Oppenheimer and the Bomb

The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World

by Paul Strathern

At a moment of great discovery, one Big Idea can change the world...

Oppenheimer and his Big Idea, the atomic bomb, exemplify one of the very real dilemmas of modern science.Scientifically unprecedented yet ethically questionable, atomic weapons may have brought World War II to an end, saving thousands of lives, but at what cost?Hiroshima, Nagasaki and a new political balance, teetering on the threat of nuclear annihilation, were part of the legacy of the man best known as "the father of the bomb".

Oppenheimer and the Bomb tells the gripping story of the scientist behind The Manhattan Project, from his early days as a Harvard prodigy to his final years as a victim of McCarthyism.A brilliant snapshot of a man and his controversial work, Oppenheimer's Big Idea offers a clear and engaging introduction to the complex theoretical work behind the bomb, the context of the time and the implications for our future.





The Big Idea series is a fascinating look at the greatest advances in our scientific history, and at the men and women who made these fundamental breakthroughs.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Paul Strathern (born 1940) is a English writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas. His novel A Season in Abyssinia won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1972.

Besides five novels, he has also written numerous books on science, philosophy, history, literature, medicine and economics.

Reviews

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 3 out of 5]

زمانی که در کوچه های دوران کودکی مان که گویی در زیر بستر گرم آفتاب خفته اند قدم می زنیم مرگ چه دور می نماید از آن رو که گذر سال ها و زمان به ناچیزی می گیریم و خود و خاطراتمان را ابدی می یابیم،خود را محق حیاتی چنان ارزشمند و مقاوم می دانیم که از داس مرگ در امان است،هیچ استحاله ای نمی تواند بر آرزو هایمان و احساساتمان نقابی تیره کشد
ناگهان اما صدای  دلهره آور هواپیمایی بمب افکن از دور قلبمان را می لرزاند،صدا اما نزدیک نمی شود،بمب افکن مایل ها دور تر است،لحظه ای آسودگی چراکه امروز نیز مرگ سهم دیگران شده نه ما..ناگهان اما آسمان شکافته می شود..نوری خیره کننده در سکوتی مرگبار...پایان

سقوط بمب اتم  پایانی قطعی بر حیات هزاران نفر انسان بود و زندگی میلیارد ها نفر از ساکنان جهان را برای ابد تغییر می دهد،گاه حتی بدون آنکه خود بدانند.
بمب اتم موجب درد و رنج و فاجعه ای وحشتناک شد که مثالش در تاریخ بشر کمتر دیده شده و به جنگی که نفس های آخرش را با فرسایشی حداکثری می کشید پایان داد.
هدف اصلی بدون شک‌اما رساندن پیامی بود که  حاصل میلیون ها دلار سرمایه گذاری بود،پیام قدرت برتر آمریکا و سلطه بر جهان پس از جنگ،پیامی که  توسط استالین وشوروی بسیار قبل از انتشارش شنیده بود و آتش جنگ سرد از میان خاکستر های همچنان گداخته جنگ جهانی در گرفته بود

بدون شک اپنهایمر پدر بمب اتم،از عواقب آنچه حیاتش بخشیده بود اطلاع داشت در آن زمان اما پیدایش بمب اتم تنها مسئله  زمان بود و شاید رسیدن آمریکا بدان انتخابی میان بد و بدتر بود،زمانی که چرخ دنده های علم و صنعت به حرکت در می آیند آن را توقفی نیست و در آن هنگام او ناگزیر تبدیل به مرگ شد،نابود کننده جهان ها..

[Dalila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice introduction to who Oppenheimer was and the history of the Manhattan Project. This book is a perfect balance of history and explanations of how thermonuclear weapons work in a scientific context. This book is accessible to anyone without a science background.

[Francisco M. Juárez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breve y estupendo acercamiento a la vida y obra de J. Robert Oppenheimer, desde sus inicios brillantes con las grandes mentes de la mecánica cuántica hasta su liderazgo durante el Proyecto Manhattan, y su posterior maltrato y suspicacia por parte de un gobierno que le debía tanto.

Me gustaron especialmente los detalles familiares y técnicos sobre la construcción de la bomba, aunque dada la brevedad del libro no se profundiza demasiado.

Espero poder tener pronto la oportunidad de leer la gran biografía de Oppenheimer Prometeo Americano. Aunque no creo que sea antes de ver la peli de Nolan.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1998 offering is a very short biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, as well as information about how the atom bomb worked. It also looked at some of the problems workers with the Manhattan Project faced, includes a few diagrams, and briefly notes the powerful enemy Oppenheimer made in Lewis Strauss. There's also a timeline of the nuclear age, up until the 1990s.

