This wide-ranging collection of essays presents the best of Panofsky's most accessible writings. It covers his early collaboration with Luis Alvarez and his later work as researcher and director at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Through several essays--some reflecting his lifelong concern with nuclear weapons and arms control--Panofsky also reveals the often intractable differences that exist between the drives of theoretical science and the constraints of public policy.

This book is not only an autobiography of the respected physicist and director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, but a discussion and analysis of issues critical to the relationship between independent academic inquiry and imposed government orthodoxy. The book describes each phase of Dr. Panofsky's career in a way that clarifies the nature of the issues surrounding his work, and explains his chosen course of action.