The Night of the Physicists
Operation Epsilon: Heisenberg, Hahn, Weizsäcker and the German Bomb
9781908323859
9781908323866
Distributed for Haus Publishing
The Night of the Physicists
Operation Epsilon: Heisenberg, Hahn, Weizsäcker and the German Bomb
In the spring of 1945 the Allies arrested the physicists they believed had worked on the German nuclear programme. Interned in an English country house owned by MI6, their conversations were secretly recorded. Operation Epsilon sought to determine how close Nazi Germany had come to building an atomic bomb. It was in this quiet setting – Farm Hall, near Cambridge – that the interned physicists first heard of the attack on Hiroshima. Aside from changing the course of history, that night was also one of great shock and personal defeat for the physicists – they were under the assumption that they alone had discovered nuclear fission. This is the story of Nazi Germany’s hunt for a nuclear bomb. It is a tale of the genius and guilt of lauded, respected scientists.
Table of Contents
Prologue: The Magician’s Apprentice and his Master
After the End
From Haigerloch to Urfeld
Interrogation in Heidelberg
Ten physicists on a European odyssey
Harteck’s story
Gerlach’s story
Arrival at Farm Hall, 3 July 1945
The Dark Side
Haber, Hahn and Chemical warfare
Ypres, 22 April 1915
1932 -39: From the discovery of the neutron to atomic fission
A dancing speck of dust
Is a chain reaction conceivable?
Chief theorist Heisenberg and the uranium project
Uranium ore and isotope separation
Heavy water
4 June 1942: The turning point
Tickling the Dragon’s Tail
Ingenuity and caution
The Manhattan Project: The World’s greatest experiment
Oak Ridge Y-12
K-25
Plutonium from Hanford
The Dragon Tickler
Visions and Setbacks
Making Jam
The best man for the job
The limits of the war economy
Gerlach’s dream and the end of the German uranium project
An unwelcome encounter
August 1945
Hiroshima, 6 August, 08:16
Farm Hall, 6 August
Nagasaki, 9 August, 11:02
Memorandum of the Ten
An English visitor
Late Summer at Farm Hall
Routine and Boredom
The lost noble Laureate
Bulgarian and Romanian dabblings in physics
Homecoming
What happened next
Epilogue
Postscript: By the Loisach Bridge
Notes
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Translator’s Note
After the End
From Haigerloch to Urfeld
Interrogation in Heidelberg
Ten physicists on a European odyssey
Harteck’s story
Gerlach’s story
Arrival at Farm Hall, 3 July 1945
The Dark Side
Haber, Hahn and Chemical warfare
Ypres, 22 April 1915
1932 -39: From the discovery of the neutron to atomic fission
A dancing speck of dust
Is a chain reaction conceivable?
Chief theorist Heisenberg and the uranium project
Uranium ore and isotope separation
Heavy water
4 June 1942: The turning point
Tickling the Dragon’s Tail
Ingenuity and caution
The Manhattan Project: The World’s greatest experiment
Oak Ridge Y-12
K-25
Plutonium from Hanford
The Dragon Tickler
Visions and Setbacks
Making Jam
The best man for the job
The limits of the war economy
Gerlach’s dream and the end of the German uranium project
An unwelcome encounter
August 1945
Hiroshima, 6 August, 08:16
Farm Hall, 6 August
Nagasaki, 9 August, 11:02
Memorandum of the Ten
An English visitor
Late Summer at Farm Hall
Routine and Boredom
The lost noble Laureate
Bulgarian and Romanian dabblings in physics
Homecoming
What happened next
Epilogue
Postscript: By the Loisach Bridge
Notes
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Translator’s Note