From nuclear programs in the Middle East to plans for nuclear reactors at home, the element uranium is never far from the headlines. How does uranium deliver the immense power of a nuclear bomb or the slow deadly effect of radiation? In this riveting account, bestselling author of Fermat's Last Theorem, Amir Aczel introduces the history of the mysterious metal and recounts how famous scientists worked to uncover its potential. This is a lively history of the physicists who first isolated the element, learned its properties, ...
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From nuclear programs in the Middle East to plans for nuclear reactors at home, the element uranium is never far from the headlines. How does uranium deliver the immense power of a nuclear bomb or the slow deadly effect of radiation? In this riveting account, bestselling author of Fermat's Last Theorem, Amir Aczel introduces the history of the mysterious metal and recounts how famous scientists worked to uncover its potential. This is a lively history of the physicists who first isolated the element, learned its properties, and marshalled its explosive power. He also explores what drove so many of last century's geniuses to willingfully collaborate on a project to kill thousands of people? And how did a simple element like uranium show scientists the way to create a deadly bomb that would irrevocably change the course of history and continue to shape global politics.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Small tear to cover and dust jacket Bumped edges and book is warped Sun damaged pages Next working day dispatch from the UK (Mon-Fri). Please contact us with any queries.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Minor rubbing to edges of dust jacket, otherwise unread. Slight Scratches on Dust Jacket Appears unread, may have minor damage from transit/storage. Next working day dispatch from the UK (Mon-Fri). Please contact us with any queries.
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Seller's Description:
Fine. Bumped edges Appears unread, may have minor superficial marking. Next working day dispatch from the UK (Mon-Fri). Please contact us with any queries.
Edition:
First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]
Publisher:
Palgrave MacMillan
Published:
2009
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
13956084241
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Seller's Description:
Very good in very good jacket. 248 pages. Glossary of Atomic Terms. Illustrations. Notes. References. Index. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Amir Dan Aczel (November 6, 1950-November 26, 2015) was an Israeli-born American lecturer in mathematics and the history of mathematics and science, and an author of popular books on mathematics and science. Amir D. Aczel was born in Haifa, Israel. When Aczel was 21 he studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated with a BA in mathematics in 1975, and received a Master of Science in 1976. Several years later Aczel earned a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Oregon. Aczel taught mathematics at universities in California, Alaska, Massachusetts, Italy, and Greece. He accepted a professorship at Bentley College in Massachusetts, where he taught classes on the history of science and the history of mathematics. While teaching at Bentley, Aczel wrote several books on mathematics and science. His book, Fermat's Last Theorem, was a United States bestseller and was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Aczel appeared on CNN, CNBC, The History Channel, and Nightline. Aczel was a 2004 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and Visiting Scholar in the History of Science at Harvard University (2007). In 2003 he became a research fellow at the Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science, and in Fall 2011 was teaching mathematics courses at University of Massachusetts Boston. He died in 2015. Uranium, a nondescript element when found in nature, in the past century has become more sought after than gold. Its nucleus is so heavy that it is highly unstable and radioactive. If broken apart, it unleashes the tremendous power within the atom the most controversial type of energy ever discovered. Set against the darkening shadow of World War II, Amir D. Aczel's suspenseful account tells the story of the fierce competition among the day's top scientists to harness nuclear power. The intensely driven Marie Curie identified radioactivity. The University of Berlin team of Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner--he an upright, politically conservative German chemist and she a soft-spoken Austrian Jewish theoretical physicist--achieved the most spectacular discoveries in fission. Curie's daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, raced against Meitner and Hahn to break the secret of the splitting of the atom. As the war raged, Niels Bohr, a founder of modern physics, had a dramatic meeting with Werner Heisenberg, the German physicist in charge of the Nazi project to beat the Allies to the bomb. And finally, in 1942, Enrico Fermi, a prodigy from Rome who had fled the war to the United States, unleashed the first nuclear chain reaction in a racquetball court at the University of Chicago. At a time when the world is again confronted with the perils of nuclear armament, Amir D. Aczel's absorbing story of a rivalry that changed the course of history is as thrilling and suspenseful as it is scientifically revelatory and newsworthy."
