Fallout by Peter Watson
Between December 1943 and August 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill ignited the Cold War, a superpower rivalry that would dominate the world over half a century, by building an atomic bomb and excluding their Russian allies. Peter Watson tells the pulse-pounding story of how two atomic physicists tried to counter this in two very different ways. While Niels Bohr sought to convince President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to share their nuclear knowledge with Joseph Stalin, nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs, a German Communist emigre to Britain, was leaking atomic secrets to the Soviets in a rival attempt to ensure parity between the superpowers. Neither succeeded in preventing the World War II allies from unleashing the atom bomb on the world. Fallout proves that the atomic bomb was not needed, and was made as a result of a series of flawed decisions. The Americans did not tell the UK that the atomic research was compromised by Soviet spies; the British did not tell the Americans that in 1943 they knew for sure that Germany did not have a nuclear bomb program. Neither country admitted to the scientists developing the bomb that it would never be used to counter the (non-existent) German nuclear threat. Had the scientists known, many of them would have refused to complete work on the bomb. This story shows how politicians fatally failed to understand the nature of atomic science and, in so doing, exposed the world needlessly to great danger, a danger that is still very much with us.
'A story of duplicitous players, sinister decisions and regrettable outcomesMeticulous... a page-turning read... informative and balanced in their attention to diplomacy, science and biography.' -- Sarah Robey * Nature *
'He writes about quantum physics and scientific developments in an accessible way that even the uninitiated will appreciate.' * Publishers Weekly *
'He writes about quantum physics and scientific developments in an accessible way that even the uninitiated will appreciate.' * Publishers Weekly *
Peter Watson was born in 1943 and was educated at universities in Durham, London and Rome. He has been on the staff of the Sunday Times and The Times, and has written for many other newspapers. He is the author of over a dozen books including Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud. He lives in London.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781471164484 |
| ISBN 10 | 1471164489 |
| Title | Fallout |
| Author | Peter Watson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster Ltd |
| Year published | 2018-09-20 |
| Number of pages | 432 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |