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Lasers, death rays, and the long, strange quest for the ultimate weapon /

The laser, a milestone invention of the mid-twentieth century, quickly captured the imagination of the Pentagon as the key to the ultimate weapon. Veteran science writer Jeff Hecht tells the inside story of the adventures and misadventures of scientists and military strategists as they exerted hercu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hecht, Jeff (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2019.
Subjects:
Laser weapons > History.
Laser weapons > Design and construction.
HISTORY > Military > Weapons.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING > Inventions.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING > Lasers & Photonics.
Table of Contents:
  • Death rays: from thunder gods to mad scientists
  • How the Pentagon almost invented the laser
  • The incredible rocket-engine laser
  • Space lasers on the high frontier
  • The "Star Wars" wars
  • The airborne laser gets off the ground
  • Back to the battlefield against insurgents
  • Laser weapons go solid-state
  • The quest for the ultimate weapon.