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Hitler's Scientists

Science, War, and the Devil's Pact

Author John Cornwell
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Paperback
$24.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
On sale Sep 28, 2004 | 576 Pages | 9780142004807
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An eye-opening account of the rise of science in Germany through to Hitler’s regime, and the frightening Nazi experiments that occurred during the Reich

A shocking account of Nazi science, and a compelling look at the the dramatic rise of German science in the nineteenth century, its preeminence in the early twentieth, and the frightening developments that led to its collapse in 1945, this is the compelling story of German scientists under Hitler’s regime. Weaving the history of science and technology with the fortunes of war and the stories of men and women whose discoveries brought both benefits and destruction to the world, Hitler's Scientists raises questions that are still urgent today. As science becomes embroiled in new generations of weapons of mass destruction and the war against terrorism, as advances in biotechnology outstrip traditional ethics, this powerful account of Nazi science forms a crucial commentary on the ethical role of science.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Understanding the Germans


Part One: Hitler's Scientific Inheritance
1. Hitler the Scientist
2. Germany the Science Mecca
3. Fritz Haber
4. The Poison Gas Scientists
5. The "Science" of Racial Hygiene
6. Eugenics and Psychiatry

Part Two: The New Physics 1918-1933
7. Physics after the First War
8. German Science Survives

Part Three: Nazi Enthusiasm, Compliance and Oppression 1933-1939
9. The Dismissals
10. Engineers and Rocketeers
11. Medicine Under Hitler
12. The Cancer Campaign
13. Geopolitik and Lebensraum
14. Nazi Physics
15. Himmler's Pseudo-science
16. Deutsche Mathematik

Part Four: The Science of Destruction and Defence 1933-1943
17. Fission Mania
18. World War II
19. Machines of War
20. Radar
21. Codes

Part Five: The Nazi Atomic Bomb 1941-1945
22. Copenhagen
23. Speer and Heisenberg
24. Haigerloch and Los Alamos

Part Six: Science in Hell 1942-1945
25. Slave Labour at Dora
26. The "Science" of Extermination and Human Experiment
27. The Devil's Chemists
28. Wonder Weapons

Part Seven: In Hitler's Shadow
29. Farm Hall
30. Heroes, Villains, and Fellow Travellers
31. Scientific Plunder

Part Eight: Science from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism
32. Nuclear Postures
33. Uniquely Nazi?
34. Science at War Again

Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

© Jerry Bauer
John Cornwell is in the department of history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University. He is a regular feature writer at the Sunday Times (London) and the author and editor of four books on science, including Power to Harm, on the Louisville Prozac trial, as well as Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII and Breaking Faith: Can the Catholic Church Save Itself? View titles by John Cornwell

About

An eye-opening account of the rise of science in Germany through to Hitler’s regime, and the frightening Nazi experiments that occurred during the Reich

A shocking account of Nazi science, and a compelling look at the the dramatic rise of German science in the nineteenth century, its preeminence in the early twentieth, and the frightening developments that led to its collapse in 1945, this is the compelling story of German scientists under Hitler’s regime. Weaving the history of science and technology with the fortunes of war and the stories of men and women whose discoveries brought both benefits and destruction to the world, Hitler's Scientists raises questions that are still urgent today. As science becomes embroiled in new generations of weapons of mass destruction and the war against terrorism, as advances in biotechnology outstrip traditional ethics, this powerful account of Nazi science forms a crucial commentary on the ethical role of science.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Understanding the Germans


Part One: Hitler's Scientific Inheritance
1. Hitler the Scientist
2. Germany the Science Mecca
3. Fritz Haber
4. The Poison Gas Scientists
5. The "Science" of Racial Hygiene
6. Eugenics and Psychiatry

Part Two: The New Physics 1918-1933
7. Physics after the First War
8. German Science Survives

Part Three: Nazi Enthusiasm, Compliance and Oppression 1933-1939
9. The Dismissals
10. Engineers and Rocketeers
11. Medicine Under Hitler
12. The Cancer Campaign
13. Geopolitik and Lebensraum
14. Nazi Physics
15. Himmler's Pseudo-science
16. Deutsche Mathematik

Part Four: The Science of Destruction and Defence 1933-1943
17. Fission Mania
18. World War II
19. Machines of War
20. Radar
21. Codes

Part Five: The Nazi Atomic Bomb 1941-1945
22. Copenhagen
23. Speer and Heisenberg
24. Haigerloch and Los Alamos

Part Six: Science in Hell 1942-1945
25. Slave Labour at Dora
26. The "Science" of Extermination and Human Experiment
27. The Devil's Chemists
28. Wonder Weapons

Part Seven: In Hitler's Shadow
29. Farm Hall
30. Heroes, Villains, and Fellow Travellers
31. Scientific Plunder

Part Eight: Science from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism
32. Nuclear Postures
33. Uniquely Nazi?
34. Science at War Again

Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Author

© Jerry Bauer
John Cornwell is in the department of history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University. He is a regular feature writer at the Sunday Times (London) and the author and editor of four books on science, including Power to Harm, on the Louisville Prozac trial, as well as Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII and Breaking Faith: Can the Catholic Church Save Itself? View titles by John Cornwell

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