Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945 (Paperback)

Search for Your Next Book

Search form

Shopping cart

Search for Your Next Book

Search form

Shopping cart

Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945 By Lillian Hoddeson, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade Cover Image
$37.99
Usually Ships in 1-5 Days

Description


This volume is a lucid and accurate history of the technical research that led to the first atomic bombs. The authors explore how the "critical assembly" of scientists, engineers, and military personnel at Los Alamos, responding to wartime deadlines, collaborated to create a new approach to large-scale research. The book opens with an introduction laying out major themes. After a synopsis of the prehistory of the bomb project, from the discovery of nuclear fission to the start of the Manhattan Engineer District, and an overview of the early materials program, the book examines the establishment of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the implosion and gun assembly programs, nuclear physics research, chemistry and metallurgy, explosives, uranium and plutonium development, confirmation of spontaneous fission in pile-produced plutonium, the thermonuclear bomb, critical assemblies, the Trinity test, and delivery of the combat weapons.


Product Details
ISBN: 9780521541176
ISBN-10: 0521541174
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: February 12th, 2004
Pages: 528
Language: English
Series: Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years