Destroyer of Worlds
The Deep History of the Nuclear Age: 1895-1965
Will be published approx. on 6. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-80206-602-9 (ISBN)
Description
Henry Becquerel's accidental discovery, in Paris in 1896, of a faint smudge on a photographic plate sparked a chain of discoveries which would unleash the atomic age. Destroyer of Worlds is the story of how pursuit of this hidden source of nuclear power, which began innocently and collaboratively, was overwhelmed by the politics of the 1930s, and following devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened the way to a still more terrible possibility: a thermonuclear bomb, the so-called "backyard weapon", that could destroy all life on earth - from anywhere.
Spanning decades and continents, the story moves from Becquerel to Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and the Joliot-Curies, and on to the appearance of Robert Oppenheimer before climaxing with increasingly horrifying developments in the USA and USSR. It re-evaluates the important role played by three remarkable women - Lise Meitner, Ida Noddack and Irene Curie - and provides new insights into the work of Ettore Majorana, who mysteriously disappeared in 1938.
This is the remarkable story of how knowledge is often advanced by personal convictions and relationships, an indeed by chance.
Spanning decades and continents, the story moves from Becquerel to Ernest Rutherford, Enrico Fermi, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and the Joliot-Curies, and on to the appearance of Robert Oppenheimer before climaxing with increasingly horrifying developments in the USA and USSR. It re-evaluates the important role played by three remarkable women - Lise Meitner, Ida Noddack and Irene Curie - and provides new insights into the work of Ettore Majorana, who mysteriously disappeared in 1938.
This is the remarkable story of how knowledge is often advanced by personal convictions and relationships, an indeed by chance.
Reviews / Votes
Stirring ... Close's ensemble drama is a powerful corrective to the myth of the solitary genius. An eminent theoretical physicist, he walks us step-by-step through what he calls the 'Third Industrial Revolution', [shining] a light on the bustling cast of scientists whose 50-year pursuit of knowledge led ineluctably to the atomic bomb. The depth of Close's knowledge throws up surprises even if you know the territory ... he convenes these fascinating personalities deftly and has an abundant supply of thrills, tragedies and gratifying trivia * Spectator * Close writes with elegance and lucidity about the resulting experiments and investigations [and] the breakthroughs that led to the atom bomb [so that] the sense of wonderment and awe that drives the quest shines through. Close also turns the spotlight on figures often forgotten, such as Ettore Majorana, a young Sicilian physicist, whom Fermi rated as a genius to rank alongside Newton and who did much to unravel the mysteries of atomic structure * Financial Times * Close tells the remarkable story of the science behind the nuclear age, ,beginning with Henri Becquerel's serendipitous discovery in 1896 of smudges on a photographic plate that had been placed in a drawer with phosphorescent crystals of uranium ... [he] brings the complex field of nuclear physics vividly alive, showing how the nuclear story is one of "incremental discoveries, like building a tower one layer at a time" -- P. D. Smith * Times Literary Supplement * A magisterial account of an exciting-and often courageous-area of scientific endeavour * Prospect *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
500 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80206-602-9 (9781802066029)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
06/2025
Allen Lane
€31.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
06/2025
Penguin
€14.99
Available for download
Person
Frank Close is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at Oxford University and Fellow Emeritus in Physics at Exeter College, Oxford. He is the author of The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe and most recently Trinity: The Treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy in History. He was formerly Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell and Head of Communications and Public Education at CERN. He was awarded the Kelvin Medal of the Institute of Physics for his 'outstanding contributions to the public understanding of physics' in 1996, and the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for communicating science in 2013.