"in a few years . . . poured": Maxwell's inaugural lecture of 25 October 1871 is in manuscript, CUL, The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, vol. 2, p. 241.
"a most radiating smile": Letter from Rutherford to Mary Newton of 2 December 1896, printed in Eve, Rutherford, p. 41.
"not fossilised at all": Letter from Rutherford to Mary Newton of 3 October 1895, printed in ibid., p. 15.
"We've got... mighty deep": A. Balfour quoted in ibid., p. 14.
"jolly almost see them": Quoted in ibid., p. 43.
"my usual . . . self-consciousness": Letter from Rutherford to M. Newton of 2c January 1896, printed in ibid., p. 25.
"he gave I abhor": Letter from E. Rutherford to M. Newton of May 1986, printed in ibid., p. 35.
"the alarming our dips": Letter from E. Rutherford to M. Newton of 10 April 1 896, printed in ibid., p. 32.
"the assumption . . . startling one": J. J. Thomson's lecture to the Royal Institution on 30 April 1897.
"pulling their legs": J. J. Thomson, Recollections and Refections, p. 341.
"to do . . . Yankees!": E. Rutherford's letter to M. Newton of 30 July 1898, printed in Eve, Rutherford, p. 54.
"to find the theory of matter"; "before anyone else . warpath": E. Rutherford's letter to M. Newton of 25 January 1896, quoted in A. Pais, Inward Bound, p. 39.
"the best sprinters": E. Rutherford's letter to his mother of 5 January 1902, printed in Eve, Rutherford, p. 80.
"a good research work": E. Rutherford's letter to M. Newton of August 1 896, printed in ibid., p. 39.
"in the Rutherford household suspicion": O. Hahn, My Life, p. 73.
"in a geometrical progression with time": Philosophical Magazine, January 1900.
"an indefatigable and important": Frederick Soddy papers, Bodleian Library.
"standing there . thing"; "Rutherford argon gas"; "shouted . alchemists": Quoted in M. Howorth, Pioneer Research and the Atom—the Life Story of Frederick Soddy, pp. 83—84.
"incurable suicide mania": Quoted in Nye, Before Big Science, p. 156.
"playful suggestion"; "a wave . smoke": Letter from Sir William Dampier to Rutherford of 26 July 1903, printed in Eve, Rutherford, p. 102.
Marie rejected . . . times ahead: All quotes in this paragraph are from E. Curie, Madame Curie, pp. 231—33.
"I wish . . . work": Quoted in D. Wilson, Rutherford, p. 241.
"I see . . . apparatus": Quoted in J. Campbell, Rutherford: Scientist Supreme, pp. 343—44.
"almost as incredible . . . hit you": Chadwick's Rutherford Memorial Lecture, 1944, Proceedings of the Royal Society.
"Go home .my boy": Quoted in Eve, Rutherford, p. 152.
"obviously in the best of spirits"; "he now looked like": H. Geiger in J. Chadwick, ed., The Collected Papers of Lord Rutherford, p. 297.
"most shattering": J. Chadwick's oral history, AIP.
Three. Forces of Nature
"child"; "nourished and educated": Letter from E. Ramstedt to M. Curie of 14 December 1911, quoted in M. F. Rayner-Canham and G. W Rayner-Canham, A Devotion to Their Science, p. 21.
"very wan . . figure": E. Rutherford's letter to his mother of 14 October 19 10, printed in Eve, Rutherford, p. 191.
"It was... under one": Quoted in Pais, Inward Bound, p. 134.
"The solution came to me suddenly": Quoted in D. Brian, Einstein—A Life, p. 61.
"quietly . . . unity": Snow, Variety of Men, p. 75.
"witches'sabbath": Quoted in Pflaum, Grand Obsession, p. 160.
"much time"; "just . . . people"; "passionateness"; "sparkling intelligence": S. Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 302.
"Madame Curie . . . being a woman"; "in the . . . person": Letter from E. Rutherford to B. Boltwood of 20 November 1911, printed in L. Badash, ed., Rutherford and Bohwood—Letters on Radioactivity, pp. 257—58.
"purefantasy": Quoted in Pflaum, Grand Obsession, p. 164.
"plodder"... "working . . . man": M. F. Ravner-Canham and G. W Ravner-Canham, A Devotion to Their Science, p. 45.
something winter": Quoted in ibid., p. 168.
"odious blackmail": Quoted in Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 299.
"the Vestal Virgin of radium"; "an ambitious Pole . . . Langevin s": Pflaum, Grand Obsession, p. 174-42. "It's idiotic .do it": Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 323.
