Tom Ramos’ "From Berkeley to Berlin" is a meticulously researched account of how a group of scientists at the University of California’s Radiation Laboratory (the "Rad Lab") played a pivotal role in shaping Cold War nuclear deterrence. At the heart of the story is Ernest Lawrence, the Nobel laureate whose vision and leadership assembled a team of physicists tasked with developing the technology needed to counter Soviet aggression—notably, the warhead for the Polaris missile.

Ramos blends scientific history with geopolitical drama, detailing how the Rad Lab’s breakthroughs in miniaturized nuclear weapons enabled the U.S. Navy’s submarine-based deterrent, a key factor in President Kennedy’s stand against Khrushchev during the Berlin Crisis. Personally, I was not a fan of the author's strong anti-Communist bias, but I think the book is valuable as a view of the scientific community in the mid-20th century.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thanks for the copy from NetGalley.

Not quite what i was expecting... A lot of political intrigue, anticommunist bias and cresento obscured the scientific and historical aspects of the book.

Mr. Ramos of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory sheds light on the work of a key group of scientists that helped ensure that both nuclear deterrence was possible and that it was a tool for peaceful existence with a tyrannical enemy. The Atomic age was upon the world after 1945 with the development and dropping of the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is the beginning of the story though. Early in the Second World War, a coalition of scientists became aware of the Nazi Nuclear Weapons program and urged that the free countries develop one as well. Ernest Lawrence and his colleagues were a part of that and would continue to develop weapons with the hope of never needing to use them. These scientists lived in a harsh bipolar world filled with parties bent on forcing their ideologies upon others, their task was to develop and provide a deterrent.