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Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age - Couverture rigide

Close, Frank

 
9781541605893: Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 1541605896 ISBN 13 : 9781541605893
Editeur : Basic Books, 2025

Synopsis

The thrilling and terrifying seventy-year story—"kinetic, dramatic, and compulsively readable" (Patchen Barss)—of the physicists that deciphered the atom and created the hydrogen bomb 

A Guardian Best Book of the Year
 
Although Henri Becquerel didn’t know it at the time, he changed history in 1896 when he left photographic plates and some uranium rocks in a drawer. The rocks emitted something that exposed the plates: it was the first documented evidence of spontaneous radioactivity. So began one of the most exciting and consequential efforts humans have ever undertaken. 
 
As Frank Close recounts in Destroyer of Worlds, scientists confronting Becquerel’s discovery had three questions: What was this phenomenon? Could it be a source of unlimited power? And (alas), could it be a weapon? Answering them was an epic journey of discovery, with Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, Irene Joliot-Curie, and many others jockeying to decipher the dance of particles in a decaying atom. And it was a terrifying journey as well, as Edward Teller and others pressed on from creating atom bombs to hydrogen bombs so powerful that they could destroy all life on earth.  
 
The deep history of the nuclear age has never before been recounted so vividly. Centered on an extraordinary cast of characters, Destroyer of Worlds charts the course of nuclear physics from simple curiosity to potential Armageddon.   

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À propos de l'auteur

Frank Close, OBE, FRS, is a particle physicist and an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Oxford. He is the author of over two dozen books, including Elusive, Half-Life, and The Infinity Puzzle. He lives near Oxford, UK.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Basic Books
Date d'édition
2025
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
1541605896
ISBN 13 
9781541605893
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
352
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible