Destroyer of worlds The deep history of the Nuclear age

Many histories of the atomic bomb cover its political, industrial, and physics aspects. Close emphatically emphasizes the last. The 1895 discovery of X-rays and radioactivity revealed that atoms possess energy and that they're not stable; the realization that atomic energy can be released dates from 1938 to 1940. Close, a physicist and prolific author, recounts the experimental steps that led to the atomic bomb. After the discovery of the electron, Ernest Rutherford established that an atom had a center, a nucleus of positive charge, namely the proton. He also posited a neutral particle, the neutron. After several wrong-way investigations in the 1920s, the neutron was confirmed in 1932 by James Chadwick. How do neutrons behave? Enter Enrico Fermi. A brilliant physicist, he recruited prodigies in Italy, including Ettore Majorana, who, Close speculates, recognized what a neutron could do: instigate a nuclear chain reaction. Majorana vanished in 1938. Close writes "it is plausible that Majorana had foreseen the enormity of the atomic bomb and could not live with that apocalyptic vision." And that vision became confirmed later that year by Lise Meitner, Otto Frisch, and Otto Hahn. Close tracks the development of the fission bomb in 1945 and fusion hydrogen bombs in the 1950s in an richly illuminating and engrossing presentation that enforces his stature as a great popular writer on physics.

How we learned to start worrying about the bomb. Close, a British particle physicist who has written more than two dozen books, writes, "It's little appreciated that there were three Industrial Revolutions." The first was powered by the 18th century's steam engines; the second was brought about with the 19th century's discovery of electromagnetic induction, a fundamental principle of electric motors. The third, the nuclear age, which remains fraught with haunting questions and moral uncertainty, comes under careful inspection in Close's sweeping examination of the people, science, and politics that brought it to bear. The result is a compelling account of a global drive to harness a power that we may never feel at ease with. The author writes of the discovery of X-rays and the early seeds of nuclear research, telling of the fabled women and men who made key discoveries in the five decades of nuclear development that culminated with the October 1961 Soviet test of the largest nuclear weapon ever constructed or detonated. The 50-megaton "Tsar Bomba," he writes, has "a unique place in history" because "the nuclear energy released in this single explosion amounts to 10% of all the known tests worldwide, before or since." Throughout this captivating narrative, Close explores the motivations, successes, and failings of significant figures and moments in nuclear history, ultimately bringing the reader back to wonder about the morality of the power this revolution unleashed. For Close, the core nuclear dilemma was personal: He completed a first draft of the book while being treated with radiation therapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. A deeply researched and finely told history of the revolution with which we have yet to make peace. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.