Cult of the machine Big Science Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex Michael Hiltzik Simon and Schuster, 2015. 549 pp

A major player in 20th-century physics, Ernest Lawrence helped usher in an era of big-budget research projects By any standard, Ernest Lawrence was a giant of American physics. At the center of Lawrence's world was the circular particle accelerator he invented, dubbed the "cyclotron."...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2015-09, Vol.349 (6252), p.1062-1063
Main Author: Wellerstein, Alex
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:A major player in 20th-century physics, Ernest Lawrence helped usher in an era of big-budget research projects By any standard, Ernest Lawrence was a giant of American physics. At the center of Lawrence's world was the circular particle accelerator he invented, dubbed the "cyclotron." Around this initially humble creation, Lawrence built an empire of labor and of funding and a new way of doing physics. In his review of Big Science , Alex Wellerstein offers readers a glimpse into the life and career of the controversial physicist-- from his seemingly remorseless exploitation of cheap graduate student labor to his zealous support for the atomic bomb.  
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aac7351