_An American Genius: The Life of Ernest Orlando Lawrence_, Herbert
Childs, E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., New York, 1968, 576 pp.,
$12.95. This well-written, scientifically accurate, and very
interesting biography captures the excitement of Lawrence’s life.
Ernest Lawrence was the inventor of the cyclotron, a major member of
the wartime atomic energy development, and the director of the
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory.
_The Atom and Its Nucleus_, George Gamow, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1961, 153 pp., $1.25. A popular-level
discussion of nuclear structure and the applications of nuclear
energy.
_Atomic Energy for Military Purposes_, Henry D. Smyth, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1945, 308 pp., $4.00. A
complete account of the wartime project that developed the first
nuclear weapons and of the considerations that prompted their use.
_Atomic Quest_, Arthur H. Compton, Oxford University Press, Inc., New
York, 1956, 370 pp., $7.95. A personal narrative of the research that
led to the release of atomic energy on a useful scale by a scientist
who played a principal part in the atomic bomb project during World
War II.
_The Atomists_ (_1805-1933_), Basil Schonland, Oxford University
Press, Inc., New York, 1968, 198 pp., $5.60. This book, which can be
understood by anyone who has had a high school physics course,
presents atomic theory development from Dalton through Bohr. It
achieves a good balance between popular treatments and highly
technical works without slighting the technical aspects.
_Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi_, Laura Fermi, Chicago
University Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1954, 267 pp., $5.00 (hardback);
$2.45 (paperback). Laura Fermi writes about her husband, Enrico Fermi,
the physicist who led the group that built the first nuclear reactor.
_The Born-Einstein Letters: The Correspondence Between Albert Einstein
and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916 to 1955_, commentaries by Max Born,
translated by Irene Born, Walker and Company, 1971, 240 pp., $8.50.
These interesting letters reveal the scientific and personal lives of
these two atomic scientists.
_Einstein: His Life and Times_, Philipp Frank, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,
New York, 1953, 298 pp., $6.95. A brilliant biography that reveals the
richness of Einstein’s life and work and the tremendous impact he made
upon physics.
_Enrico Fermi, Physicist_, Emilio Segrè, Chicago University Press,
Chicago, Illinois, 1970, 288 pp., $6.95. This biography tells of
Enrico Fermi’s intellectual history, achievements, and his scientific
style. The scientific problems faced or solved by Fermi are explained
in layman’s terms. Emilio Segrè was a friend and scientific
collaborator who worked with Fermi for many years.
_An Introduction to Physical Science: The World of Atoms_ (second
edition), John J. G. McCue, The Ronald Press Company, New York, 1963,
775 pp., $9.50. This textbook was written for college humanities
students.
_J. J. Thomson: Discoverer of the Electron_, George Thomson, Doubleday
and Company, Inc., New York, 1966, 240 pp., $1.45. This biography,
written by J. J. Thomson’s son, describes his research at the famed
Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England.
_John Dalton and the Atom_, Frank Greenaway, Cornell University Press,
Ithaca, New York, 1966, 256 pp., $7.50. A biography for the general
reader and the high school science student. Dalton is famous for his
development of chemical combinations based on atomic theory. This
provided the basis for modern structural theories of chemistry.
_John Dalton and the Atomic Theory: The Biography of a Natural
Philosopher_, Elizabeth C. Patterson, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New
York, 1970, 320 pp., $6.95 (hardback); $1.95 (paperback). The drama of
Dalton’s life—his rigorous self-teaching, scientific work, and
struggle to overcome class barriers in 19th century England—is well
presented. Quotations from letters, diaries, and published works give
a clear picture of Dalton’s atomic theory research and his time.
_Man-made Transuranium Elements_, Glenn T. Seaborg, Prentice Hall,
Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 120 pp., $6.95 (hardback);
$2.95 (paperback). The discovery, properties, and applications of
elements heavier than uranium are considered in this book, which is
designed as an introduction to the subject. Glenn Seaborg was
co-discoverer of nine of the twelve transuranium elements.
_The Nature of Matter: Physical Theory from Thales to Fermi_, Ginestra
Amaldi, translated by Peter Astbury, Chicago University Press,
Chicago, Illinois, 1966, 332 pp., $5.95. A nontechnical history of
atomic energy.
_Niels Bohr: His Life and Work as Seen by His Friends and Colleagues_,
S. Rozental (Editor), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1967, 355
pp., $5.95. An articulate and scholarly biography by the friends and
co-workers of this outstanding atomic pioneer.
_Niels Bohr: The Man, His Science, and the World They Changed_, Ruth
Moore, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1966, 436 pp., $7.95. An
interesting biography of one of the pioneers in the study of the
internal structure of the atom.
_Otto Hahn: My Life_, Otto Hahn, translated by Ernest Kaiser and
Eithne Wilkins, Herder and Herder, Inc., New York, 1970, 240 pp.,
$6.50. Autobiography of the man who discovered that the atom could be
split.
_Otto Hahn: A Scientific Autobiography_, Otto Hahn, Willy Ley, editor
and translator, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1966, 320 pp.,
$9.95. Otto Hahn, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize for his work in
atomic fission, reviews the pioneer days in which a new science was
created, and the role he played in its development.
_Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations_, Werner Heisenberg,
translated by Arthur J. Pomerans, Harper and Row, Publishers, New
York, 1970, 247 pp., $7.95. Werner Heisenberg, a Nobel Prize
physicist, presents his autobiography in the form of conversations
with such men as Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Ernest
Rutherford, Otto Hahn, and Enrico Fermi.
_Physics for Poets_, Robert H. March, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New.
York, 1970, 302 pp., $7.50. A physics textbook for nonscience
students. The book covers certain developments of classical mechanics,
relativity, and atomic and quantum physics. With this book the author
won the 1971 American Institute of Physics—U. S. Steel Foundation
Science Writing Award in Physics and Astronomy.
_Sourcebook on Atomic Energy_ (third edition), Samuel Glasstone, Van
Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1967, 883 pp., $15.00. An
excellent standard reference work, written for both scientists and the
general public.
_The Swift Years: The Robert Oppenheimer Story_, Peter Michelmore,
Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1969, 273 pp., $6.95. Oppenheimer’s
complex personality is delineated in this well-written biography. In
the bibliography is a list of books that Oppenheimer felt “had done
the most to shape his vocational attitude and philosophy of life”.
_The World of the Atom_, 2 volumes, Henry A. Boorse and Lloyd Motz
(Eds.), Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1966, 1873 pp.,
$35.00. Contains the actual text of landmark documents in the history
of atomic physics, each preceded by commentary that places it in the
context of the discoverer’s personal life and in the conditions
prevailing in science and in society in his time.