Ivy-Mike

PREFACE
On Saturday, 1 November 1952, at 0715 hours localtime, and three days before General Dwight D. Eisenhowerwas elected President, the United States detonated theworlds first Super Bomb at Eniwetok Atoll, MarshallIslands. This is an accurate historical account of theScripps Institution of Oceanographys participation inthat test, an unpublicized event that changed for all timethe lives of every person on earth.

The first half of the book treats the conceptionand design of the Super at the Los Alamos ScientificLaboratory, during which Scrippss assistance is soughtwhen a late development indicates that the Mikes energyrelease might substantially exceed design expectations,thus mandating a drastic expansion of the Test Operation.The latter half describes the frantic efforts of 12,000military and scientific personnel, living on a small Pacificatoll, to prepare for and conduct a test of Mike, the firstthermonuclear device, to measure its effects, and to escaperadioactive fallout from a mushroom cloud three times aslarge as the Atoll.

The account is narrated by a fictitious participantwho was in a position to know everything. But from thisand future events, I came to know all of the players inthis drama and the details of their experiences. I havepreserved the names and titles of principal Task Forceofficers and scientists, and employed fictitious names forother participants. The entrapment of Jack Clark in thefiring bunker actually occurred two years later during theBRAVO shot of Operation CASTLE.

W. G. Van DornLa Jolla, California

Book Review

IVY-MIKE is a remarkable book. William Van Dorn has managed to combine a comprehensive description of the major historical activities associated with the Mike test with enough fictional narrative to make it appealing to the non-scientist:

-----Harold M. Agnew, Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1970-1979.

Ivy-Mike offers a scientific slice of history and glimpse into the post World War-II philosophy regarding nuclear arms. The 1952 test at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands was not only a feat of science but also a feat of logistics. While an army of scientists and military scurried to secure the area prior to the test, late calculations suggested that the bombs power was significantly larger than expected. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography was asked to advise the team on alerting vulnerable areas without exposing the top-secret project. Author William Van Dorn, an oceanographer and tsunami expert who worked for the institution during this time, narrates the story as a fictional protagonist named Bob Ward. The authors conversational writing style makes his complicated subject accessible, even to non-scientists. The account is thorough and historically significant, even as to day-to-day details. Threaded through the history lesson is a romance between Bob and his new love, Suzy. The relationship warms the story and, given the setting, this stylistic choice has the ring of verisimilitude. Altogether, Ivy-Mike is an illuminating historical tale.

---Kirkus Discoveries