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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945 Hardcover - 1993

by Lillian Hoddeson; Paul W. Henriksen; Roger A. Meade


From the publisher

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.

First line

Following the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938, scientists in Germany, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States began to investigate the possibility of exploiting this energy source for military purposes.

From the rear cover

Unlike earlier histories of Los Alamos, this book treats in detail the research and development that led to the implosion and gun weapons; the research in nuclear physics, chemistry, and metallurgy that enabled clear bomb, the 'Super.'

Details

  • Title Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945
  • Author Lillian Hoddeson; Paul W. Henriksen; Roger A. Meade
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition 4th Printing 199
  • Pages 528
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Cambridge University Press, New York
  • Date 1993-05-28
  • ISBN 9780521441322 / 0521441323
  • Weight 1.8 lbs (0.82 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.32 x 6.38 x 1.27 in (23.67 x 16.21 x 3.23 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory - History, Atomic bomb - New Mexico - Los Alamos -
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 92036611
  • Dewey Decimal Code 623.451
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945

by Hoddeson, Lillian; Henriksen, Paul W.; Meade, Roger A.

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Cambridge University Press, 1993. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket in very good condition. First edition. Minor shelf and handling wear, overall a clean solid copy with minimal signs of use. Minor wear to the dust jacket. Light wear to the boards. Tight binding. Clean interior pages. Secure packaging for safe delivery.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 19431945
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 19431945

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

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Cambridge/NY: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 1st . Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 509pp.incl.index; HB blk.w/silver; PON otherwise fine condition w/clean,tight pgs. DJ pink w/blk.&white-pic.cover; slight rub. "This book tells the story of how the Los Alamos scientists responded to the spontaneous fission crisis they faced more than a year after the start of Project Y and how this response to the possible failure of the plutonium weapon motivated them to take a new approach to research that enabled building both of the first two atomic bombs." some illus.
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943 1945
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943 1945

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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945

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

by Lillian Hoddeson/ Paul W. Henriksen/ Roger A. Meade/ Catherine L. Westfall

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Critical assembly : a technical history of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer years, 1943-1945 /...

Critical assembly : a technical history of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer years, 1943-1945 / Lillian Hoddeson [and others] ; with contributions from Gordon Baym [and others]

by Hoddeson, Lillian

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Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1993. Advance Review Copy. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; xv, 509 pages : 24 cm. Notes; Includes bibliographical references (p. [418]-492) and indexes. Contents; 1. Introduction -- 2. Early Research on Fission: 1933-1943 -- 3. The Early Materials Program: 1933-1943 -- 4. Setting Up Project Y: June 1942 to March 1943 -- 5. Research in the First Months of Project Y: April to September 1943 -- 6. Creating a Wartime Community: September 1943 to August 1944 -- 7. The Gun Weapon: September 1943 to August 1944 -- 8. The Implosion Program Accelerates: September 1943 to July 1944 -- 9. New Hopes for the Implosion Weapon: September 1943 to July 1944 -- 10. The Nuclear Properties of a Fission Weapon: September 1943 to July 1944 -- 11. Uranium and Plutonium: Early 1943 to August 1944 -- 12. The Discovery of Spontaneous Fission in… Read More
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945

by Hoddeson, Lillian; Henriksen, Paul W.; Meade, Roger A.; Westfall, Catherine L.; Baym, Gordon [Contributor]; Hewlett, Richard [Contributor]; Kerr, Alison [Contributor]; Penneman, Robert [Contributor]; Redman, Leslie [Contributor]; Seidel, Robert [Contribut

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Critical Assembly; A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945
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Critical Assembly; A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945

by Hoddeson, Lillian, and Henriksen, Paul W., and Meade, Roger A., and Westfall, Catherine with Baym, Gordon (Contributor), and Hewlett, Richard (Contributor), and Kerr, Alison (Contributor), and Penneman, Robert (Contributor), and Redman, Leslie (Contributo

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New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Later printing. Hardcover. Very good. xv, [1], 509, [1] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Name Index. Subject Index. Lillian Hartman Hoddeson (born 20 December 1940, in New York City) is an American historian of science, specializing in the history of physics and technology during the 2nd half of the 20th century. Hoddeson received in 1957 a high school diploma from the Bronx High School of Science, in 1961 a bachelor's degree in physics from Barnard College, and in 1966 a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University. She was an assistant professor of physics from 1967 to 1970 at Barnard College and from 1971 to 1976 at Rutgers University. In 1974-1975 she was a visiting fellow at Princeton University and took Thomas Kuhn's "History of Quantum Mechanics" course. From 1977 to 1992 she held academic positions at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, before becoming there an associate professor from 1993 to 2000 and a full professor from 2000 until her… Read More
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Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945

by Hoddeson, Lillian; Henriksen, Paul W.; Meade, Roger A.; Westfall, Catherine L.; Baym, Gordon [Contributor]; Hewlett, Richard [Contributor]; Kerr, Alison [Contributor]; Penneman, Robert [Contributor]; Redman, Leslie [Contributor]; Seidel, Robert [Contribut

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