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Table of contents (16 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
J. Robert Oppenheimer, a leading physicist in the Manhattan Project, recognized that scientific inquiry and discovery could no longer be separated from their effect on political decision-making, social responsibility, and human endeavor in general. He openly addressed issues of common concern and as a scientist accepted the responsibility brought about by nuclear physics.
This collection of essays and speeches, only a few of which have been previously published, presents an extraordinary thinker and scientist as well as a compassionate human being. No issue is too small or too large if it is in some way connected to the emergence of a weapon as terrible and powerful as the atom bomb. Oppenheimer discusses the shift in scientific awareness and its impact on education, the question of openness in a society forced to keep secrets, the conflict between individual concerns and public and political necessity, the future of science and its effects on future politics---in short, thecommon and uncommon sense we find in our modern day reality.
Uncommon Sense presents a responsible scientist and a concerned man who foresaw the problems the discovery of fission would create. And we should no neglect to read between the lines: The peak of Oppenheimer’s career coincided with the McCarthy era, the repercussions of which strongly affected his personal and professional life. The themes of openness and freedom becomes, therefore, recurring concerns in this collection of essays and speeches.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Uncommon Sense
Editors: N. Metropolis, Gian-Carlo Rota, David Sharp, J. Robert Oppenheimer
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-6735-2
Publisher: Birkhäuser Boston, MA
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eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Birkh�user Boston 1984
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4684-6737-6Published: 08 March 2012
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4684-6735-2Published: 09 November 2013
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 196
Number of Illustrations: 17 b/w illustrations
Topics: Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Nuclear Physics, Heavy Ions, Hadrons, Popular Science, general, History of Science