2: Investigative journalist TOM POWERS. He's written a new book about the German attempt to get an atomic bomb, the threat that terrified American scientists and military during World War II. The book is, "Heisenberg's War," (Knopf). At the center of the story is German physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg. While other preeminent scientists left Germany with the rise of the Reich, Heinsenberg chose to stay to defend what was left of "good science." American officials plotted to kill or kidnap him to "deny the enemy his brain." There's long been a debate about whether Heisenberg purposely held back research on the bomb to thwart Hitler, or he just inadvertently bungled the attempt. POWERS makes the case that Heisenberg withheld the kind of encouragement that would have led to development of the bomb. POWERS contrasts this with America's fear of German technology, and zealousness to get to the bomb first.
Copyright 1993 Fresh Air