6 August 1945: the United States launches the world's first nuclear attack on Japan. J. Robert Oppenheimer will be remembered as the father of the bomb, but it was Australian physicist Sir Mark Oliphant and his lab who discovered how it could be built. Faced with Hitler's determination to acquire atomic weapons, Oliphant shares his secret research with Oppenheimer and helps him build the first nuclear bomb. It is a decision both will come to regret.
Oliphant's brilliance was not limited to atomic science, he was also central to the development of radar, an innovation that saved Britain from Nazi invasion. After the war, amidst a slew of KGB scandals enveloping his team, Oliphant's push against US nuclear dominance drew suspicion from the CIA. He came under surveillance and was banned from entering the USA, the country he had given so much.
Based on his interviews with Mark Oliphant, bestselling author Roland Perry paints a compelling portrait of a giant of the 20th century. Perry traces Oliphant's life from his humble beginnings in Adelaide, early academic triumphs and collaboration with Sir Ernest Rutherford, his crucial involvement in radar and the Manhattan Project, to establishing the Australian National University and serving as a highly controversial Governor of South Australia.
More than just a chronicle of an extraordinary scientist, Oliphant reveals the legacy of a man who faced a moral reckoning in the bomb's aftermath and later transformed into a vocal advocate for peace and nuclear disarmament. It is a story of espionage, conflict, science and conscience, and a true Australian genius.
