The Road from Los Alamos

An outstanding collection of essays, written over 50 years, by one of the giants of twentieth century physics. Hans Bethe won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on stellar evolution. He is perhaps the most senior figure from the Manhattan Project still living. The essays are nontechnical, and mostly discuss the nuclear arms race. Many were cowritten with other prominent scientists, like Richard Garwin. These essays span the Cold War, and most have a common theme of how to avoid a nuclear war. The book concludes with essays by Bethe on other prominent physicists that he has known. Freeman Dyson. J Robert Oppenheimer. Richard Feynman [who got his PhD from Bethe]. The essay on Feynman echoes what Bethe said in a memorial lecture for Feynman, given at Los Alamos in 1988, shortly after Feynman's death. [I was fortunate to be present at the latter lecture.]