Dimensions
149 x 225 x 31mm
How a Small Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the Race to Split the Atom.
This book is mostly empty space. Each of the billions of atoms which make it up is hollow, its true mass concentrated in a tiny core which, if the atom were a cathedral, would be no bigger than a fly.
Recreating the frustrations, excitements and obsessions of 1932, the 'miracle year' of British physics, this book reveals the astonishing story behind the splitting of the atom - the most celebrated scientific experiment of its time. Involving intense international competition, a cast of Nobel prize-winners, a few silly experiments and some revolutionary physics, Brian Cathcart's lucid, learned, high-voltage narrative is inspired by the dreams and endeavour that led the last true gentlemen scientists to the very essence of the universe: the heart of matter.
