Synopses & Reviews
From April through December of 1945, ten of Nazi Germany's greatest nuclear physicists were detained by Allied military and intelligence services in a kind of gilded cage at Farm Hall, an English country manor near Cambridge. The physicists knew the Reich had failed to develop an atomic bomb, and they soon learned, from a BBC radio report on August 6, that the Allies had succeeded in their own efforts to create such a weapon. But what they did not know was that many of their meetings and private conversations were being monitored and recorded by British agents. This book contains the complete collection of transcripts that were made from these secret recordings, providing an unprecedented view of how the German scientists, including two Nobel Laureates, thought and spoke about their roles during the war.
Synopsis
This book contains the first expertly annotated transcripts of the Farm Hall conversations, and brings insights into the progress of the German bomb project during World War II, the thoughts of German scientists during that time, and their attempts to grapple with what they had done (and not done) as participants in the Reich's war effort.
Synopsis
From April through December of 1945, ten of Nazi Germany's greatest nuclear physicists were detained by Allied military and intelligence services at Farm Hall, an English country manor near Cambridge, England. The physicists knew the Reich had failed to develop an atomic bomb, and they soon learned that the Allies had succeeded. But what they did not know was that many of their meetings as well as private conversations were being monitored and recorded by British agents. This book contains the complete collection of transcripts that were made from the secret 1945 recordings. The Farm Hall transcripts, along with Bernstein's commentaries and a wide-ranging and thought-provoking introduction by historian David Cassidy, are an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the history of physics and World War II.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-371) and index.
Table of Contents
Introduction by David Cassidy.- Prologue.- Cast of Characters.- Brief Chronology.- Part I: Settling In.- Part II: The Bomb Drops.- Part III: Putting the Pieces Together.- Part IV: Looking to the Future.- Part V: Looking Toward Home.- Part VI: A Nobel for Otto Hahn.- Epilogue.- Appendix A: Heisenberg's Lecture, 26 February 1942.- Appendix B: Von Laue's Letter to Paul Rosbaud, 1959.- Appendix C: BBC Report, 6 August 1945.- Appendix D: Biographical Sketches of the Ten Detainees.- Selected Bibliography.