No man better symbolizes the modern scientist's growing awareness of his responsibility to society for the effects of his work than Leo Szilard. He helped develop the atomic bomb, only to turn his energies in later life to warning against the dangers of reckless weapons development and helping to solve vital problems in human biology.

The vast modern upheavals of politics and society played an important role in Leo Szilard's life. Born in Hungary in 1898, young Szilard saw a world of peace and prosperity destroyed by World War I. As a brilliant student and then a renowned teacher and scientist in post-War Berlin, Szilard watched the disintegration of German society and the rise of Hitler. As an exile in England and then the United States, he was one of a handful of physicists who realized the awesome possibilities of atomic fission.

Szilard was instrumental in having Albert Einstein persuade the U.S. government to try to build an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany could reach that fearsome goal. With Fermi and other noted scientists, he played a vital role in the building of that first bomb; but after the war, he turned his back on nuclear physics, and began a second career investigating the chemistry and function of human body cells. His immensely valuable discoveries in this area, his work for the cause of world peace, his gallant personal battle against cancer, his inspiration to others and his amazing creative energy fill the closing chapters of this fascinating biography. The inspiring story of one of the towering scientific geniuses of our age.

From the dust jacket