THE IMPOSSIBLE BOMB

Many people know about the Manhattan Project; fewer have heard of Tube Alloys.

In September 1939, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard wrote a letter to President Roosevelt asking for “watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action” in response to new research on the fission of uranium that could lead to an atomic weapon. A few months later, without knowledge of that letter, Otto Frisch and Rudi Peierls, two scientists working in England, wrote a memorandum to British government officials detailing scientific advances that could make a uranium-235 “superbomb.” As English scholar Williams writes in this study of British scientists who took part in the making of the atomic bomb, each of those missives began separate secret quests to make an impossible weapon possible. They were, of course, ultimately successful, despite the ups and downs and sticking points, both technical and political, detailed in this engrossing story. Groundbreaking discoveries in physics ran parallel to the advances of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, and by the end of the 1930s, Nazi advances in France, Poland, Denmark, and elsewhere had driven scientists to flee to England, many of them physicists highly motived to put their research toward ending the war. The U.S. had not yet entered the war, but their scientists were beginning similar efforts. The two research entities—the Manhattan Project in the U.S. and the Tube Alloys program in England—managed to join forces despite political machinations and ego-driven resistance from Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, each of whom wanted his own country to claim ownership of the bomb. Once the leaders realized that neither side could complete the effort on its own, they signed a secret agreement in August 1943; by December, 60 British scientists joined their American colleagues at Los Alamos and Berkeley, and work on the bomb began in earnest. Williams’ book impeccably documents those events, with an excellent selection of photos, timelines, and maps, along with a handy reference list featuring key players.

A significant and captivating contribution to the history of science, politics, and warfare.