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Radioactive!
- How Irene Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World
- Narrated by: Andrea Gallo
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
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Radioactive!
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Publisher's summary
The fascinating, little-known story of how two brilliant female physicists' groundbreaking discoveries led to the creation of the atomic bomb.
In 1934, Irene Curie, working with her husband and fellow scientist, Frederic Joliot, made a discovery that would change the world: artificial radioactivity. This breakthrough allowed scientists to modify elements and create new ones by altering the structure of atoms. Curie shared a Nobel Prize with her husband for their work. But when she was nominated to the French Academy of Sciences, the academy denied her admission and voted to disqualify all women from membership.
Four years later, Curie's breakthrough led physicist Lise Meitner to a brilliant leap of understanding that unlocked the secret of nuclear fission. Meitner's unique insight was critical to the revolution in science that led to nuclear energy and the race to build the atom bomb, yet her achievement was left unrecognized by the Nobel committee in favor of that of her male colleague.
Radioactive! presents the story of two women breaking ground in a male-dominated field, scientists still largely unknown despite their crucial contributions to cutting-edge research, in a nonfiction narrative that reads with the suspense of a thriller.
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-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Rosalind Franklin was what can only be called an overlooked genius. Although she was not fully credited for the feat at the time, her work led to major breakthroughs in our understanding of DNA. In fact, she took the first X-ray photo of DNA in all of its double helix glory. By the time her former colleagues were being showered with accolades for results they made at least partially based on her findings, Franklin would not be around to see it. Sadly, it’s believed that her use of X-ray equipment gave her terminal cancer, cutting her life short at age 37.
By: Hourly History
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Headstrong
- 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World
- By: Rachel Swaby
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
In 2013, the New York Times published an obituary for Yvonne Brill. It began: “She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, and took eight years off from work to raise three children.” It wasn’t until the second paragraph that readers discovered why the Times had devoted several hundred words to her life: Brill was a brilliant rocket scientist who invented a propulsion system to keep communications satellites in orbit, and had recently been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Role models for young women
- By mtsuda90 on 06-25-16
By: Rachel Swaby
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 37 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,954
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,542
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,520
Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly - or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity, there was a span of hardly more than 25 years.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Beware limitations of the reader
- By JFanson on 01-01-19
By: Richard Rhodes
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The Age of Radiance
- The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
From the New York Times best-selling author of Rocket Men and the award-winning biographer of Thomas Paine comes the first complete history of the Atomic Age, a brilliant, magisterial account of the men and women who uncovered the secrets of the nucleus, brought its power to America, and ignited the 20th century.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Strong finish
- By David's Opinions and Reviews on 05-04-14
By: Craig Nelson
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Big Science
- Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Bob Saouer
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
Since the 1930s, the scale of scientific endeavors has grown exponentially. The birth of Big Science can be traced to Berkeley, California, nearly nine decades ago, when a resourceful young scientist pondered his new invention and declared, "I'm going to be famous!" Ernest Orlando Lawrence's cyclotron would revolutionize nuclear physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact.This is the incredible story of how one invention changed the world and of the man principally responsible for it all. Michael Hiltzik tells the riveting full story here for the first time.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An informative and thought-provoking book
- By Jean on 08-23-15
By: Michael Hiltzik
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Tuxedo Park
- A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: John Kroft
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
In the late 1930s, legendary financier, philanthropist, and society figure Alfred Lee Loomis gathered the most visionary scientific minds of the 20th century at his state-of-the-art laboratory in Tuxedo Park, New York. He established a top-secret defense laboratory at MIT and personally bankrolled pioneering research into new, high-powered radar detection systems that helped defeat the German Air Force and U-boats. With Ernest Lawrence, he pushed Franklin Delano Roosevelt to fund research in nuclear fission, which led to the development of the atomic bomb.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book, weak technical execution
- By Paul on 10-13-18
By: Jennet Conant
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The Glass Universe
- How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4 out of 5 stars 111
Number-one New York Times best-selling author Dava Sobel returns with the captivating, little-known true story of a group of women whose remarkable contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.
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4 out of 5 stars
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But the seeing, which was everything, was better
- By Cynthia on 01-07-17
By: Dava Sobel
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109 East Palace
- Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 189
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
They were told as little as possible. Their orders were to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and report for work at a classified Manhattan Project site, a location so covert it was known to them only by the mysterious address: 109 East Palace.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen
- By John H. Davis III on 10-22-05
By: Jennet Conant
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Beyond Uncertainty
- Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and the Bomb
- By: David C. Cassidy
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 22 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4 out of 5 stars 59
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, long-suppressed information has emerged on Heisenberg’s role in the Nazi atomic bomb project. In Beyond Uncertainty, Cassidy interprets this and other previously unknown material within the context of his vast research and tackles the vexing questions of a scientist’s personal responsibility and guilt when serving an abhorrent military regime.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well done!