"The defence brain": Pflaum, Grand Obsession, p. 177.
"Madame . . . like": M. Klein et al., eds., Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, vol. 5, p. 544 (author's translation).
"made sense"; "pompous talk": R. Moore, Niels Bohr, p. 39.
"Of course not.. .in it": Quoted in Pais, Inward Bound, p. 210.
"the most... met": Moore, Niels Bohr, p. 44.
It is . . . possible": Letter from E. Rutherford to N. Bohr of 2c March 1913, CUL/R.
"big eyes discoveries": Quoted in Nye, Before Big Science, p. 170.
"to give up true": O. Frisch, What Little I Remember, p. 93.
"slightly superficial, easy-going": Hahn, My Life, p. 37.
"beery days": Ibid., p. 73.
Hahn ... floor: The quotes in this paragraph are from ibid., pp. 65-66.
"the only person who had real grasp": Ibid., p. 77.
"much-chewed specimens": Ibid., p. 74.
"in great astonishment . . . a man!": L. Meitner, "Looking Back," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November 1964.
Chadwick had . . . explain it to him: All quotes in these two paragraphs are from J. Chadwick's oral history, AIP.
'his services Turkish bullet": Quoted in Wilson, Rutherford, p. 344.
"To hate blood": M. Curie, Pierre Curie, p. 106.
'in a pitiable position"; "profoundly . perturbed": Hahn, My Life, p. 120.
'so numbed whole thing": Ibid., p. 122.
'It was . . . sooner": Ibid., p. 118.
'a higher form of killing": Quoted in R. Harris and J. Paxman, A Higher Form of Killing, . xiii.
'to do so future wars": S. Lindqvist, A History of Bombing, item 96.
'to control without occupation": Ibid., i t em 102.
Four. "Make Physics Boom"
"If'... the war": Quoted in Wilson, Rutherford, p. 405.
"man projectiles": Snow, Variety of Men, p. 6.
"like dark": Quoted in Frisch, What Little I Remember, p. 63.
That same year departed": All quotes in this paragraph are from M. Oliphant, Rutherford—Recollections of the Cambridge Days, pp. 22 and 128.
The 1920s . . . Germans: All quotes in this paragraph are found in Rayner-Canham and Rayner-Canham, A Devotion to Their Science, p. 4.
"treated them as guests": Quoted in L. Rees, Horror in the East, p. 13.
"the simpleness . . . obtain": H. Nagaoka'sletter to E. Rutherford of 22 February 1911, CUL/R.
"the greatest woman in the world": Quoted in Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 384.
"the sister of Prometheus": Ibid., p. 391.
"very uncouth": Author's interview with Bertrand Goldschmidt, 3 April 2002.
"a cow": Ibid.
"theyoung chap . Irene": Ibid.
"a violent . . . over": Elizabeth Rona quoted in Rayner-Canham and Rayner-Canham, A Devotion to Their Science, p. 212.
"shaking clothing": A student quoted in ibid. p. 108.
"promises miracles": Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 410.
"Can . . . rays": Ibid., p. 412.
"the stronghold of physics": W. Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 62.
"it would he . . . in Germany": Quoted in R. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 174.
"eggs . . .good": R. L. Sime, Lise Meitner, p. 77.
"to do prices": Hahn, My Life, p. 138.
"while we were busy . . food-coupons": Ibid.
"the secrets of nature"; "whole new . . . contradictions": Pascual Jordan quoted in Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 9.
"henceforth . . . war": M. Born, My Life and My Views, p. 193.
"make physics
boom": Moore, Niels Bohr, p. 97.
"the cocoon periods": W. Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 1.
"prophet of nature": Ibid., p. 28.
"Atomic Housing Officer": Frisch, What Little 1 Remember, p. 20.
It was . . . afternoon": All quotes in this paragraph are from W Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, pp. 19 and 38.
Also politics: All quotes in this paragraph are in ibid., pp. 44—45.
"through before me": Ibid., p. 61.
"a coherent... physics": Ibid., p. 62.
"The more crap": Quoted on the AIP Web site (Quantum Mechanics).
"The more the less . . . vice versa": Ibid.
"the impossibility . . . instruments": R. Moore, Niels Bohr, p. 160.
"It seems hard single moment": B. Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, p. 131.
The same year, Ityl J . . . his uncertainty principle: All quotes in these five paragraphs are from E. Teller's Memoirs, pp. 2, 5, 33, 39, and 47.
Five. Days of Alchemy
"a heroic time creation": Robert Oppenheimer quoted in Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 9.
