About this item

The exciting history of a small group of British and American scientists who during World War II developed the new field of operational research to turn back the tide of German submarinesmdashrevolutionizing the way wars are waged and won In March after a year of unbroken and devastating U-boat onslaughts the British War Cabinet decided to try a new strategy in the foundering naval campaign To do so they hired an intensely private bohemian physicist who was also an ardent socialist Patrick Blackett was a former navy officer and future winner of the Nobel Prize he is little remembered today but he and his fellow scientists did as much to win the war against Nazi Germany as almost anyone else As director of the World War II antisubmarine effort Blackett used little more than simple mathematics and probability theorymdashand a steadfast belief in the utility of sciencemdashto save the campaign against the U-boat Employing these insights in unconventional ways from the washing of mess hall dishes to the color of bomber wings the Allies went on to win essential victories against Hitlerrsquos Germany Here is the story of these civilian intellectuals who helped to change the nature of twentieth-century warfare Throughout Stephen Budiansky describes how scientists became intimately involved with what had once been the distinct province of military commandersmdashconvincing disbelieving military brass to trust the solutions suggested by their analysis Budiansky shows that these men above all retained the belief that operational research and a scientific mentality could change the world Itrsquos a belief that has come to fruition with the spread of their tenets to the business and military worlds and it started in the Battle of the Atlantic in an attempt to outfight the Germans but most of all to outwit them.



About the Author

Stephen Budiansky

Stephen Budiansky is a historian, biographer, and journalist, the author of 18 books exploring intellectual and creative lives, military and intelligence history, and science and the natural world. He is the former Washington Editor of the scientific journal Nature and a regular book reviewer for the Wall Street Journal. He lives on a small farm in northern Virginia.



Read Next Recommendation

Report incorrect product information.