Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship - Hardcover

Project Orion; The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship

Hardcover. Zustand: Good. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Good. xv, [3], 345, [5] pages. Illustrations. Appendix: Project Orion Technical Reports, 1957-1965. Notes. Index. DJ is in a plastic sleeve. Sleeve is attached to the boards. Ex-library with the usual library markings. The author is the son of Freeman Dyson! George Dyson (born 26 March 1953) is an American non-fiction author and historian of technology whose publications broadly cover the evolution of technology in relation to the physical environment and the direction of society. He has written on a wide range of topics, including the history of computing, the development of algorithms and intelligence, communications systems, space exploration, and the design of watercraft. Dyson's first book, Baidarka, published in 1986, described his research on the history of the Aleut kayak, its evolution in the hands of Russian fur traders, and his adaptation of its design to modern materials. He is the author of Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship 1957-1965 and Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence, in which he expands upon the premise of Samuel Butler's 1863 article of the same name and suggests that the Internet is a living, sentient being. His 2012 book Turing's Cathedral has been described as "a creation myth of the digital universe." It was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times 2012 Book Prize in the science and technology category and was chosen by University of California Berkeley's annual "On the Same Page" program for academic year 2013-14. Dyson is credited with the revival of the baidarka style of kayak. He is a frequent contributor to the Edge Foundation. The improbable story of the wildest idea-a space craft powered by hydrogen bombs-to come out of the space race. It was the late 1950s. The Cold War was raging. Sputnik had made its voyage and the space race was on. In America, it was the age of tail fins and "duck and cover," but it was also a time of big ideas and dreams. On his way to school one day, George Dyson learned of a truly fantastical idea: massive space vehicles that would be powered by explosions of multiple hydrogen bombs. Among the brilliant minds behind this project was George's father, the eminent physicist Freeman Dyson. Project Orion chronicles this fascinating episode in U.S. scientific research, while capturing a unique time in American history and culture. The project brought together a cadre of brilliant physicists, the first such assemblage since the Manhattan Project of fifteen years earlier. In an idyllic seaside community in southern California-the very picture of 1950s suburban prosperity-a handful of scientists, tackled a massive project that required the ingenuity of an engineer and the vision of a great theoretician. Their work-ambitious but ultimately futile-took place against the political and cultural backdrop of the Cold War, when nuclear technology spelled both promise and terror. Dyson's prodigious historical and scientific research, combined with his personal reminiscences and connections, make for a lively, richly detailed narrative. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Artikel-Nr. 84481

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