Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex.

摘要

This book is a rich biographical study of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, his inventions, and his contributions to nuclear physics in the United States. It offers excellent teaching material for Science and Technology Studies, the History of Science and Technology, and Innovation Studies. Hiltzik's central argument is that advances in physics in the United States are primarily due to first, experimental physics made possible by Lawrence's invention of the cyclotron, and second, the unprecedented funding it attracted. The cyclotron shaped the development of physics and it helped sustain the funding that aided the growth of an expensive scientific enterprise.