Publisher's Synopsis
" With brief, humorous stories the author paints a vivid picture of his development from a Southern boy more concerned with fishing and football into an applied nuclear physicist. His stories from youth, insider's view of academia and firsthand account of a life in physics should interest a wide audience." -- Kirkus Reviews This book is both a scientific memoir of a prominent applied physicist and a chronicle of the history of his family from the earliest days of America. The first part of this expansive memoir traces the Stacy family from the original settling of Georgia in the Midway Church community in the 18th century, their migration to southwest Georgia to escape the devastation left behind by Sherman's army in the 19th century, through the author's unusual experiences as a youth in the vanished world of the small-town South of the mid-20th century. His serendipitous path from southwest Georgia through Georgia Tech and the Marine Corps to the world of applied nuclear science is amusingly described. The second part of the book is a broad scientific memoir covering the author's advanced education at Georgia Tech and MIT as an applied nuclear physicist and his 50 years of internationally recognized research, design and teaching about nuclear reactors and nuclear fusion. This memoir provides unique insights into the history of physics and into the world of applied nuclear physics laboratories and of a major research university, as well as an interesting account of the author's personal life, family, friendships, travels and reading.
