The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite

by Finkbeiner, Ann K.

• ISBN13: 9780143038474
• ISBN10: 0143038478
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-27
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA

Summary

The Jasons are a well-guarded group of world-class scientists, briefly outed in the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War, who have been meeting every summer since 1960 to tackle classified problems that the Defense Department cannot solve. Among many stunning innovations, they helped invent our electronic battlefield and Star Wars missile defense technology, and are now looking into ways to improve our intelligence gathering. Recounting the unknown story of these brilliant, stubbornly independent thinkers, Ann Finkbeiner takes advantage of her unprecedented access to this elite group to explore the uncertain bargains between science and politics. It is a story older than Faust and as timely as tomorrow’s headlines.

Author Biography

Ann Finkbeiner is a freelance science writer who has written for Science magazine and contributed to USA Today and the New York Times Book Review. She runs the graduate program in science writing at Johns Hopkins University.