First published 2015
Michael Hiltzik chronicles how Ernest Orlando Lawrence transformed scientific research from small-scale experiments into massive government and industry partnerships. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist traces this shift to Berkeley in the 1930s, where Lawrence created the cyclotron particle accelerator. Hiltzik shows how Lawrence combined exceptional physics skills with promotional genius to secure funding for increasingly ambitious projects. The author demonstrates how Lawrence's invention changed nuclear physics, contributed to winning World War II, and established the template for modern scientific endeavors. Hiltzik examines the evolution from Lawrence's original accelerator, which cost under one hundred dollars and fit in his palm, to today's Large Hadron Collider, spanning seventeen miles and costing ten billion dollars. The book reveals how this transformation affected universities, international relations, and scientific culture. Hiltzik provides readers with the complete story of how one scientist's ambition and innovation created the foundation for space exploration, nuclear weapons, and subatomic research.
Genres: science, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, academic, history-of-science
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: ambition, innovation
Setting: Berkeley
Period: 1930s
528 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster