Rockets, Reactors and Computers Define the 20th Century
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BOOK DESCRIPTION The mid-twentieth century exploded with innovation and invention, introducing technology that would revolutionize the way people lived, worked, and played. This period saw more changes than any other in history, ushering in such world-altering developments as space exploration, nuclear power, and computers. Rockets, Reactors, and Computers Define the Twentieth Century gives a detailed account of these momentous changes from one man who was involved in the growth of all three. With wit and charm, mathematician Charles L. Bradshaw recalls his days as a rocket scientist and computer pioneer, working alongside some of the finest minds in science. Successfully mixing anecdotal and technical information, he recounts the commission to beat the Russians to the moon, harness nuclear power, and develop what we now understand to be the modern computer. Bradshaw provides a personal look at legendary events and figures such as Wernher von Braun and his team of expatriate German rocket scientists; the employment of the Redstone missile to launch the first U.S. satellite into space; and the birth and growth of the computer industry. With intimate insight, Bradshaw shares his compelling perspective on why the U.S. used the atomic bomb against Japan and defends the German scientists from inaccurate and inflammatory judgement of their WWII-era work. Educating and enthralling, Bradshaw not only engages the reader with his fascinating memoir, but explains the mathematics and science behind early rocket guidance systems, nuclear reactors, and pioneering computer programs. BACK COVER QUOTES A man before his time, Charles Bradshaw shares his passion for knowledge as a creative thinker and problem solver of rockets, reactors, and computers. I knew him as a rocket scientist while working at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.” Ed Buckbee Curator of the Wernher von Braun Collection Director Emeritus, U.S. Space and Rocket Center Founder of U.S. Space Camp “Rockets, Reactors, and Computers Define the Twentieth Century is a magnificent blend of warmth, humor, history, and technology, and can be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates being both entertained and informed. It is beautifully written and totally engrossing.” Patricia Santilli President, PCVS Inc. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Originally from Mascot (Knox County), Tennessee, Charles L. Bradshaw received an associate of arts degree from Tennessee Wesleyan College before earning a bachelor of science degree from Tennessee Tech and a master of arts degree from the University of Tennessee. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant (jg) aboard APA-217 in the Pacific theatre of operations, leading initial assault waves into Okinawa and carrying the first occupation troops to mainland Japan. Bradshaw began his career in mathematics as an assistant professor at Tennessee Polytechnic Institute. He then served as chief of the computation unit of the aeroballistics laboratory of the army’s Guided Missile Development Division headed by Dr. Wernher von Braun. Later, he joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a mathematician in the mathematics panel. He returned to the space program in 1956 as a branch chief in the computation laboratory of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. When the von Braun development team transferred to NASA to form the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1960, he became deputy director of the computations laboratory and served in that position for ten years. In 1971, he became director of the computer center at Vanderbilt University and remained in that position until retiring in 1988. Bradshaw became a member of the Association of Computing Machinery in 1954, received the Distinguished Service Award in 1988, and was named a Fellow in 1994. He and his wife, Loyce, reside in Lebanon, Tennessee.