If science has the equivalent of a Bloomsbury group, it is the five men born at the turn of the twentieth century in Budapest: Theodore von K?rm?n, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, John von Neumann, and Edward Teller. From Hungary to Germany to the United States, they remained friends and continued to work together and influence each other throughout their lives. As a result, their work was integral to some of the most important scientific and political developments of the twentieth century.They were an extraordinary group of talents: Wigner won a Nobel Prize in theoretical physics; Szilard was the first to see that a chain reaction based on neutrons was possible, initiated the Manhattan Project, but left physics to try to restrict nuclear arms; von Neumann could solve difficult problems in his head and developed the modern computer for more complex problems; von K?rm?n became the first director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, providing the scientific basis for the U.S. Air Force; and Teller was the father of the hydrogen bomb, whose name is now synonymous with the controversial "Star Wars" initiative of the 1980s. Each was fiercely opinionated, politically active, and fought against all forms of totalitarianism. Istv?n Hargittai, as a young Hungarian physical chemist, was able to get to know some of these great men in their later years, and the depth of information and human interest in The Martians of Science is the result of his personal relationships with the subjects, their families, and their contemporaries.
Author(s): Istvan Hargittai
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 376
Contents......Page 19
Introduction......Page 21
Family Origins and Early Childhood......Page 29
Gem and Less: Gimnázium Experience......Page 37
Background in Hungary and First Transition......Page 43
Theodore von Kármán......Page 59
Leo Szilard......Page 68
Eugene P. Wigner......Page 76
John von Neumann......Page 83
Edward Teller......Page 85
THREE: Second Transition: To the United States......Page 91
Theodore von Kármán......Page 92
Leo Szilard......Page 97
Eugene P. Wigner......Page 105
John von Neumann......Page 121
Edward Teller......Page 123
FOUR: “To Protect and Defend”: World War II......Page 129
Theodore von Kármán......Page 130
Leo Szilard......Page 136
Eugene P. Wigner......Page 155
John von Neumann......Page 162
Edward Teller......Page 166
FIVE: To Deter: Cold War......Page 171
Theodore von Kármán......Page 173
Leo Szilard......Page 178
Eugene P. Wigner......Page 194
John von Neumann......Page 196
Edward Teller......Page 200
Comparisons......Page 227
Traits......Page 251
Religion and Jewishness......Page 265
Being Hungarian......Page 267
Greatness in Science......Page 287
Had They Lived.........Page 292
Conclusion......Page 296
Appendix: Sampler of Quotable Martians......Page 299
Notes......Page 311
Select Bibliography......Page 347
Chronologies......Page 353
B......Page 361
E......Page 362
G......Page 363
K......Page 364
M......Page 365
N......Page 366
P......Page 367
S......Page 368
T......Page 369
W......Page 370
Z......Page 371
Photographs......Page 107