The Martians of Science : Five Physicists Who Changed the Twentieth Century

The Martians of Science is the engaging story of five little-known Hungarian physicists who transformed 20th century science. They emigrated to the United States from Hungary in the 1930's and were important contributors to experiments such as the Manhattan Project. Variously recognized with the National Medal for Science, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize for physics, these five remained close friends throughout their lives. Through decades of political and social upheaval, they held onto their Hungarian identities and were fiercely opinionated and politically active reactionaries against the fascism and anti-Semitism with which they had grown up. Based on the author's personal relationships with the subjects and many interviews with their contemporaries, The Martians of Science is an exhaustively researched, fascinating story of an important era in history: the history of the Cold War, political history, American history, Hungarian history, and scientific history.