Keeping the Peace: The Aldermaston Story

by David J . Hawkings (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2001

  $3.42

  In 1940 two scientists, refugees from Nazi Germany, wrote a memorandum which was to prove one of the most significant documents of the twentieth century. In it, they outlined proposals for manufacture of the uranium fuelled 'super bomb'. The paper propelled Britain into the forefront of research into nuclear weapons and led, through the collaboration of British and American scientists in the Manhattan Project, to the decisive ending of the Second World War. One of those British scientists, William Penney, was chosen to lead the UK's nuclear weapons programme after the war and went on to be the first Director of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. Since then, the name 'Aldermaston' has become synonymous with Britain's nuclear deterrent. This book tells the fascinating story of Aldermaston and other sites which for half of century have made a unique contribution to the defence of the realm. The publication of Keeping The Peace is particularly welcome in the year in which AWE Aldermaston marks its fiftieth anniversary.