"in Russia . . . Rutherford": Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (D. Shoen-berg's memoir of Kapitza).
"fiy inside a cathedral": Quoted in N. Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 17.
"proton merry-go-round": Quoted in G. Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 4.
"I'm going famous": Quoted in Nye, Before Big Science, p. 213.
"afour-inch pillbox . octopus": Ibid., p. 30.
"to break up atoms": New York Times, quoted in ibid., p. 31.
"to modernise"; "scientific spirit"; "pioneers .ground"; "an abstraction": E. Wigner's oral history, AIP.
"it took interested in": Chadwick's oral history, AIR "just kept on pegging away"; "I did . . . silly experiments": Ibid.
"I don't believe it": Undated notes, entitled "Discovery of the Neutron," CCC/JC.
"knew in his bones": Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (Sir. H. Massey's and N. Feather's memoir of Chadwick).
"particles charge o": D. Wilson, Rutherford, p. 550.
"Kapitza vision": M. Oliphant, "The Beginning: Chadwick and the Neutron," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1982.
"to be fortnight": Quoted in C. P. Snow, The Physicists, p. 85.
"immediately . . . convincingly"; "of a . . . physicist": Quoted in Brown, The Neutron and the Bomb, p. 108.
"The reason nucleus": Chadwick's letter to N. Feather of 2c July 1968, CCC/NF.
The discovery hidden riches": All quotes in this paragraph are from Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 427.
"with . . . hold of": Author's interview with Hans Bethe, 28 April 2002.
"that would . . . area"; "The experts . . . bomb"; "destroy New York": H. Nicolson, Public Faces, p. 17.
But in . . . million": The quotes in this paragraph come from D. Kurzman, Blood and Water, pp. 6—7.
"It never rains but it pours": Rutherford's letter to N. Bohr of 21 April 1932, CUL/R.
"do what... ago": V. Bowden quoted in Campbell, Rutherford, p. 438.
"normally Wellington"; "We're split . atom!": Snow, Variety of Men, p. 1.
"Dr. Livingston . . . Whoopee!": Quoted in Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 5.
"literally room": Quoted in Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 42.
It was elements": All quotes in this paragraph are from ibid., pp. 45 and 48.
"both innocent": Quoted in Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 11.
"an abnormally . . . boy": Quoted in M. Rouze, Robert Oppenheimer—The Man and His Theories, p. 13.
"As appears application": Letter from P. W. Bridgman to Rutherford of 24 June 1925, printed in A. Kimball-Smith and C. Weiner, eds., Robert Oppenheimer's Letters and Recollections, p. 77.
"That's bad": Quoted in T. Powers, Heisenberg's War, p. 170.
"Thepoint.. . is ...": Quoted in Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 21.
"the awful fact of excellence": Letter to F. Fergusson of 23 January 1923, printed in Kimball-Smith and Weiner, Robert Oppenheimer—Letters and Recollections, p. 92.
"part... physics": Kimball-Smith and Weiner, eds., Robert Oppenheimer—Letters and Recollections, p. 98.
"They are . . . successful": Ibid., p. 100.
"a vile driver"; "scarefriends . . . seventy": Ibid., p. 135.
"I would criticism": Quoted in ibid., p. 130.
"I have together": Quoted in Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 25.
"unbelievable life": Quoted in Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 12.
"nasty gory": Kimball-Smith and Weiner, Robert Oppenheimer—Letters and Recollections, p. 133
"knew did": Quoted in Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 51.
"We are busy . . . experiments": Letter from R. Oppenheimer to F. Oppenheimer of Autumn 1932, printed in Kimball-Smith and Weiner, eds., Robert Oppenheimer—Letters and Recollections, p. 1C9.
"The experimenters . . . again": J. Cockcroft quoted in J. Hendry, ed., Cambridge Physics in the Thirties, p. 79.
"catching up countries": D. Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb, p. 1 5.
"Comrade Rutherford": R. Peierls, Bird of Passage, p. 95.
"the world . . . not of it": Quoted in Powers, Heisenberg's War, p. 172.
In 1932 . . . superiority: All quotes in this paragraph are from Rees, Horror in the East, p. 23.
Six. Persecution and Purge
"vision"; "bathed woke up": W Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 125.
Perhaps to forget . . . snowline: All quotes in these two paragraphs are from ibid., pp. 125 and 127.
"We Germans Fatherland": Sime, Lise Meitner, p. 139.
"All. . . shattered"; "in despair . . family": Ibid., p. 140.