- By David on 12-31-14
By: David C. Cassidy
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Polio
- An American Story
- By: David M. Oshinsky
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 585
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 416
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 415
This comprehensive and gripping narrative, which received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for history, covers all the challenges, characters, and controversies in America's relentless struggle against polio. Funded by philanthropy and grassroots contributions, Salk's killed-virus vaccine (1954) and Sabin's live-virus vaccine (1961) began to eradicate this dreaded disease.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 07-22-08
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Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track
- Selected Letters of Richard Feynman
- By: Richard P. Feynman
- Narrated by: Richard Poe, Johanna Parker
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 181
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
Few scientists have enthralled more people than Richard P. Feynman, the Nobel Prize winner and best-selling author of Six Easy Pieces and Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Beloved for his engaging character and zest for life, he is an American icon. In this selection of letters, Feynman's towering genius and singular personality shine like dazzling stars.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely delightful
- By csk on 07-07-05
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Dark Sun
- The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Richard Rhodes
- Length: 6 hrs
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 460
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 391
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 393
Richard Rhodes' landmark history of the atomic bomb won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Now, in this majestic new masterpiece of history, science, and politics, he tells for the first time the secret story of how and why the hydrogen bomb was made, and traces the path by which this supreme artifact of 20th-century technology became the defining issue of the Cold War.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Abridged??
- By Delano on 04-17-13
By: Richard Rhodes
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Churchill's Bomb
- How the United States Overtook Britain in the First Nuclear Arms Race
- By: Graham Farmelo
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
As award-winning biographer and science writer Graham Farmelo describes in Churchill's Bomb, the British set out to investigate the possibility of building nuclear weapons before their American colleagues. But when scientists in Britain first discovered a way to build an atomic bomb, Prime Minister Winston Churchill did not make the most of his country's lead and was slow to realize the bomb's strategic implications.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!! This was great.
- By MAC24211 on 09-08-21
By: Graham Farmelo
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Great Scientists and Their Discoveries
- By: David Angus
- Narrated by: Benjamin Soames, Clare Corbett
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
Nine remarkable men produced inventions that changed the world. The printing press, the telephone, powered flight, recording and others have made the modern world what it is. But who were the men who had these ideas and made reality of them? As David Angus shows, they were very different - quiet, boisterous, confident, withdrawn - but all had a moment of vision allied to single-minded determination to battle through numerous prototypes and produced something that really worked. This is a fascinating account for younger listeners.
By: David Angus
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Copenhagen
- By: Michael Frayn
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi and Simon Russell Beale star in Michael Frayn's award-winning play about the controversial 1941 meeting between physicists Bohr and Heisenberg. Copenhagen, Autumn 1941. The two presiding geniuses of quantum physics, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg meet for the first time since the breakout of war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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My favorite audio book so far
- By Lara H Gertler on 08-07-18
By: Michael Frayn
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Stephen Hawking: His Life and Work
- By: Kitty Ferguson
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
Stephen Hawking is one of the most remarkable figures of our time, a Cambridge genius who has earned international celebrity as a brilliant theoretical physicist and become an inspiration and revelation to those who have witnessed his courageous triumph over disability. This is Hawking's life story by Kitty Ferguson, who has had special help from Hawking himself and his close associates and who has a gift for translating the language of theoretical physics for non-scientists.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not What it Appears
- By Heizenberg on 04-04-12
By: Kitty Ferguson
What listeners say about Radioactive!
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Richard Taylor
- 06-28-17
Young Adult book
Any additional comments?
The description sounded interesting, but I was fooled because it does not say this is a "young adult" book. The stories were fine, and I learned some new things, but I kept having the feeling the author and narrator thought I was in the 8th grade-- and then I figured out why. This may be a nice resource for young kids
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jacson moody
- 09-25-17
Praise for Radioactive!
I see why this book received the 2017 notable science trade book award from the NSTA. At first I was a little apprehensive to read this book because I had to do it as make up work for an assignment in one of my education classes. But as I read and followed along with the narration I enjoyed the book and all the little things in it like the start of chemotherapy, the names of notable scientists that we know today, find out that the son of Max Planck was apart of Operation Valkyrie, and many other cool historical tidbits. I would totally recommend this book.
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