Beschreibung
Ten leading German scientists were interned in Farm Hall in England in the summer and autumn of 1945 and their conversations were secretly recorded. These scientists were involved in developing a German atomic bomb. This fascinating book contains transcripts of their conversations, together with a commentary and introduction by Sir Charles Frank, who is probably one of the best qualified people to write it. Sir Charles worked in German laboratories before the war, and then worked for British Intelligence on the Farm Hall case. He knew personally the interned scientists. The German scientists' reactions to the dropping of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima are recorded in full, when they hold an impromptu conference to discuss the news. Amazed and puzzled, their lucid discussion, which reads more like a stage play than a transcription, reveals not only the state of knowledge of the Germans in 1945, but also the state of minds of these men, defeated both in the race to build the first nuclear bomb and in one of the most destructive wars in the history of man. The transcriptions have been released only recently by the British Government after years of pressure by scientists, historians and politicians. This book is therefore valuable both as an historical document and as an engrossing read.