The Fly in the Cathedral: How a small group of Cambridge scientists won the race to split the atom - Softcover

Cathcart, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140279067 ISBN 13: 9780140279061

Publisher: Penguin, 2005

Synopsis

The splitting of the atom, performed in a shabby Cambridge lab in April 1932, was a triumph of ingenuity over adversity. John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, under the stern gaze of the brilliantly eccentric Lord Rutherford, cobbled together handmade or recycled components - while American rivals had state-of-the-art equipment - to make one of the great scientific breakthroughs of all time.

In Brian Cathcart's hands, this remarkable tale of success on a shoe string - packed with larger-than-life characters, struggles against the odds, personal tragedy, love and bloody-minded determination - makes for one of the most inspiring stories of scientific derring-do ever told.

About this title

About the Author:

Born and educated in Ireland, Brian Cathcart was Reuters correspondent before joining the Independent on Sunday. He has written four previous books: Test of Greatness: Britain's Struggle for the Atom Bomb (1994), Were You Still Up for Portillo? (1997), The Case of Stephen Lawrence (1999), which won the Orwell Prize and the Crime Writers' Association Award for Non-Fiction, and Jill Dando (2001). Brian Cathcart lives in North London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0140279067
• ISBN 13: 9780140279061
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320