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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
#32The 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…
This. It gets far worse the further you get - it wasn't just spying. Sean McMeekan's recent book details how pervasive it was - for example, Harry Dexter White was in the Department of treasury, helped write the Morgenthau plan, which extended the war, and assigned "the booty" of germany to the soviets and leaked it to the soviets and the press. That led to "a near-miraculous revitalization of the German army." The s…
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Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#33This is an excellent book - beautifully written, easy to read, and covering so many epic events that an entire film or series could be made from what is essentially a footnote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage (Operation Gunnerside).
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#34I 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…
Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb is deservedly regarded as a classic, but Dark Sun doesn't live up to the same standard [1]. For people interested in the technical history of the H-bomb, Anne Fitzpatrick's PhD thesis Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952 is as good a single-document source as I've ever read: https://www.osti.gov/biblio/10596 [1] Some reasons for the…
Same feeling. "Dark Sun" feels very much like the grinding of an axe. But yes, "Making Of" is an absolute classic. Not just if you care about the field, but if you care about good science writing at all.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#35Does 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.
From the Science History Institute: "Fergusson was right to worry. Like all Cambridge students, Oppenheimer had an official tutor. This was an older graduate student who acted like a mentor. His tutor’s name was Patrick Blackett. Blackett was robust, popular, and good with his hands—everything Oppenheimer wasn’t. Oppenheimer developed a seething hatred for him. Things came to a head in 1926 when Oppenheimer put a poi…
Casts his edgelord Bhagavad Gita quote in a new light, doesn't it?
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#36The 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…
The Soviets can thank folks like Oppenheimer for it.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#37I 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…
Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb is deservedly regarded as a classic, but Dark Sun doesn't live up to the same standard [1]. For people interested in the technical history of the H-bomb, Anne Fitzpatrick's PhD thesis Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952 is as good a single-document source as I've ever read: https://www.osti.gov/biblio/10596 [1] Some reasons for the…
I agree, Dark Sun and Rhodes' other recent books are OK, but Dark Sun is not a good read. It's almost as if he had some notes left over and turned them into a book in a hurry.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#38Harvard had a gen ed History class mostly about that book. The class was graded based on how much your essay matched what the grader secretly wanted. No feedback except a single sentence and a letter grade.
Great book. Terrible class.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#39The 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…
Ya, that was the most memorable part of Dark Sun. IIRC the State department confronted the Soviet ambassador about the routine exfiltration of boxes and boxes of US R&D documents, and the response was something like "We're losing 10,000 people a day in this war. This is how you be our ally.".
The same today with the war on Ukraine. Spending citize' s lives is a great way to prop up a failed regime.
Re: Richard Rhodes wrote a classic book about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb
#40The 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…
This. It gets far worse the further you get - it wasn't just spying. Sean McMeekan's recent book details how pervasive it was - for example, Harry Dexter White was in the Department of treasury, helped write the Morgenthau plan, which extended the war, and assigned "the booty" of germany to the soviets and leaked it to the soviets and the press. That led to "a near-miraculous revitalization of the German army." The s…
What do you mean? Why would leaking the plan to the Soviets mean anything?
Why would the Soviets want a longer war?