Farm Hall and the German Atomic Project of World War II

This gripping book brings back to life the events surrounding the internment of ten German Nuclear Scientists immediately after World War II. It is also an “eye-witness” account of the dawning of the nuclear age, with the dialogue and narrative spanning the period before, during and after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan at the end of the war. This pivotal historical episode is conveyed, along with the emotions as well as the facts, through drama, historical narrative, and photographs of the captive German nuclear scientists – who included Werner Heisenberg, Otto Hahn, and Max von Laue. The unique story that unfolds in the play is based on secretly recorded transcripts of the scientists’ actual conversations at Farm Hall, together with related documents and photographs.

Review

“He highlights several incidents that bring the story to life, including the Germans’ confused reaction to the news of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the surprise announcement of Otto Hahn’s Nobel … . Ultimately, however, Cassidy has made Farm Hall come alive, with all the important contradictions and conflicts it embodies. His book should be of special interest to physicists and physics students and is a valuable addition to our understanding of this ambiguous chapter in the history of modern physics.” (Mark Walker, Physics Today, March, 2018)

About the Author

David C. Cassidy is a prize-winning historian and dramatist of science. He is a professor emeritus at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York USA. His previous books include Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics and the Bomb; Einstein and Our World; and J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century.