The Effect of Science on the Second World War

The latest advances in science were fully exploited during World War II. They included radar, sonar, improved radio, methods of reducing disease, primitive computers, the new science of operational research and the atomic bomb, necessarily developed like all wartime technology in a remarkably short time. Such progress would have been impossible without the co-operation of Allied scientists with the military. The Axis powers' failure to recognize this was a major factor in their defeat.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Organisation of Science for War Radar: Defence and Offence Diverse Applications of Radio and Radar Acoustic and Underwater Warfare The Acquisition of Signals Intelligence Birth of a New Science: Operational Research The Transformation of Military Medicine Unacceptable Weapons: Gas and Bacteria Premature Weapons: The Rocket and the Jet The Ultimate Weapon: The Atomic Bomb Conclusion Sources Bibliography Index

About the Author :
GUY HARTCUP served in the British and Indian Armies 1939-45 after which he took an Honours Degree at Cambridge in 1947. From 1948-60 we worked as an Historian in the Air Historical Branch of the Air Ministry. He then became an English Editor with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 1961-2. After returning to England he was an Assistant Historian in the Cabinet Office Historical Section and, finally, was Historian in the Treasury from 1965-76. Since his retirement the author has been a full-time writer on war science and technology as well as writing a biography of Sir John Cockroft in collaboration with Professor T.E. Allibone, FRS. His books include Code Name Mulberry: The Planning, Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours, Camouflage: A History of Concealment and Deception in War, Cockroft and the Atom (with T.E.Allibone), The War in Invention: Scientific Developments, 1914-18 , and The Silent Revolution: Development of Conventional Weapons, 1945-85.

Review :
'The Second World War involved many complex factors, not all understood equally. One of the most difficult is science as the very word tends to deter many readers. Hartcup's penetrating clarity of understanding is matched only by his ability to provide explanations which are easy to take in and, skilfully, he neither confuses nor patronises the reader. He includes several areas often missed out. This is a most valuable book essential to any proper understanding of the conflict.' - W.J.R Gardner, author of Decoding History: The Battle of the Atlantic and Ultra 'If you thought the science of the second world war began and ended with the atom bomb, you'd be wrong...Hartcup's concise survey, from radar and computerised cryptoanalysis to the atomic bomb, provides an excellent introduction to relations between the boffins and the men in khaki.' - The Guardian 'The author has gathered a great deal of information, which he presents in a lucid and readable manner...I am impressed by [his] knowledge and ability to carry his reader with him. Anybody interested in the wartime development of these topics will acquire a great deal of information in a painless manner...This book is an excellent description of science at war...' - Hermann Bondi, The Times Higher Education Supplement