Die Geschichte der Atombombe

Abstract

PROF. THIRRING was dismissed from the chair of theoretical physics in the University of Vienna by the Nazis because of his democratic views and his association with anti-militaristic movements, was persecuted by the Gestapo, and was reinstated only after the downfall of the Nazi regime. The author certainly is well qualified politically to interpret the significance of atomic energy in a popular book to a German-speaking public. The reviewer considers that Thirring has admirably succeeded in the task he has set himself. The book provides an elementary introduction to the structure of the atom and the nucleus, a history of the attempts in the Allied countries (on the basis of the Smyth Report) and in Germany to make use of atomic fission, and a short evaluation of the political aspects of atomic energy. The book is written in a clear and fresh style enlivened by sarcastic remarks against the treatment of science under Nazism. Die Geschichte der Atombombe Mit einer elementaren Einführung in die Atomphysik auf Grund der Originalliteratur gemeinserständlich dargestellt. Von Hans Thirring. (Wissenschaft für Jedermann.) Pp. 150. (Wien : Neues Österreich Zeitungs- und Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., 1946.) n.p.