Author:
Holmes, Jamie, author.
ImprintBoston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.
Imprint2020
Descriptionxiv, 402 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Note:Part I: Peace -- Zing-a-Zing! -- Emergency Mode -- Scientific Spies -- The Wizard -- Section Tuve -- Choice Overload -- Uncanny Days -- Peenemünde -- Don't Slow Down -- Prying Eyes -- Escalation -- Part II: War -- Ready or Not -- No Alibis -- Dr. Jones's Raid -- The Garage -- Three Runs, Three Hits -- Into the Fleet -- New Tricks -- Cherry Stone -- A London Fuse -- AMNIARIX -- Part III: Victory -- Ski Shapes -- Ranch Country -- Chemical Boys -- Things Carried -- Wachtel is Hiding -- A Comet Gone Wrong -- "Turkey Shoot" -- Ack Ack Girls -- A Cold Winter -- Tug of War -- Downtime.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 371-382) and index.
Note:The riveting story of the American scientists, tinkerers, and nerds who solved one of the biggest puzzles of World War II -- and developed one of the most powerfulweapons of the war. 12 Seconds of Silence is the remarkable, lost story of how a ragtag group of American scientists overcame one of the toughest problems of World War II: shooting things out of the sky. Working in a secretive organization known as Section T, a team of physicists, engineers, and everyday Joes and Janes took on a devilish challenge. To help the Allies knock airplanes out of the air, they created one of the world's first "smart weapons." Against overwhelming odds and in a race against time, mustering every scrap of resource, ingenuity, the scientists of Section T would eventually save countless lives, rescue London from the onslaught of a Nazi superweapon, and help bring about the Axis defeat. A holy grail sought after by Allied and Axis powers alike, their unlikely innovation ranks with the atomic bomb as one of the most revolutionary technologies of the Second World War. Until now, their tale was largely untold. For fans of Erik Larson and Ben Macintyre, set amidst the fog of espionage and dueling spies -- at the dawn of an age when science would determine the fate of the world -- 12 Seconds of Silence is a tribute to the extraordinary wartime mobilization of American science and the ultimate can-do story. --Dust jacket.
