Hitler's Scientists

Description

For the first three decades of the twentieth century, Germany held the premier position for science throughout the world. German scientists were the most accomplished and honored in their fields, winning the lion's share of Nobel prizes. But in 1933 came Hitler. Jewish scientists were dismissed from their positions in laboratories and at universities, and the Nazi ideology began to dominate Germany's science communities. Some scientists enthusiastically collaborated with the Nazis; most merely acquiesced, arguing that science lies outside politics and morality. By the end of the Second World War, few German scientists remained untainted by a regime bent on genocide and racial conquest. - Jacket flap.

Description

In Hitler's Scientists, British historian John Cornwell explores German scientific genius in the first half of the twentieth century and shows how Germany's early lead in the new physics led to the discovery of atomic fission, which in turn led the way to the atom bomb, and how the ideas of Darwinism were hijacked to create the lethal doctrine of racial cleansing.

First Sentence

I have an early impression of my father holding me up to glimpse a black growling angel trailing fire in the moonlit sky across London: it was a VI - a long-range pilotless 'pulse-jet' flying bomb, what today we would call a cruise missile.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Hitler's Scientists: Science, War, and the Devil's PactHardcoverViking Adult2003-10-09
• Hitler's ScientistsHardcoverViking Adult2003-01-01
• Hitler's ScientistsAudio CDListen & Live Audio2003-11-01
• Hitler's ScientistsAudio CassetteBooks On Tape2003-12-01
• Hitler's ScientistsPenguin Books Ltd2004-09-02
• Hitler's ScientistsPenguin (Non-Classics)2004-09-28