Zusatztext Praise for Stephen Budiansky's Blackett's War Recommended Reading! Scientific American A fascinating portrayal of how science contributed to winning the war in Europe. The Wall Street Journal A terrific story! exciting! illuminating! well told. Dallas Morning News Lively and enlightening. . . . Budiansky knowingly and entertainingly re-creates the almost constant struggle between hidebound military traditionalists and the clever civilians who saved them. The Washington Post Engaging. . . . A finely wrought and well-sourced social history of elite science's wartime mobilization. . . . A wonderful revisionist history of how intelligence derived from Bletchley Park's breakthroughs combined with Blackett's operational research to bypass and destroy the Nazi Wolfpacks. Fortune Budiansky has mastered the difficulties of the story! making it very readable and compelling . . . an important work. New York Journal of Books A fascinating and skilful blend of naval warfare! science! and British social history with a richly diverse cast of characters. World War II Magazine Little-known story of the Allied scientists whose unconventional thinking helped thwart the Nazi U-boats in World War II . . . An excellent! well-researched account . . . an engrossing work rich in insights and anecdotes. Kirkus Reviews ! starred review The little known history of a linchpin in the Allies' victory over the Nazis: Patrick Blackett. . . . For military history and science fans alike. Publishers Weekly Informationen zum Autor Stephen Budiansky is the author of seventeen books about military history, intelligence and espionage, science, the natural world, and other subjects. His most recent books are Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union and Mad Music: Charles Ives, the Nostalgic Rebel . Budiansky's writing has appeared in The Atlantic , the New York Times magazine and op-ed pages, the Wall Street Journal , the Washington Post , The Economist , and many other publications. He is a member of the editorial board of Cryptologia , the scholarly journal of cryptology and intelligence history, and is on the American Heritage Dictionary 's Usage Panel. He lives on a small farm in Loudoun County, Virginia. Klappentext A Washington Post Notable Book In March 1941! after a year of devastating U-boat attacks! the British War Cabinet turned to an intensely private! bohemian physicist named Patrick Blackett to turn the tide of the naval campaign. Though he is little remembered today! Blackett did as much as anyone to defeat Nazi Germany! by revolutionizing the Allied anti-submarine effort through the disciplined! systematic implementation of simple mathematics and probability theory. This is the story of how British and American civilian intellectuals helped change the nature of twentieth-century warfare! by convincing disbelieving military brass to trust the new field of operational research. Preface From 1941 to 1943, a small group of British and American scientists, almost entirely without military experience or knowledge, revolutionized the way wars are run and won. Applying the basic tools of their tradea thoroughly scientific mind--set backed by little more than simple mathematics and probability theorythey repeatedly demonstrated to disbelieving admirals and generals ways to double or triple the effectiveness of the faltering Allied campaign against the German U--boats. In the grim fight for control of the Atlantic during those years of uncertainty, the scientists' unconventional insights achieved the near--miraculous in a battle crucial t...

Praise for Stephen Budiansky's Blackett's War

Recommended Reading, Scientific American

“A fascinating portrayal of how science contributed to winning the war in Europe.”
—The Wall Street Journal
 
“A terrific story, exciting, illuminating, well told.”
—Dallas Morning News
 
“Lively and enlightening. . . . Budiansky knowingly and entertainingly re-creates the almost constant struggle between hidebound military traditionalists and the clever civilians who saved them.”
—The Washington Post
 
“Engaging. . . . A finely wrought and well-sourced social history of elite science’s wartime mobilization. . . . A wonderful revisionist history of how intelligence derived from Bletchley Park’s breakthroughs combined with Blackett’s operational research to bypass and destroy the Nazi Wolfpacks.”
—Fortune

“Budiansky has mastered the difficulties of the story, making it very readable and compelling . . . an important work.”
—New York Journal of Books

“A fascinating and skilful blend of naval warfare, science, and British social history with a richly diverse cast of characters.”
—World War II Magazine

“Little-known story of the Allied scientists whose unconventional thinking helped thwart the Nazi U-boats in World War II . . . An excellent, well-researched account . . . an engrossing work rich in insights and anecdotes.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“The little known history of a linchpin in the Allies’ victory over the Nazis: Patrick Blackett. . . . For military history and science fans alike.”
—Publishers Weekly

Autorentext

Stephen Budiansky is the author of seventeen books about military history, intelligence and espionage, science, the natural world, and other subjects. His most recent books are Code Warriors: NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union and Mad Music: Charles Ives, the Nostalgic Rebel.

Budiansky's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the New York Times magazine and op-ed pages, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Economist, and many other publications. He is a member of the editorial board of Cryptologia, the scholarly journal of cryptology and intelligence history, and is on the American Heritage Dictionary’s Usage Panel. He lives on a small farm in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Klappentext

A Washington Post Notable Book

In March 1941, after a year of devastating U-boat attacks, the British War Cabinet turned to an intensely private, bohemian physicist named Patrick Blackett to turn the tide of the naval campaign. Though he is little remembered today, Blackett did as much as anyone to defeat Nazi Germany, by revolutionizing the Allied anti-submarine effort through the disciplined, systematic implementation of simple mathematics and probability theory. This is the story of how British and American civilian intellectuals helped change the nature of twentieth-century warfare, by convincing disbelieving military brass to trust the new field of operational research.

Leseprobe

Preface

From 1941 to 1943, a small group of British and American scientists, almost entirely without military experience or knowledge, revolutionized the way wars are run and won.

Applying the basic tools of their trade—a thoroughly scientific mind--set backed by little more than simple mathematics and probability theory—they repeatedly demonstrated to disbelieving admirals and generals ways to double or triple the effectiveness of the faltering Allied campaign against the German U--boats. In the grim fight for control of the Atlantic during those years of uncertainty, the scientists’ unconventional insights achieved the near--miraculous in a battle crucial to the larger struggle to defeat Hitler’s Germany.

The scientists who beat the U--boats never numbered more than a hundred in all, a fraction of the thousands who worked to achieve the two far better known triumphs of science in the war: the b…