6.10 Appendix J: Further Reading
245
Hanford, Washington, came to be chosen as the site of the Manhattan Project’s
plutonium production reactors. Williams describes how the town was transformed
by the project and the engineering and operation of the reactors.
6.10.2 Biographical and Autobiographical Works
Bernstein, J.: Hitler’s Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall. American
Institute of Physics, New York (1996). At the end of the war, a number of leading
German nuclear physicists including Werner Heisenberg were interned for six months
at Farm Hall, an English country estate, and their conversations secretly recorded.
Bernstein analyses the transcripts; particularly interesting is the captives’ response
to the news of the bombing of Hiroshima.
Bernstein, J.: Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma. Ivan R. Dee, Inc., Chicago
(2004). Engaging brief biography of Oppenheimer; Bernstein knew him personally.
Bird, K., Sherwin, M.J.: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J.
Robert Oppenheimer. Knopf, New York (2005). This book is the definitive biography
of Oppenheimer. The authors particularly examine his upbringing, ethical outlook,
and postwar political activities. Descriptions of physics is muddled in some places.
Cassidy, D.C.: Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg. W.H.
Freeman, New York (1993). Published prior to release of the Farm Hall transcripts
[see Bernstein (1996) above], this work continues to be the major scholarly biography
of Heisenberg. In 2009, Cassidy published a successor volume, Beyond Uncertainty:
Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and the Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, New York)
which incorporates much new material.
Cassidy, D.C.: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century. Pi Press, New
York (2005). A full scholarly biography of Oppenheimer. Cassidy devotes fairly little
space to the well-trodden ground of Oppenheimer’s Los Alamos years, but gives
a much more complete picture of his life and scientific work than many sources.
Includes lists of Oppenheimer’s publications and students.
Fermi, L.: Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago (1954). Fermi’s life and work as related by his wife, Laura. Chapters 18–23 deal with the first chain-reacting pile and the Fermis’ time at Los Alamos.
See also Segrè and Schwartz below.
Frisch, O. What Little I Remember. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
(1979). Frisch helped to interpret fission, is generally credited with being the first
experimenter to deliberately produce fission, collaborated with Rudolf Peierls to
produce the first estimate of the critical mass of
235 U, and worked as Los Alamos
during the war.
Goodchild, P.: Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds. BBC, London, (1980).
A well-illustrated treatment of the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s life; this
book was the companion volume to a BBC television series.
245
Hanford, Washington, came to be chosen as the site of the Manhattan Project’s
plutonium production reactors. Williams describes how the town was transformed
by the project and the engineering and operation of the reactors.
6.10.2 Biographical and Autobiographical Works
Bernstein, J.: Hitler’s Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall. American
Institute of Physics, New York (1996). At the end of the war, a number of leading
German nuclear physicists including Werner Heisenberg were interned for six months
at Farm Hall, an English country estate, and their conversations secretly recorded.
Bernstein analyses the transcripts; particularly interesting is the captives’ response
to the news of the bombing of Hiroshima.
Bernstein, J.: Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma. Ivan R. Dee, Inc., Chicago
(2004). Engaging brief biography of Oppenheimer; Bernstein knew him personally.
Bird, K., Sherwin, M.J.: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J.
Robert Oppenheimer. Knopf, New York (2005). This book is the definitive biography
of Oppenheimer. The authors particularly examine his upbringing, ethical outlook,
and postwar political activities. Descriptions of physics is muddled in some places.
Cassidy, D.C.: Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg. W.H.
Freeman, New York (1993). Published prior to release of the Farm Hall transcripts
[see Bernstein (1996) above], this work continues to be the major scholarly biography
of Heisenberg. In 2009, Cassidy published a successor volume, Beyond Uncertainty:
Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and the Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, New York)
which incorporates much new material.
Cassidy, D.C.: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century. Pi Press, New
York (2005). A full scholarly biography of Oppenheimer. Cassidy devotes fairly little
space to the well-trodden ground of Oppenheimer’s Los Alamos years, but gives
a much more complete picture of his life and scientific work than many sources.
Includes lists of Oppenheimer’s publications and students.
Fermi, L.: Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi. University of Chicago
Press, Chicago (1954). Fermi’s life and work as related by his wife, Laura. Chapters 18–23 deal with the first chain-reacting pile and the Fermis’ time at Los Alamos.
See also Segrè and Schwartz below.
Frisch, O. What Little I Remember. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
(1979). Frisch helped to interpret fission, is generally credited with being the first
experimenter to deliberately produce fission, collaborated with Rudolf Peierls to
produce the first estimate of the critical mass of
235 U, and worked as Los Alamos
during the war.
Goodchild, P.: Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds. BBC, London, (1980).
A well-illustrated treatment of the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s life; this
book was the companion volume to a BBC television series.