AuthorPaul Strathern
NarratorFergus Mcclelland
Duration1h 45m
CategoriesChildren and Young Adult Non-Fiction and Educational Titles, History
Key StageKS4
PublisherInhouse
VersionUnabridged
A charismatic teacher who inspired a generation of physicists, Robert Oppenheimer, the subject of this brief biography, is remembered today as 'the father of the atom bomb'. It was his creation that brought a devastating end to World War II. The two bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed hundreds of thousands, destroyed the lives of millions, and ushered in a new era in which the potential for nuclear annihilation held the world in a precarious balance for the next five decades. Developing the bomb involved highly complex and theoretical work on splitting the atom. How did Oppenheimer go about this work? What of the moral dilemmas Oppenheimer faced over the creation of a weapon of such mass destruction? And what about his contributions to quantum mechanics and his early work on black holes? This audiobook, one of a series which gives straightforward accounts of great discoveries, presents a snapshot of a scientist and his controversial work, offering an explanation of how the bomb was developed, its importance, and its implications for the 20th century and beyond. THIS AUDIOBOOK CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE.
The Big Idea: Hawking and Black Holes
Author: Paul Strathern
Author Paul Strathern
Narrator John Albasiny
Duration 2h
'The Big Idea' is a fascinating series of popular science books aimed at scientists and non-specialists alike. Stephen Hawking's discoveries and research on black holes and cosmology have been hailed as the next leap for mankind into new worlds and a new era.
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The Boys Who Challenged Hitler
Author: Phillip Hoose
Author Phillip Hoose
Narrator Phillip Hoose
Duration 4h 51m
At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill...
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The Big Idea: Bohr and Quantum Theory
Author: Paul Strathern
Author Paul Strathern
Narrator Fergus Mcclelland
Duration 1h 44m
At a moment of great discovery, one big idea can change the world... Niels Bohr's discoveries in quantum theory led to advances in physics and our understanding of atomic structure. His work won him the Nobel Prize in 1922 and his ideas continue to propel physics towards new discoveries. But what is quantum theory? Most of us do not understand even...
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Author: Pam Pollack
Author Pam Pollack
Narrator Karyn O'Bryant
Duration 56m
Joan of Arc was born in a small French village during the worst period of the Hundred Years' War. For generations, France had been besieged by the British. At age 11, Joan began to see religious visions telling her to join forces with the King of France. By the time she was a teenager, she was leading troops into battle in the name of her country....
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The Big Idea: Pythagoras and His Theorem
Author: Paul Strathern
Author Paul Strathern
Narrator Robin Houston
Duration 1h 25m
Pythagoras was arguably the first mathematician and philosopher in the western world. This book presents a brilliant snapshot of his life and work and gives a clear and accessible explanation of their meaning and significance for the world we live in today.
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Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Author Kenneth C. Davis
Narrator Macleod Andrews
Duration 4h 40m
With 2018 marking the 100th anniversary of the worst disease outbreak in modern history, the story of the Spanish flu is more relevant today than ever. This dramatic narrative, told through the stories and voices of the people caught in the deadly maelstrom, explores how this vast, global epidemic was intertwined with the horrors of World War I-and...
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Author: Irene Gut Updike
Author Irene Gut Updike
Narrator Hope Davis
Duration 7h 6m
IRENE GUT WAS just 17 in 1939, when the Germans and Russians devoured her native Poland. Just a girl, really. But a girl who saw evil and chose to defy it.
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Author: Livia Bitton-Jackson
Author Livia Bitton-Jackson
Narrator Christine Williams
Duration 6h 37m
Imagine being a thirteen-year-old girl in love with boys, school, family-life itself. Then suddenly, in a matter of hours, your life is shattered by the arrival of a foreign army. You can no longer attend school, have possessions, talk to your neighbors. One day your family has to leave your house behind and move into a crowded ghetto, where you lo...
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The Big Idea: Darwin and Evolution
Author: Paul Strathern
Author Paul Strathern
Narrator John Albasiny
Duration 1h 30m
'The Big Idea' is a fascinating series of popular science books aimed at scientists and non-specialists alike. Charles Darwin's formulation of the theory of evolution with its now commonplace central idea of 'the survival of the fittest' is today generally accepted as logical and self-evident, yet at the time was seen as shocking and blasphemous.
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Author: Roberta Edwards
Author Roberta Edwards
Narrator Kevin Pariseau
Duration 53m
Ever since Howard Carter uncovered King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, the young pharaoh has become a symbol of the wealth and mystery of ancient Egypt. This Who Was . . . ? explains the life and times of this ancient Egyptian ruler, covering the story of the tomb's discovery, as well as myths and so-called mummy curses.
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