the scientists found out). As a little side note, reading this makes rewatching Nolan's Oppenheimer just a little bit more exciting. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in the development of the atomic bomb.
September 21, 2018
H has become a most ominous letter
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on earth and was given a beautiful container which she was told never to open. But, of course, her curiosity got the better of her and when she opened it all the evil inside escaped into the world. When she tried to close it the only thing left inside was the Spirit of Hope. Pandora was afraid she would be punished, but Zeus didn't because he knew it would happen from the beginning, and so Hope was released as well.
It's easy to see the parallel to the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, but Brian VanDeMark draws a more modern parallel to the beginning of the nuclear age. Instead of simply retelling the story of the Manhattan Project or the subsequent nuclear arms race, VanDeMark focuses on nine men who were involved in it: Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, I. I. Rabi, Niels Bohr, Edward Teller, Ernest Lawrence, Arthur Compton, Robert Oppenheimer, and Hans Bethe. Some were theoreticists whose insights paved the way, others were instrumental in refining the uranium and plutonium, and others put it all together in the mountains of New Mexico. All were incredibly brilliant men who changed the world.
Many of them had been forced to leave their European homelands by the threat of Nazism and found a welcoming community in America of fellow scientists and thinkers. Physics in those days was a mostly theoretical exercise with little practical application. But when it became known that Nazi scientists were working on splitting the atom to unleash its destructive power, the Manhattan Project was born with a goal of developing an atomic bomb first. But it wasn't just the threat that drove them; it was also the opportunity of a lifetime to pursue an intense professional curiosity.
But for some, seeing the devastation wrought on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused anxiety over their work, even describing it as a "sin." They understood their willing role in developing the bomb and were conflicted by the obvious fact that it had indeed ended the war. Some argued for international control of the bomb and warned of an arms race, but not all. When international negotiations failed and the Soviet Union successfully tested their own atomic bomb (using information gained by espionage) some again lent their talents to the race to develop even bigger thermonuclear weapons, which used atoms of hydrogen - the hydrogen or H bomb - and release hundreds of times the destructive energy of the bombs dropped in WWII.
VanDeMark treats the subject rather fairly and he shows a talent for bringing the story to life in an exciting way that emphasizes the moral dilemmas of the time and the questions the physicists faced, and that there were no easy answers. There wasn't just a tremendous amount of research that went into the book but a lot of thought as well. I thought it was both interesting and readable, and it's one of those books that didn't get the kind of attention it deserved. (Incidentally, the title of my review comes from a poem written by Edward Teller for his children.)
In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on earth and was given a beautiful container which she was told never to open. But, of course, her curiosity got the better of her and when she opened it all the evil inside escaped into the world. When she tried to close it the only thing left inside was the Spirit of Hope. Pandora was afraid she would be punished, but Zeus didn't because he knew it would happen from the beginning, and so Hope was released as well.
It's easy to see the parallel to the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, but Brian VanDeMark draws a more modern parallel to the beginning of the nuclear age. Instead of simply retelling the story of the Manhattan Project or the subsequent nuclear arms race, VanDeMark focuses on nine men who were involved in it: Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, I. I. Rabi, Niels Bohr, Edward Teller, Ernest Lawrence, Arthur Compton, Robert Oppenheimer, and Hans Bethe. Some were theoreticists whose insights paved the way, others were instrumental in refining the uranium and plutonium, and others put it all together in the mountains of New Mexico. All were incredibly brilliant men who changed the world.
Many of them had been forced to leave their European homelands by the threat of Nazism and found a welcoming community in America of fellow scientists and thinkers. Physics in those days was a mostly theoretical exercise with little practical application. But when it became known that Nazi scientists were working on splitting the atom to unleash its destructive power, the Manhattan Project was born with a goal of developing an atomic bomb first. But it wasn't just the threat that drove them; it was also the opportunity of a lifetime to pursue an intense professional curiosity.
But for some, seeing the devastation wrought on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused anxiety over their work, even describing it as a "sin." They understood their willing role in developing the bomb and were conflicted by the obvious fact that it had indeed ended the war. Some argued for international control of the bomb and warned of an arms race, but not all. When international negotiations failed and the Soviet Union successfully tested their own atomic bomb (using information gained by espionage) some again lent their talents to the race to develop even bigger thermonuclear weapons, which used atoms of hydrogen - the hydrogen or H bomb - and release hundreds of times the destructive energy of the bombs dropped in WWII.
VanDeMark treats the subject rather fairly and he shows a talent for bringing the story to life in an exciting way that emphasizes the moral dilemmas of the time and the questions the physicists faced, and that there were no easy answers. There wasn't just a tremendous amount of research that went into the book but a lot of thought as well. I thought it was both interesting and readable, and it's one of those books that didn't get the kind of attention it deserved. (Incidentally, the title of my review comes from a poem written by Edward Teller for his children.)
March 10, 2015
This focuses much more on the moral and ethical questions of the bomb, rather than the scientific ones (and in fact, I was very unclear about the science at some points; I could have used more explanation). It's interesting from that point of view, but it also overlooks a HUGE elephant in the room: the scientistsworking on the bomb thought of it as simply a huge explosive, and didn't understand how serious or long-lasting the radiation component would be. And that's what I got from googling -- a book on moral decisions doesn't explain that when it talks about debates over whether or not to use this new device.
Nowadays, we think of the evil of a nuclear device as the lasting effects of cancer and irradiated cities. To discuss moral implications and not note that this was not taken into account makes this story much less useful to me.
Nowadays, we think of the evil of a nuclear device as the lasting effects of cancer and irradiated cities. To discuss moral implications and not note that this was not taken into account makes this story much less useful to me.
April 21, 2008
The stories of the nine scientists who contributed to the atomic bomb's creation cannot be told individually. Rather, they must be melded into one, for this story tells of dreams and destruction. The nine men, Oppenheimer, Teller, Bethe, Szilard, Bohr, Compton, Fermi, Lawrence, and Rabi, coordinated and made discoveries leading to the creation of the nuclear weapon. VanDemark's retelling offers us a wider scope and understanding of these men, as we walk through their journey as the some of the most famous physicists to ever live.
June 10, 2008
There have been many histories of the Manhattan project. Some focus on the details of what it took to bring together a group of men in the New Mexico desert, some focus on the difficulties of the project itself.
VanDeMark does something altogether different, by focusing individually on the physicists in short almost vignetted biographies of their lives before, during and after the project with special attention paid to their political and later moral writings which speak more to their characters than simple history can.
VanDeMark does something altogether different, by focusing individually on the physicists in short almost vignetted biographies of their lives before, during and after the project with special attention paid to their political and later moral writings which speak more to their characters than simple history can.
June 28, 2011
This was an extremely chilling tale. It walks you through the creation of the Atomic Bomb and the further development of the H-Bomb through the eyes of the Nine main physicists responsible for its development. I find this incredibly fascinating and terribly worrisome. It gave you a feel for the epic scope of potential destruction, and the destruction already realized in Japan and how it would feel to be responsible for the creation or unleashing of such power in the world.
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January 30, 2015It took me more than a year to complete this book and its not that this book is lame it’s just that I was just not into science. This book is divided into two parts, first part before the bomb that shows the struggle and the reasons of creating this monstrous invention and the second part of after this invention how it effects the life of the scientists who created this bomb and how the world is changed dynamically
January 21, 2016
A good narrative of the development of the atomic bomb, following nine of the main scientists behind its conception and use. The writing itself is a good story, but does not hold any analysis, which is what I was looking for. However, it does set up a good foundation for further research, and gave me a few tidbits and insights that I wasn't expecting.
March 2, 2008
Know what's scarier than humanity left to its own devices?
No, I don't either. Pandora's Keepers tells the story of some of the people who will be eventually partially responsible for the destruction of all life on earth.
Yay!!
No, I don't either. Pandora's Keepers tells the story of some of the people who will be eventually partially responsible for the destruction of all life on earth.
Yay!!
April 20, 2016
Excellently written book. Should really be on every libraries non-fiction shelf to help the public be aware of how the physicists created the atomic bomb, why and the results.
This book give excellent background of the persons involved.
This book give excellent background of the persons involved.
December 22, 2008
This was a great book for me, since I lived in Los Alamos. It gives you the before, during & after of what happened to the men who "made" the atomic bomb.
October 2, 2010
Very inspiring. How the initial fear that Germany could be preparing atomic weapons ended by use on civilian targets, struggles for power in Washington (vg Oppenheimer purge) and the arms race.
July 20, 2015
A well written, easy to read history of the nine men who changed the world forever. Both fascinating and deeply disturbing and worth your time to read.
September 24, 2016
A good read with a lot of information. Well documented with footnotes.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews