Product Description
When plutonium was first manufactured at Berkeley in the spring of 1941, there was so little of it that it was not visible to the naked eye. It took a year to accumulate enough so that one could actually see it. Now there is so much that we don't know what to do to get rid of it. We have created a monster. The history of plutonium is as strange as the element itself. When scientists began looking for it, they did so simply in the spirit of inquiry, not certain whether there were still spots to fill on the periodic table. But the discovery of fission made it clear that this still-hypothetical element would be more than just a scientific curiosity - it could be a powerful nuclear weapon. As it turned out, it is good for almost nothing else. Plutonium's nuclear potential put it at the heart of the World War II arms race - the Russians found out about it through espionage, the Germans through independent research, and everybody wanted some. Now, nearly everyone has some - the United States alone has about 47 metric tons - but it has almost no uses besides warmongering. How did the product of scientific curiosity become such a dangerous burden? In his new history of this complex and dangerous element, noted physicist Jeremy Bernstein describes the steps that were taken to transform plutonium from a laboratory novelty into the nuclear weapon that destroyed Nagasaki. This is the first book to weave together the many strands of plutonium's story, explaining not only the science but the people involved.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 11 reviews)

Very good!

Even if you have no interest in science related books, this is a must-read one. The author/witness describes how the knowledge of fussion became known and how the scientists have perfected the bombs. It is a good reading that do not require previous readings.
October 26, 2008

Don't Use Fair N Fast Books

Purchased on 07/30/2008, account charged but still haven't received book. Stationed overseas so I figured it might take a little longer but I sent an e-mail requesting shipping date and still have no status on my order.
September 26, 2008

Excellent read

I am a fan of high end engineering and science topics. Nuclear engineering and achievements are one of those topics I enjoy learning about. The author focuses on the historical discovery, and race to find and learn about Plutonium, and its applications/hazards.

The end of the book has an excellent while brief take on Hanford and Rocky Flats locations and proliferation concerns. A whole nother book about those topics should be done just due to the stockpiles of plutonium around the word, and the impacts it continues to have.

The debunking of "Reactor grade" and "Weapons grade" plutonium in the book is also a excellent item that brings up serious proliferation concerns.
June 16, 2008

More History than Science

I have read many of the books on the Manhatten project but I really like this one because it focused in on one part plutonium. If you really want the whole story read The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
Second it gave you a history of each of the scientists involved in the discoveries.
I never really realized how important it is to the scientific community that they stay well published. I found it hard to believe that scientists in Germany war like Heisenburg didn't think that the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was made out of plutonium or that the US would even make reactors for its production. It was a good thing that the allies kept all the information out of the technical journals.
I liked learning about all the scientists and where they had come from and what part no matter how small yet was very important to understanding the development of this element.
It was somewhat of a technical read but I took many physics and chemistry classes in college so the terms were not unfamiliar to me even in that section near the end where he is explaining the lantanides and actinides radii and valance electrons. It made sense why each of these groups were so similar chemically.
I will say that plutonium has some weird properties and states. Also I found it interesting that the bomb was not as easy to make as I had read earlier. I was surprised after what Klaus Fuchs told the Russians all the details in that report near the end and it still took the Russians 4 years to create the bomb. I also didn't know that we stopped sharing the secrets with the British when the war ended. The more I learn about this story the more interesting it gets.
I would recommend this to any science savy person who wants to know more about the history of the scienctists who worked on creating Plutonium.
May 08, 2008

fun to read, but lots of commas in writing style

This was a thorough compendium on a single element. It was a fun read. Learned a few things about how Mendeleyev`s thought process in prepping the periodic table. Was a bit taken off by the writing style, sometimes confused when reading some of the long sentences, punctuated with many and many commas. Well researched and annotated.
January 30, 2008

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