Although it's a quick read, I did find a glaring historical error. The author describes J. Edgar Hoover as a "drag queen" -- an urban myth that's been thoroughly debunked. It was considered a myth in 1998, but yet here it is. It makes me wonder what other errors were included that I missed.

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen resumen de la vida de una de las mentes más brillantes del Siglo XX, leído como preparación a la película de Nolan.

[Carlos Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una excelente lectura para entender el límite entre lo científico y lo moral que cambió el curso de la humanidad. Cristopher Nolan seguramente leyó este libro porque su secuencia y detalles revelan mucha similitud a la película. Me haré un viaje literario a Hiroshima y Nagasaki, cosa que no refleja este libro en absoluto ni en la película de Nolan, allí sabremos mucho más de cómo se levanta un país que pasa de un exterminio a una potencia mundial del conocimiento, la tecnología y la cultura.

[Juan Manuel Angulo Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro de lectura rápida y sencilla. Me gustaría haber visto más elemento técnicos de la bomba y el proceso pero entiendo la complejidad del tema y la poca extensión de la que se dispone dado el alcance del libro.

[Romaine ☾✩☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breve y muy divertidísima.
Narra la vida de Oppenheimer y a la vez, la cuestión moral del personaje por la creación de la primera bomba atómica y como estaba orgulloso de ella, pero no del daño que iba a causar.

[Juan Valera · Rating 5 out of 5]

excelente libro muy ajustado a la verdad

[Circé lit des livres · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livre rapide à lire et instructif.

Seul bémol : quelques erreurs de traduction peut-être.

[Rachel Folk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura fácil que nos acerca a la creación de la bomba atómica, así como a la vida de su creador.

[anothersong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Für weniger als 100 Seiten alles super zusammengefasst, das wichtigste gut erklärt also spannend gehalten :)

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cortito y al pie

[Hashma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book says about who Oppenheimer is.

[Nell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oppenheimer and the Bomb really gives you an insight into the life of a truly gifted man and how this man became the father of the nuclear bomb. The physics is fairly straight-forward and the life of this great man very intriguing. The concept of the nuclear bomb is truly controversial and highlights the abuse of science by mankind.

Somehow, Oppenheimer begins as a very unlike-able figure, but by the end of the book my heart went out to this man and his wonderful mind, to the extent that I truly empathised with his horrific situation and felt genuinely sorry for the mess and the scrutiny that befell his life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it truly enlightening... but then I am a physics student and all this stuff excites me. (God, did I really just declare that to the world?)

And as a bonus this book gave me one of my favourite quotes EVER: "At this time (and for almost fifty year:1924-72) the FBI was run by a paranoid transvestite who was being blackmailed by the Mafia, and himself later blackmailed presidents to keep his job."

[Rocío Salazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

¨A las 9:14 horas del 6 de agosto de 1945, un solo bombardero B-29 dejó caer una bomba atómica Little Boy rellena de uranio sobre Hiroshima. En un instante 6,5 kilómetros cuadrados de la ciudad quedaron aplanados, murieron sesenta y seis mil personas y los heridos sumaron sesenta y nueve mil. (Los efectos posteriores doblarían estas cifras con los años). Tres días después una bomba Fat Man de plutonio caía sobre Nagasaki. Japón se rindió al día siguiente.¨
«Me he convertido en Muerte. El destructor de mundos».

«El hombre ha arrancado a la naturaleza el poder de convertir el mundo en un desierto o de hacer que los desiertos florezcan. El mal no está en el átomo; solo en el alma de los hombres». Adlai Stevenson

Este libro enseña física, matemáticas e historia. Si te gusta lo relacionado a la segunda guerra mundial debes leerlo.

[Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

History concisely written to captivate readers. Just the right amount of scientific jargon employed to make you understand somewhat, the entirety of the situation. I didn't feel that I was reading a monotonous science textbook.

[Josue Garduño · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alcoholic who had the requiered skills to command a team of the most brilliant minds in the 1940s working on a secret government project that would put an end to thousands of innocent lives.

[F. Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante, claro, breve y conciso. Una forma de conocer a Oppenheimer de más cerca y el proceso de desarrollo de la bomba atómica por parte de EEUU.

[Salutino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es parte de una colección para conocer brevemente de estos personajes de la historia, es importante seguir las recomendaciones que hace para aunar más sobre ellos.