Category: History

Copyright/published Year: 2012 by WSU Press

ISBN: 0874223075

Binding: trade pap

Description: On the eve of World War II, news of an astonishing breakthrough ì filtered out of Germany Scientists there had split uranium ì atoms. Researchers in the United States scrambled to verify ì results and further investigate this new science. Ominously, they ì soon recognized its potential to fuel the ultimate weapon-one ì able to release the energy of an uncontrolled chain reaction. By ì 1941, experiments led to the identification of plutonium, but ì laboratory work generated the new element in amounts far too ì small to be useful.

Fearing the Nazis were on the verge of harnessing nuclear ì power, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gambled on an ambitious ì project to research and manufacture uranium and plutonium for ì military use.

As research continued, engineers began to construct massive ì buildings in an isolated eastern Washington farming community ì Within two years, Hanford became the world's first plutonium ì factory. The amazingly complex operation was accomplished with a ì speed and secrecy unheard of today; few involved knew what they ì were building. But on August 9, 1945, when the "Fat Man" fell on ì Nagasaki, the workers understood their part in changing the ì world.

Hanford's role did not end there. The facility produced ì plutonium throughout the Cold War. Some was used in tests ì conducted halfway around the world. Nuclear bombs were dropped on ì the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, profoundly impacting the Marshall ì Islands people and forever altering their way of life.

Through clear scientific explanations and personal ì reminiscences, Hill Williams traces Hanford's role in the story ì of the plutonium bomb.
About the author:

Hill Williams was reared in Pasco, Washington. He is a former ì Seattle Times science writer and the award-winning author of the ì WSU Press bestseller, The Restless Northwest.

Condition Information

This is a used book and is in Good condition.

Additional condition description

Clean, unmarked copy with expected light wear to covers.