Peace and War - Reminiscences of a Life on the Frontiers of Science (Hardcover, New)

One of the creators of the atomic bomb recalls its building and its effect both on its targets and on the world at large. Serber (1909-97) grew up in a hotbed of Jewish intellectualism in Philadelphia. The author's reminiscences of his early days include his first car (a Model T Ford), college summer jobs, and his good luck in applying to graduate school at Wisconsin, where he managed to get an assistantship (a rarity in 1930). After meeting Robert Oppenheimer at a physics seminar, he took a position as his assistant; the association with "Oppie" eventually led him to work on the first atomic bomb. (He was the first person Oppenheimer invited to join the Manhattan Project.) Serber offers an insider's perspective, including his belief that Einstein's famous letterto Roosevelt urging research on nuclear fission actually delayed the bomb project nearly a year. He reveals that the concept of the thermonuclear bomb was already on the drawing board by July of 1942, when Edward Teller suggested it in a meeting and everyone promptly turned to the new problem - despite the fact that the atomic bomb had not yet been built. But after the Trinity test, the atom bomb was a reality; Serber was on the team that assembled the bombs dropped on Japan. The book reprints his letters of the time, revealing his belief that he had done what was necessary to end the war; then his accounts of visits to the target cities, to view the destruction firsthand and to measure the blasts' effects. After the war, he fell under the same cloud of suspicion as his mentor Oppenheimer, but managed to clear himself and went on to hold major appointments, including direction of the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Co-author Crease (The Second Creation, 1986) contributes a preface. An extremely readable memoir by a man who was on the frontiers of physics for half a century. (Kirkus Reviews)

This work is the memoir of one of the key scientists involved in the atomic bomb and the chief research assistant and intimate friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer. A prominent member of the Manhattan Project, Robert Serber was one of a team of scientists who assembled the bombs on Tinian Island for transport to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was also one of the first Americans to walk among the Japanese ruins after the catastrophe. Written with science historian Robert P. Crease, this self-portrait is the story of Serber's life before, during and after World War II. It brings into focus the leading figures and events during this period in American science. Serber tells of his wartime experiences at Tinian Island and in Japan, in letters to his wife Charlotte, herself a key player at Los Alamos and the only female group leader there. These letters depict what Serber saw, such as the rows of iron office safes protruding from the rubble of Hiroshima, and the grazing horse whose hair had been scorched on one side by the fireball but was untouched on the other. Serber is also eloquent about the troubles he faced as a result of his refusal to take part in public debate about the morality of his wartime work; how his opposition to rapidly developing the hydrogen bomb earned him the enmity of Edward Teller and others; and how he was investigated and his security clearance challenged, several years before Oppenheimer's. Serber also recounts stories involving Oppenheimer, Murray Gell-Mann, Ernest O. Lawrence and Edward Teller.

General

Imprint:	Columbia University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 1998
First published:	April 1998
Authors:	Robert Serber
As told to:	Robert Crease
Dimensions:	235 x 156 x 21mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Trade binding
Pages:	240
Edition:	New
ISBN-13:	978-0-231-10546-0
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General Books > Science & Mathematics > Physics > General Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Battles & campaigns Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Weapons & equipment > Nuclear weapons Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War Books > History > American history > General Books > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War Books > Biography > General Promotions
LSN:	0-231-10546-0
Barcode:	9780231105460

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