Marty and Holly sit down with Canadian science fiction superstar Robert J. Sawyer to talk about his book The Oppenheimer Alternative. Robert tells us how he spun the mistaken prediction of the sun’s temperature by Hans Bethe (in 1939) into a science fiction tale where the great physicists of the 20th century save humanity from being vaporized by a solar instability. We discuss Bethe and Einstein’s Nobel Prizes, Oppenheimer’s prediction of black holes, and the history of the Manhattan Project. We talk about the ethics and politics of dropping the first two nuclear bombs on Japan, the creation of doomsday weapons, and their impact on space travel in Project Orion. Robert's Webpage: https://www.sfwriter.com/ Email us: [email protected] us a messageEmail: [email protected]: https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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