000 01410nam a22001457a 4500
999 _c297018
_d297018
020 _a9781785784347
082 _a629 BUC-C
100 _a Douglas Buck
245 _aThe Cryotron Files : The strange death of a pioneering Cold War computer scientist
260 _bIcon Books
_c2018
300 _a286 pages
520 _aDudley Buck was a brilliant scientist who developed or invented several early pieces of now-common technology (e.g. microchips, flash drives)in the 1950s. Like his Nobel-winning colleagues, he might have benefitted from them greatly, had he not died aged 32 of a mysterious heart attack, just after a high-profile group of Soviet scientists visited his lab on a cold war-era tour of the USA. Buck was not the only scientist to expire that day - his colleague Dr Ridenour, chief scientist at Lockheed, also died of an unexplained heart attack. Both deaths are consistent with KGB contact-poison hits. Recently discovered papers reveal Buck's extensive career in clandestine government work, that had led to his contact with Russia's top computer scientists. His work was filed away and rediscovered in the 1980s when it was used in research projects by NASA. A fascinating narrative history of Cold War era computer and tech research, combining social historical elements to produce a brilliant portrait of America in the mid-20th century.
650 _aCryotron
942 _cBK