Building the Bombs - A History of the Nuclear Weapons Complex

You will truly be amazed by this Government Documents book (E 1.2:B 86/9/2005) which spells out all the interlocking steps which lead to the creation of the nuclear bomb. It began with Albert Einsteins' theory of relativity, but scientific contributions were made by many others including Ernest Rutherford (first artificial transmutation of an element by bombarding with alpha particles) and Niels Bohr (quantum physics creator who showed that electrons exist in discrete chemical levels.) The contributions of our military leaders are also given along with the history of Los Alamos and White Sands, New Mexico.
This book also shows how the Germans in World War II were simultaneously working on nuclear weapons. If the Allied forces hadn't destroyed German supplies of Heavy Water in Vemork (Norway), the Germans might have developed the bomb before the U.S.)

The work of Klaus Fuchs and Ted Hall (spies working in Los Alamos who supplied nuclear secrets to the Soviets) is carefully detailed as well as others such as Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and the Rosenbergs.

Photographs of everything from the Little Boy bomb to the Stealth bomber are in this concise little book.