Caison Britt’s Reviews > The Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition > Status Update

Einstein refused to accept the idea that determinism on the atomic level was forbidden, that the fine structure of the universe was unknowable, that statistics rule. “ ‘God does not throw dice’ was a phrase we often heard from his lips in these discussions,” writes Heisenberg.

“Books and lectures might teach rules; masters taught controlled rebellion, if only by the example of their own original—and in that sense rebellious—work.”

“Rutherford’s ultimate distinction was “his genius to be astonished.” He preserved that quality against every assault of success. ..”

“Polanyi found one other necessary requirement for full initiation into science: belief.

‘No one can become a scientist,’ he said, ‘unless he presumes that the scientific doctrine and method are fundamentally sound and that their ultimate premises can be unquestioningly accepted.’”

“Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. On the night of February 27 a Nazi gang directed by the head of the Berlin SA, Hitler’s private army, set fire to the imposing chambers of the Reichstag. The building was totally destroyed. Hitler blamed the arson on the Communists and bullied a stunned Reichstag into awarding him emergency powers.”