"Jewish . . . pawn": E. Heisenberg, Inner Exile, p. 48 .
"spirit of Einstein's spirit"; "to be rewarded . . . chair": Physics World, December 20 01 .
"a White Jew"; "representatives . . . themselves": Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 74.
"ugly inscription"; "breathe quietly": W. Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 173.
"complete idiot ...": Quoted in Physics World, December 2001.
"civil liberty . . . law": Quoted in Sime, Lise Meitner, p. 137.
"My heart.. .young ones": Quoted in R. C. Williams, Klaus Fuchs, Atom Spy, p. 36.
"no butlers dress": Snow, Variety of Men, p. 87.
"it's as important... sciences": Quoted in Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 46.
"no better than the rabble": Quoted in Sime, Lise Meitner, p. 138.
"whipped frenzy": Quoted in Powers, Heisenberg's War, p. 39.
finely creases"; "seemed tortured"; "utterly futile": W Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 150 .
"Since hateful": Quoted in Sime, Lise Meitner, p. 143.
"inner exile": E. Heisenberg, Inner Exile, "the old values": W Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 151.
"after the catastrophe": Ibid., p. 154.
"at least stay on": Ibid., p. 152.
"If today former": Sime, Lise Meitner, pp. 145—46.
"Haber him": Ibid., p. 156.
"going backwards way": Pflaum, Grand Obsession, p. 298.
"My colleagues . . . neutron": Ibid., p. 302.
"With the neutron . . . time": Quinn, Marie Curie, p. 429.
"We . . . time"; "We . . . butts"; "a sound . . .forget": Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer, p. 60.
"the expression . . . life": Quinn, Madame Curie, p. 430.
"We're back . . . laboratory": E. Curie, Madame Curie, p. 384.
"La Patronne"... Langevin": All quotes in this paragraph are from the author's interview with Goldschmidt of 3 April 1992.
"of rapid . radiations"; "in her shaking hand": E. Curie, Madame Curie, pp. 400—401.
"scientists character": Quoted in Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 48.
"talking moonshine": Times (London), 12 September 1933.
&
nbsp; "Not only . . . to become": Quoted in Moore, Niels Bohr, p. 213.
"a blind man ducks": Ibid.
"greatfurrowed forehead"; "enormous eyes": Snow, Variety of Men, p. 84.
"A disaster surroundings": Born, My Life and My Views, p. 38.
"declined violently"; "he did not wish . . . poison-gas": Letter from M. Born to J. Chadwick of 11 August 1954, quoted in Oliphant, Rutherford, p. 60.
"a sort of labour exchange": Frisch, What Little I Remember, p. 53.
"They accepted world": Teller, Memoirs, pp. 120-21.
"God me": Frisch, What Little I Remember, p. 76.
"a continuing Germany": Kimball-Smith and Weiner, eds., Robert Oppenheimer—Letters and Recollections, p. 196.
"living on top of a volcano": Quoted in Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 29.
"could no longer Hitler"; "we are us": Ibid., pp. 57—58.
"A reasonable number": Quoted in L. Badash, Kapitza, Rutheford and the Kremlin, p. 110.
"I am alive": Wilson, Rutherford, p. 528.
"It was . equipment": Chadwick's oral history, AIP.
"He was . very well": Ibid.
"only hanging by a thread": Letter from Lady Rutherford to J. Chadwick of 9 October 1937,CCC/JC.
"I feel it in my water": Quoted in Oliphant, Rutheford, p. 110.
"stupefied miserable"; "did things": Snow, Variety of Men, p. 14.
"one of... time": Ibid., p. 79.
"in quite found it": N. Bohr's obituary of Rutherford in Nature, 1937.
"it was not . . . nature": Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 59.
"keep an eye on the matter": Powers, Heisenberg's War, p. 53.
"a steamroller obstacles": E. Segre, Enrico Fermi, p. 56.
"ancient role fields": Sime, Lise Meitner, p. 164.
"the counter clicked madly": L. Fermi, Atoms in the Family, p. 98.
"sofascinating"; "an outstanding chemist": Sime, Lise Meitner, pp. 164—65".
"conceivable elements": Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 61.
"It said .to me": M. Goldsmith, Frederic Joliot-Curie, p. 71.
"plain dishonest": E. Segre's oral history, AIP.
"assumption . . . really absurd": I. Noddack quoting O. Hahn in Rayner-Canham and Rayner-Canham, A Devotion to Their Science, p. 223.
Seven. "Wonderful Findings"
"a sapphire blue light"; "you street": Quoted in M. Kurlansky, The Basque History of the World, p. 202.