An extract from a new tale of spooks and scientists
by Frank Close / March 13, 2015 / Leave a comment
Bruno Pontecorvo, right, with fellow physicist Carlo Franzinetti
The following is an extract from “Half Life, the divided life of Bruno Pontecorvo” the new book by the Oxford University physicist Frank Close, published by Oneworld. Pontecorvo was a prodigiously gifted physicist who, before the Second World War, worked with Enrico Fermi on the phenomenon of “slow neutrons”, work of fundamental significance in advancing the scientific understanding of matter. Pontecorvo went on to become an outstanding scientist in his own right, and during the war was at the heart of the Allied effort to harness nuclear energy. He worked on highly sensitive reactor projects in both Canada and Britain. After the war he settled in Britain, working at the Harwell nuclear research facility in Oxfordshire. Then in the summer of 1950, Pontecorvo and his family vanished.
Listen to Close discussing his book at a Prospect event:
“Did MI5 get back to you after I forwarded them your letter?”
The neat, handwritten note, on House of Lords stationery, was brief and to the point.When I received it, about two years into my research into the enigmatic life of physicist and possible spy, Bruno Pontecorvo, I had no idea that it would lead me to solve the mystery of his sudden disappearance at the height of the Cold War in 1950.
MI5 did get back to me…
TheProfRobin
Curious
frank close