In the Shadow of the Bomb (eBook)

Oppenheimer, Bethe, and the Moral Responsibility of the Scientist

S. S. Schweber (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2013
288 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-4949-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Silvan S. Schweber is Professor Emeritus of Physics and Richard Koret Professor in the History of Ideas at Brandeis University and an Associate in Harvard's Department of the History of Science. He obtained a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Princeton in 1952, and later became a historian of science. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and author of Introduction to Relativistic Quantum Field Theory and QED and the Men Who Made It (Princeton).

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How two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to createIn 1945, the United States dropped the bomb, and physicists were forced to contemplate disquieting questions about their roles and responsibilities. When the Cold War followed, they were confronted with political demands for their loyalty and McCarthyism's threats to academic freedom. By examining how J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans A. Bethe-two men with similar backgrounds but divergent aspirations and characters-struggled with these moral dilemmas, one of our foremost historians of physics tells the story of modern physics, the development of atomic weapons, and the Cold War.Oppenheimer and Bethe led parallel lives. Both received liberal educations that emphasized moral as well as intellectual growth. Both were outstanding theoreticians who worked on the atom bomb at Los Alamos. Both advised the government on nuclear issues, and both resisted the development of the hydrogen bomb. Both were, in their youth, sympathetic to liberal causes, and both were later called to defend the United States against Soviet communism and colleagues against anti-Communist crusaders. Finally, both prized scientific community as a salve to the apparent failure of Enlightenment values.Yet their responses to the use of the atom bomb, the testing of the hydrogen bomb, and the treachery of domestic politics differed markedly. Bethe, who drew confidence from scientific achievement and integration into the physics community, preserved a deep integrity. By accepting a modest role, he continued to influence policy and contributed to the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963. In contrast, Oppenheimer first embodied a new scientific persona-the scientist who creates knowledge and technology affecting all humanity and boldly addresses their impact-and then could not carry its burden. His desire to retain insider status, combined with his isolation from creative work and collegial scientific community, led him to compromise principles and, ironically, to lose prestige and fall victim to other insiders.S. S. Schweber draws on his vast knowledge of science and its history-in addition to his unique access to the personalities involved-to tell a tale of two men that will enthrall readers interested in science, history, and the lives and minds of great thinkers.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 31.10.2013
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Series in Physics
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Series in Physics
• Zusatzinfo: 10 halftones.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Natur / Technik ► Fahrzeuge / Flugzeuge / Schiffe ► Militärfahrzeuge / -flugzeuge / -schiffe
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Atom- / Kern- / Molekularphysik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: academic freedom • Adviser • Alger Hiss • Alsos Mission • American Peace Crusade • Atomic Energy • Balance of terror • Baruch Plan • Bibliography • Bildung • Calculation • Career • Charles Critchfield • cloud chamber • containment • Cornell University • Cosmic Ray • Curtis LeMay • David Bohm • declaration of war • Disarmament • Edward Condon • Edward Teller • Eugene Wigner • Evelyn Fox Keller • Experimental Physics • Frank Oppenheimer • Freeman Dyson • George F. Kennan • George Gamow • Haakon Chevalier • Hans Bethe • Hartland Snyder • Hermann Cohen • House Un-American Activities Committee • Ideology • Isaiah Berlin • Isidor Isaac Rabi • Jean Tatlock • Jed Buchwald • Jews • J. J. Thomson • John Dewey • J. Robert Oppenheimer • Julian Schwinger • Kenneth Bainbridge • Lecture • Lev Landau • Lewis Strauss • Literature • McCarthyism • Melba Phillips • Metallurgical Laboratory • Modernity • Morality • national security • Nazi Germany • Niels Bohr • Nobel prize • Norris Bradbury • Nuclear Arms Race • nuclear reactor • nuclear weapon • Nuclear weapons testing • Paul Forman • Philip Morrison • Philosophy • physicist • Politics • President's Science Advisory Committee • Princeton University Press • public lecture • quantum electrodynamics • quantum mechanics • Radiation Laboratory (MIT) • Richard Feynman • Robert Bacher • Rudolf Peierls • Science • scientific community • Scientist • security clearance • Seminar • Soviet Union • Suggestion • Superiority (short story) • Technology • theoretical physics • theory • Thermonuclear weapon • Totalitarianism • Trinity (nuclear test) • University of Washington • Victor Weisskopf • Wai Chee Dimock • warfare • Willis Lamb • Wolfgang Pauli • World War II • Writing
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-4949-7 / 1400849497
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-4949-9 / 9781400849499