From the list on the race to build the first atomic bomb.
Who are we?
Shirley Streshinsky was 11 years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Many scientists were responsible, but only Robert Oppenheimer was labeled “Father of the Atomic Bomb”. At twenty-nine while living in San Francisco she crowded into an auditorium at U.C. Berkeley to hear him speak. She left knowing she would write about him. Patricia Klaus has been a Modern British historian for years, the story of Robert Oppenheimer and the women he loved opened new worlds for her: the history of science and the discovery of fission in 1938. Her father was a pilot in the 509th Bomb Wing that had dropped the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.
Shirley's book list on the race to build the first atomic bomb
Discover why each book is one of Shirley's favorite books.
Why did Shirley love this book?
As both a physicist and an established writer on scientific subjects, and having been at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton with Oppenheimer for two years, Jeremy Bernstein was perfectly positioned to write this book.
Combining history and personal observation, in the style of the profiles he wrote for New Yorker magazine, this book is imminently readable.
1 author picked Oppenheimer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
As a former colleague of Oppenheimer's, Jeremy Bernstein has written a biographical profile that is both personal and historical, bringing the reader close to the life and workings of an extraordinary and controversial man. Without Oppenheimer's totally remarkable leadership at Los Alamos, the atomic bomb would not have happened, and World War II would have ended very differently. Bernstein, combining the grace of a New Yorker writer with the insight of a theoretical physicist, draws a fine and fascinating portrait. -Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.