Research Catalog

In the shadow of the bomb : Bethe, Oppenheimer, and the moral responsibility of the scientist

Title: In the shadow of the bomb : Bethe, Oppenheimer, and the moral responsibility of the scientist / S.S. Schweber.
Author: Schweber, S. S. (Silvan S.)
Publication: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2000.

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Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	QC774.O56 S32 2000	Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 260 p., [8] p. of plates : ill.; 25 cm.

Summary

In the Shadow of the Bomb narrates how two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists-J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans A. Bethe-came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create. In 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 Bethe and Oppenheimer-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. Narrates how two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists, came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create. "Schweber deals with the political involvements and ethical responsibilities of physicists in and after World War II in a new way and takes up themes and events that have not been dealt with in detail, or at all, in other works. The book is a study in parallel lives, and, as Schweber points out, there are just enough of both similarities and differences in the backgrounds of Oppenheimer and Bethe to make a comparison of their almost-parallel lives meaningful and rewarding. I consider the work to be important as well as very readable."--Helge Kragh, author of Quantum Generations.

Series Statement

Princeton series in physics

Uniform Title

Princeton series in physics

Subject

Genre/Form

Biography
collective biographies.
Biographies
Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-255) and index.

Contents

Introduction -- What is enlightenment? -- J. Robert Oppenheimer -- Hans Bethe -- Challenge of McCarthyism -- Nuclear weapons -- On science and society -- Notes to the chapters.

ISBN

0691049890
9780691049892

LCCN

99052225
9780691049892

OCLC

ocm42682835
42682835
SCSB-1033934

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library