Oliphant 
The Australian genius who developed radar and showed Oppenheimer how to build the bomb
by Roland Perry
Published by Allen & Unwin
RRP $34.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781761472190

The name Roland Perry will be familiar to many readers of this column. Among Perry’s prolific output of books are titles such as The Australian Light Horse, Bill the Bastard, and most recently, The Battle of the Generals. 

He has now turned his attention to the extraordinary life of a true genius and a great Australian, Sir Mark Oliphant, whom he interviewed in 1994, six years before his death at the age of 98. 

Oliphant has been described as a maverick scientist who changed the course of history but who failed to gain the public recognition he deserved. 

In fact, J. Robert Oppenheimer will be remembered as the father of the bomb that devastated the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima but it was Oliphant and his lab that discovered how it could be built. 

Perry paints a compelling portrait of a giant of the 20th century scientific research. He traces Oliphant's life from his humble beginnings in Adelaide, early academic triumphs and collaboration with Sir Ernest Rutherford, his crucial involvement in radar and the Manhattan Project, to his role in establishing the Australian National University and serving as Governor of South Australia. 

In his later life, he would look back at his legacy with regret, becoming a vocal advocate for peace and nuclear disarmament. 

It is a story of espionage, conflict, science and conscience, and a true Australian genius whose achievements deserve to be remembered in the annals of Australian history. 

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