Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
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Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#2I read this years and years ago, it's really readable despite being very very long.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#3I read this years and years ago, it's really readable despite being very very long.
Came to say, essentially, the same thing.
I will add that I also enjoyed the move Fat Man and Little Boy which was about the Manhattan project. Not an Oscar-worthy movie. But told a good story, centered around Oppenheimer.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#4Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#5The thing that struck me from this book (or maybe it was in "Dark Sun") was how much the soviets were spying. We were giving them detailed plans for chemical factories, tire factories, engines, alloys, anything you can think of. They did not trust us so they would spy on all this stuff anyway. They would fill up a C-47 Skytrains(lend-lease) with stolen documents and fly them out to Moscow through Alaska.
I have to give the soviets the win on this one. Their spying was very effective. All that spying let them get the bomb PDQ.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#6I recommend Rhodes’ “Making of” and Dark Sun with American Prometheus and the Los Alamos Primer for people seeking a thorough initial introduction to the Manhattan Project and little bit of postscript.
Indulging myself a bit here. Essentially all elements of modern society have at least a tangential relationship with Los Alamos.
The symmetry between a nuclear detonation and what happened intellectually and culturally before and after the Manhattan Project is striking. An immense compression followed by a massive release of energy. In the bomb’s case that was an explosives and physics package that led to a good yield. In the Manhattan Project more broadly it was a remarkable concentration of human capability that impacted almost every element of hard science and culture.
Something worth learning about.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#7Listen to RUSH's Manhattan Project song on repeat while reading the article
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#8I read this years and years ago, it's really readable despite being very very long.
The first part of the book, describing the history of atomic theory and experimental physics, is still one of my favorite pieces of science writing ever.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#9Does anybody know if this book (or the movie) covers Oppenheimers attempt to murder his teacher with a cyanide laced apple? I don't care to invest time in a biography that whitewashes the man.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#10The thing that struck me from this book (or maybe it was in "Dark Sun") was how much the soviets were spying. We were giving them detailed plans for chemical factories, tire factories, engines, alloys, anything you can think of. They did not trust us so they would spy on all this stuff anyway. They would fill up a C-47 Skytrains(lend-lease) with stolen documents and fly them out to Moscow through Alaska. I have to gi…
Well, to be fair, spying on a free and open society is much easier than spying on the opposite.