The epic story of how science, in pursuit of the secrets of the universe, went "big," built bombs, and became beholden to governments and the whims of wars, and the forgotten genius who started it all, Ernest Lawrence, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Michael Hiltzik.
Since the 1930s, the scale of scientific endeavor has grown exponentially, our machines have become larger, our ambitions more brazen. The first particle accelerator could be held in its creator‘s lap, while its successor, the Large Hadron Collider grew to 17 miles in circumference and cost ten billion dollars. We have invented the atomic bomb, put man on the moon, dispatched robotic probes beyond the Solar System, and probed the inner workings of nature at the scale of subatomic particles—all the result of Big Science, the model of in-dustrial-scale research paid for by governments, departments of defense, and corporations that has driven the great scientific projects of our time. The birth of Big Science can be traced to the day nearly nine decades ago in Berkeley, California, when a charming and resourceful young scientist with a talent for physics and perhaps an even greater talent for promotion pondered his new invention and declared, ?I‘m going to be famous!? His name was Ern-est Orlando Lawrence. His invention, the cyclotron, would revolutionize nucle-ar physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact. It would transform everything about how science was done, in ways that still matter today. It would remake our understanding of the basic building blocks of nature. It would help win World War II. Its influence would be felt in academia, industry and international politics. It was the beginning of Big Science.

About the Author

Michael Hiltzik is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author who has covered business, technology, and public policy for the Los Angeles Times for three decades. He currently serves as the Times‘s business columnist and hosts its business blog, The Economy Hub. His books include The New Deal, Colossus, Dealers of Lightning, and The Plot Against Social Security. Mr. Hiltzik received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for articles exposing corruption in the entertainment industry.