Nuclear Dawn: F. E. Simon and the Race for Atomic Weapons in World War II

This book provides a rounded biography of Franz (later Sir Francis) Simon, his early life in Germany, his move to Oxford in 1933, and his experimental contributions to low temperature physics approximating absolute zero. After 1939 he switched his research to nuclear physics, and is credited with solving the problem of uranium isotope separation by gaseous diffusion for the British nuclear programme Tube Alloys. The volume is distinctive for its inclusion of source materials not available to previous researchers, such as Simon's diary and his correspondence with his wife, and for a fresh, well-informed insider voice on the five-power nuclear rivalry of the war years. The work also draws on a relatively mature nuclear literature to attempt a comparison and evaluation of the five nuclear rivals in wider political and military context, and to identify the factors, or groups of factors, that can explain the results.

Table of Contents:
Preface: A House in Oxford 1: Growing Up into a World at War 2: Berlin 1919-1930 3: Breslau 1931-1933 4: Oxford 1933-1939 5: Any Capable Physicist 1939-1941 6: Industrial Plants ... Heretofore Deemed Impossible 1942-1945 7: Why Manhattan? 8: Something Reasonable Again 9: Security Lapses 10: Germany in the Balance 11: A Rounded Life

About the Author :
Kenneth D. McRae is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Carleton University, Ottawa. He has written or edited seven other volumes, including monographs on selected West European democracies (Belgium, Finland, Switzerland) and a volume of readings in the same area. He is a son-in-law of Sir Francis and Lady Simon. For this volume he has had full access to Simon's personal letters, papers, diaries, and event calendars, as well as to the scientific correspondence and documents deposited in the Simon Papers at the Royal Society Library and in the Cherwell Papers at Nuffield College, Oxford.

Review :
... a highly readable book ... There is something for all in the book, and physicists will be eager to look further afield for more of Simon's science. Nuclear Dawn is much more than a biography of Simon [...] Most popular books on the early scientific development of the Allies' nuclear weapons focus so strongly on the Manhattan Project that they underplay the British contributions that did much to get the project off the ground. McRae's book helps to correct this and illuminates several British nuclear scientists who worked in secret fort the governement during the war. Nuclear Dawn is an invaluable source for historians of the Anglo-American atomic bomb project, especially as it concerns the life of a physicist who deserves to be more clearly remembered. From Franz Simon of Breslau to Sir Francis Simon of Oxford, this fascinating book recounts the life of a man who moved from being a distinguished German physicist in the science of low temperatures to being an important figure in the early British work on atomic energy. It is written by his son-in-law and based on a large cache of private, professional and official letters, most of which came to light only after the death of Lady Simon in 1999. A refugee from Nazi Germany, a noted scientist, a pivotal contributor to the atomic bomb projects in the UK and US, Francis Simon lived the extraordinary events of the 20th century. He understood the potential nuclear threat from the Nazis and willingly made the necessary sacrifices to help the Americans and British win the race for the bomb. K. D. McRae's biography of Simon offers a rich narrative of Simon's life as well as fascinating insights into the bomb projects in the five major countries at war and why the Americans and British won.