Before The Fall-out: From Marie Curie To Hiroshima

DIANA PRESTON -• FROM MARIE CURIE TD HIROSHIMA T h e human chain reaction t h a t led t o t h e a t o m b o m b Marvellous. Brilliantly realized. Impeccably researched. This is a formidable book' 'In a swashbuckling spirit, armchair adventureres will savor a Pirate of Exquisite Mind. But armchair historians will too. The Prestons, having personally retraced Dampier's routes, have a fine appreciation of his stamina . . . Happily for his curious contemporaries, Damper made his far-flung voyages. Luckily for us, the Prestons have sailed in his wake' Wall Street Journal 'This eloquently enthusiastic biography, besides charting Dampier's astonishing achievements, offers fascinating information about his times' The Age, Melbourne Acclaim for Wilful Murder: 'A complex story of heroism and courage . . . compulsively readable' Independent on Sunday 'The most comprehensive and accessible account of the sinking there has been or perhaps will be' Sunday Telegraph 'A fitting monument to a multitudinous loss' John Updike, The New Yorker 'It is not easy, nowadays, to write an original book on the First World War . . . but Preston has succeeded' Norman Stone, Sunday Times 'Very good . . . Preston has done an extraordinary amount of work, particularly in tracing the memories of surviviors' Sunday Times 'Sets a standard which other books have not achieved' Irish Independent 'Clear and effective . . . benefits from exhaustive research' TLS Also by Diana Preston THE ROAD TO CULLODEN M O O R : A FIRST Bonnie Prince Charlie and the '45 Rebellion RATE TRAGEDY: Captain Scott's Antarctic Expeditions BESIEGED IN PEKING: The Story of the 1900 Boxer Rising WILFUL MURDER: The Sinking of the Lusitania A with Michael Preston The Life of William Dampier PIRATE OF EXQUISITE MIND: BEFORE THE FALL-OUT The Human Chain Reaction from Marie Curie to Hiroshima Diana Preston M CORGI BOOKS BEFORE THE FALL-OUT A CORGI BOOK : 0SS2770868 9780552770866 Originally published in Great Britain by Doubleday, a division of Transworld Publishers PRINTING HISTORY Doubleday edition published 2005 Corgi edition published 2006 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Copyright © The Preston Writing Partnership 2005 The right of Diana Preston to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Set in ll/14pt Sabonby Falcon Oast Graphic Art Ltd. Corgi Books are published by Transworld Publishers, 61-63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA, a division of The Random House Group Ltd, in Australia by Random House Australia (Pry) Ltd, 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney, NSW 2061, Australia, in New Zealand by Random House New Zealand Ltd, 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand and in South Africa by Random House (Pty) Ltd, Isle of Houghton, Corner Boundary Road &c Carse O'Gowrie, Houghton 2198, South Africa. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox &c Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire Papers used by Transworld Publishers are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin To Michael, my husband and partner in writing CONTENTS Acknowledgements Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 'Brilliant in the Darkness' 'A Rabbit from the Antipodes' Forces of Nature 'Make Physics