Heisenberg in the Atomic Age

Cathryn Carson is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Office for History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is co-editor, with David A. Hollinger, of Reappraising Oppenheimer: Centennial Studies and Reflections and chair of the editorial board of Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences.

• Part I. Introduction: 1. Science and the public sphere; 2. Tracking Heisenberg; Part II. Culture: 3. The scientist as bildungsburger; 4. Physics as philosophy; 5. The culture of the vent; 6. Bildung als konsumgut: dilemmas of the literary public sphere; Part III. Politics: 7. Science, politics, and power: initial orientations; 8. A new research system; 9. Science policy in the atomic age; 10. Expansion and uncertainty; 11. Politics in the public sphere; 12. Speaking of the Third Reich: denazification; 13. Speaking of the Third Reich: war work; 14. Speaking of the Third Reich: into the public sphere; Part IV. Scientific Reason in the Public Sphere: 15. The public reach of reason after 1945; Epilogue.

'In this deeply researched and imaginatively conceived book, Carson authoritatively delineates Werner Heisenberg's influential role in the shaping of West Germany, integrating his engagements in politics, physics, and culture and revealing how his vision was shadowed by the history of the Third Reich. A must read for anyone interested in Heisenberg the man and the reconstruction of his country during the postwar years.' Daniel J. Kevles, Yale University