An illustrated history of the UK's nuclear weapons program.In 1940 two scientists, refugees from Nazi Germany, wrote a memorandum which was to prove one of the most significant documents of the twentieth century. In it, they outlined proposals for the manufacture of a uranium-fueled 'super bomb.' The paper propelled Britain into the forefront of research into nuclear weapons and led, through the collaboration of British and American scientists in the Manhattan Proj...

The bestselling author of E=mc2 weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through an account of the invisible force that permeates our universe—electricity—and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets.For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion o...

The history of Special Operations Executive (SOE) seems to spring a never-ending run of surprises, and here are some more. This book explores the mysterious world of the tools SOE used for their missions of subversion and sabotage. An often grim reality is confronted that is more akin with the world of James Bond and Q's workshop than previously believed. Written by two scientists, one of whom served in the SOE and one who was tasked with clearing up after it was disbanded...

“Persuasive and based on deep research. Atomic Awakening taught me a great deal." —NatureThe American public's introduction to nuclear technology was manifested in destruction and death. With Hiroshima and the Cold War still ringing in our ears, our perception of all things nuclear is seen through the lens of weapons development. Nuclear power is full of mind-bending theories, deep secrets, and the misdirection of public consciousness, some delibe...

'The story reaches out and grabs you by the throat' - Dr Clare Wright, historian and author of The Forgotten Rebels of EurekaThe facts are shocking. The treachery is chilling. The fallout ongoing.This edition contains a new author note with shocking new material that has come to light as a result of the groundbreaking original publication.Investigative journalist Frank Walker's ...

Hundreds of movies and thousands of books have been written about the heroes of World War II. For dozens of years, however, few people knew about one of the greatest heroes of the war—a mild-mannered, eccentric mathematician from the University of Cambridge.This man, an undeniable genius whose later life was plagued by controversy and tragedy, probably played a greater role in the eventual Allied victory than anyone else. Until quite recently his contribution to the war effort was ...

Autumn 1940: the Front Line is now Britain itself. With invasion imminent, cities are blitzed nightly as for the first time a nation becomes the target of a campaign of aerial assault. And even after the planes have passed overhead, a deadly menace remains: thousands upon thousands of unexploded bombs. Buried under ground, their clocks ticking remorselessly, UXBs blocked supply routes, closed Spitfire factories and made families into refugees. Dealing with this threat soon became Churchill...

ORDER NONESUCH, THE NEW NOVEL FROM FRANCIS SPUFFORD, NOWA brilliant, beautiful account of how British boffins triumphed across the decades in creating everything from computer games to Martian landers.Backroom Boys is a vivid love-letter to quiet men in pullovers, to those whose imaginings take shape not in words but in mild steel and carbon fibre and lines of code. Above all, it is a celebration of big dreams achieved wit...

This entertaining and informative book tells the dramatic tale of explosives from gunpowder to the H-bomb. Laying the emphasis on the lives of the people involved, on the diverse uses of explosives and on their social and historical impact, the author relates a story of remarkable international and human endeavour. Many of those involved - Roger Bacon, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, Robert Oppenheimer - are famed worldwide; others, such as C F Schonbein, William Bickford, Sir F...

The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, brought radiation to international attention but the exact nature of what had been unleashed was still unclear to most. The 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant again made headlines with estimates of fatalities ranging from 4000 to almost a million deaths. By the time of the shocking 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant social media meant governments and corporations no longer had a monopoly over the release of information, but tr...

Now we know what spooked the Allies in the closing months of the war and why they were in such a panic to win quickly. The Allies assembled intelligence reports of supermetals, electric guns, and ray weapons able to stop the engines of Allied aircraft in addition to their worst fears of x-ray and laser weaponry. Then there were the bombs. Contained in this book are reports of structured bombs of nipolit, N-stoff bombs, cold bombs, oxygen bombs which destroyed all life, atomic bombs and rum...

Orford Ness was so secret a place that most people have never even heard of it. The role it played in inventing and testing weapons over the course of the twentieth century was far more significant and much longer than that of Bletchley Park.Nestled on a remote part of the Suffolk coast, Orford Ness operated for over eighty years as a highly classified research and testing site for the British military, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and, at one point, e...