The Big Bang: A History of Explosives

The tale of explosives from gunpowder to the H-bomb. Laying the emphasis on the lives of those involved, on the diverse uses of explosives and their social and historical impact, the author relates a story of international human endeavor. Many of those involved - Roger Bacon, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, Robert Oppenheimer - are famed worldwide; others, such as C.F. Schonbein, William Bickford, Sir Frederick Abel and Charles E. Munroe, though less well-known, also played crucial roles. Alongside these individuals' achievements, the book highlights the uses and impact of explosives in both war and terrorism, and in civil engineering, quarrying, mining, demolition, fireworks manufacture and shooting for sport. In many cases, explosives are seen to have had a significant historical impact as, for example, in the early use of gunpowder in the American Civil War, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the worldwide opening up of canals and railways.