{"product_id":"destroyer-of-worlds-the-deep-history-of-the-nuclear-age-1895-1965-paperback","title":"Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age: 1895-1965 (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e**A \u003ci\u003eGuardian \u003c\/i\u003eBest Science and Nature\nBook of 2025**\u003cbr\u003e\nFrom the award-winning science writer, a new history of the development of\nnuclear power and the extraordinary minds behind it\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nHenry Becquerel’s accidental discovery, in Paris in 1896, of a faint smudge on\na photographic plate sparked a chain of discoveries which would unleash the\natomic age.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eDestroyer of Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of how pursuit of this hidden\nsource of nuclear power, which began innocently and collaboratively, was\noverwhelmed by the politics of the 1930s, and following devastation of\nHiroshima and Nagasaki opened the way to a still more terrible possibility: a\nthermonuclear bomb, the so-called “backyard weapon”, that could destroy all\nlife on earth – from anywhere.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nThe story spans decades and continents, moving from Becquerel to Ernest\nRutherford, the Cambridge-based, New Zealand scientist who first split the\natom, expands to include Enrico Fermi in Rome, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in\nBerlin and the Joliot-Curies in Paris, leading to the appearance of Robert\nOppenheimer before climaxing with increasingly horrifying developments in the\nUSA and USSR. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe roles of three remarkable women – Lise Meitner, Ida\nNoddack and Irene Curie – are re-evaluated, and there are new insights into the\nwork of Ettore Majorana, Fermi’s mercurial but brilliant assistant, who\nmysteriously disappeared in 1938, possibly after foreseeing the explosive power\nof nuclear energy. Above all, this is a story of how knowledge is often\nadvanced by personal convictions and relationships, an indeed by chance, in a\nremarkable way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrank Close \u003c\/b\u003eis a Fellow of the Royal Society,\nProfessor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at Oxford University and Fellow\nEmeritus in Physics at Exeter College, Oxford. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Infinity Puzzle: Quantum\nField Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe\u003c\/i\u003e and most\nrecently \u003ci\u003eTrinity: The Treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy\nin History\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe was formerly Head of the Theoretical Physics Division at\nthe Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell and Head of Communications and\nPublic Education at CERN. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe was awarded the Kelvin Medal of the Institute of Physics\nfor his 'outstanding contributions to the public understanding of physics' in\n1996, and the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for communicating science in\n2013.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TIMES DISTRIBUTION PTE LTD","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45680940482767,"sku":"9781802066029","price":29.98,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0574\/5662\/3823\/files\/download_5ac6ce5d-87e8-4689-a30e-a1dd994b4fef.jpg?v=1786070752","url":"https:\/\/popular.baby\/products\/destroyer-of-worlds-the-deep-history-of-the-nuclear-age-1895-1965-paperback","provider":"Popular Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}