Full Description
During World War II, a group of physicists who had once been close friends found themselves on opposite sides of a deadly race. German scientist Werner Heisenberg and American physicists Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Sam Goudsmit were all leading figures in nuclear research. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor, their shared passion for science turned into a high-stakes competition to build the world's first atomic bomb—a weapon that could determine the outcome of the war. Heisenberg had a two-year head start, and the possibility that Nazi Germany might beat the Allies to the bomb terrified American scientists. The Manhattan Project, led by U.S. Army General Leslie Groves, became a massive effort to catch up. Fear of Heisenberg haunted Manhattan Project scientists. At one point, Groves even approved plans to bomb Heisenberg's lab and assassinate him to stop Germany's progress. Meanwhile, Sam Goudsmit led a secret military unit tasked with tracking down Heisenberg and uncovering the truth about the Nazi nuclear program. What they found would surprise everyone. The Greatest Scientific Gamble tells the dramatic and little-known story of how personal relationships, wartime fear, and scientific ambition collided in the race to unlock the power of the atom.
Contents
1. A Small Global Community
2. A Modern Alchemist
3. Nobel Prize
4. Nuclear Fission
5. News of Nuclear Fission Rocks Scientific World
6. Bohr's Discovery
7. Heisenberg in Michigan
8. Lightning Warfare
9. A Second Route to an Atomic Bomb
10. The Battle of Britain
11. Enrico and Laura in America
12. Harnessing Atomic Energy
13. Heavy Water
14. Life in Leipzig and Berlin
15. The Manhattan Project
16. A Meeting of Weapons Developers
17. General Leslie Groves
18. General Groves Meets Robert Oppenheimer
19. Operation Freshman
20. Chicago
21. SS Mont-Blanc
22. Construction
23. Heavy Water II
24. Los Alamos
25. Nothing but Theory
26. Dumb Luck
27. Hunting Heisenberg
28. Peenemünde
29. Hamburg
30. The Kellex Company Is Hiring
31. Alsos
32. Heavy Water III
33. "Nicholas Baker" at Los Alamos
34. Glenn Seaborg
35. Manufacturing Problems
36. Norsk Hydro Ships Heavy Water
37. OSS Kidnap Plot
38. Underground Bunker
39. Plutonium Problem
40. A Secret Meeting
41. Wunderwaffen
42. Darkest Hours
43. Alsos in Paris
44. Hanford
45. Strasbourg Liberated
46. Restricted Area
47. Battle of the Bulge
48. Battle of the Bulge Aftershocks
49. The Last Experiment
50. Diebner's Lab Captured
51. Heisenberg's Final Experiment
52. The Griffin
53. Hunting Heisenberg II
54. Critical Mass
55. A Call from the Secretary of War
56. Heisenberg on the Run
57. The Hunt Is Over
58. USAAF Attack on Tokyo
59. Critical Mass II
60. Preparing for Invasion
61. Trinity
62. Farm Hall
63. Hiroshima
64. Farm Hall Gets the News
65. Victory
66. Radiation Poisoning Reported
67. Trinity Fallout
