Hitler's Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall - Hardcover

Bernstein, Jeremy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563962586 ISBN 13: 9781563962585

Publisher: Aip Press, 1995

Synopsis

September 1939: The Third Reich launches the first military research effort into the viability of producing atomic weapons. For the project, the Nazis bring together an elite team of German scientists, who call themselves "The Uranium Club."
For students of World War II or the atomic age, or anyone fascinated by the intertwining of science and politics, Hitler's Uranium Club provides an opportunity rare in recorded history: the chance to eavesdrop on pivotal figures in history as they complete one era, come to terms with it, and prepare their strategy for the next. As noted science historian David Cassidy writes in his introduction, "It is as though these men were lifted out of history at a crucial turning point - from the age of conventional weapons to the nuclear era - placed within a timeless container, and told to discuss their past and future as the recorders roll."

About this title

About the Author:

Jeremy Bernstein has been a professor of physics at the Stevens Institute of Technology since 1967.

From Booklist:

Upon hearing about the Hiroshima bomb, the German nuclear physicists were astounded, and voluble about figuring out how the weapon worked. Their reactions were secretly taped, and after 50 years, their conversations about nuclear physics and Nazi politics were released. This, their first book-form appearance, broadly consists of Bernstein's summary of prewar physics and the German nuclear research program (including a turning-point, 1942 Heisenberg lecture to Nazi officials), and at the core are 25 transcripts drafted by the monitors. The most dramatic are those of August 6 and 7, 1945, into which Bernstein (a qualified scientist) inserts his commentary on the accuracy of the Germans' remarks, as well as his indignation at the rationalization by some of them that they purposely failed in order to prevent a Hitler victory. Bernstein's obiter dicta make clear his disbelief in ethical compunctions, but readers can at last reach their own conclusion. Heavily technical in patches, yet this one-of-a-kind document earns large libraries' consideration with its human-interest aspects. Gilbert Taylor

About this edition

• Publisher: Aip Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1563962586
• ISBN 13: 9781563962585
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 457