History 181B (Spring 2001) - Class 35 (4/13/01)

History 181B: Modern Physics
Class 35 (4/13/01)
The physicists' war

Navigation

Home

Schedule

< Previous Class

Next Class >

Outline

Why were the physicists so central to WWII?

Mobilization

     United States: self-mobilization
     Including the refugees
     Britain: the threatened ally

     Soviet Union: practical applications for a nation under siege
     Japan: technological strength but limited mobilization
     Germany: limited investment and poor choices

The radar project
     The nature of the physicists' work
     Setting the standards and the scale
     Radar vs. the bomb

Names and terms

Primary	Secondary
Hans Bethe (1906 - ), NP 1967 MIT Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab) radar = RAdio Detection And Ranging black box I.I. Rabi (1898-1988), NP 1944	Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) James Conant (1893-1978) Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)