Science with a Vengeance: How the Military Created the U.S. Space Sciences After World War II - Softcover

DeVorkin, David H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3540977708 ISBN 13: 9783540977704

Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K, 1992

Synopsis

With the end of World War II and the transfer to much of the remaining stock of German V-2 rockets to the US, a glorious opportunity for research opened up, to study the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere as well as the ultraviolet radiation that does not penetrate to the surface of the Earth. Within a very few years, a very active civilian programme in space research was developed in cooperation with the armed forces that controlled the rockets. By the International Geophysical Year in 1954, space science was a well established field. This book traces the development of rocket-borne research from the early experiments by Goddard in the US and Regener in Germany through the explosive development after the War. The author argues that it was, somewhat surprisingly, not the established researchers who made use of the opportunity to answer long-standing questions, but an entirely new group of scientists who could persevere in the face of technological and bureaucratic hurdles. The military patronage of research that proved so successful in the War was continued for fields of interest to the military, and this altered the direction and character of the research. The tasks involved in building and using apparatus to be flown in rockets required a degree of entrepreneurship not common in science before the War.

About this title

Product Description

DEVORKIN, D. H. SCIENCE WITH A VENGEANCE. HOW THE MILITARY CREATED THE US SPACE SCIENCES AFTER WORLD WAR II [HARDBACK]. BERLIN, 1992, xxii 404 p.,figuras. Encuadernacion original. Nuevo.

Review

From the reviews:
"This is the story of a select group of American scientists. In the aftermath of World War II they banded together, seized an opportunity, and set in motion events that culminated in what is known today as `space science'...there is much to commend in this work to anyone interested in the evolution of American science in the 20th century. DeVorkin marshals an impressive amount of information, most of it drawn from primary sources, to explain the people and institutions that promoted scientific research with rockets..." --- Air & Space
"Science with a Vengeance is a play on words for an exceptionally thorough, well-researched description of the origins of US space science. Young US scientists used Hitler's V-2 Vengeance weapon to conduct the first observations from high in the earth's atmosphere...Many photographs are from private collections...An easy-reading must for anyone interested in the early days of US rocket science." --- CHOICE
"...Having secured boxcarloads of V-2 parts, the US military sought to determine their use and purpose, in part by a series of test firings of these wonder weapons...This exhaustively researched and lavishly illustrated volume...is an important contribution to the historical study of postwar American science." --- Physics Today
"This is certain to become the standard work on its subject...impeccably researched...Anyone concerned with a deep analysis of the forces shaping contemporary science and technology would profit from reading this." --- S.R. Weart, AIP Center for History of Physics
"...I learned a great deal from reading this...[it] recaptured the driving enthusiasm and spirit of the work as well as the exhilaration of our successes and the frustration of our failures....[DeVorkin] has distilled and interpreted a huge amount of raw material into an insightful and readable account...." --- James A. Van Allen, The University of Iowa

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3540977708
• ISBN 13: 9783540977704
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416