Alvin M. Weinberg (1915–2006)

Collection of essays by the former head of the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. Weinberg was a prolific contributor to magazines and newspapers, and was responsible for popularising the terms "technological fix" for engineering solutions to social problems, and "big science" for the kind of science (usually military-oriented) that was funded by government after the Second World War. The pieces are well-written and thoughtful, but at times (perhaps unconsciously, or unreflectively) polemical.

Weinberg's avocation was as an essayist on science policy matters, which provided him with a more enduring reputation than his career as head of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, investigating novel schemes for nuclear reactors. Best known for coining the terms 'technological fix' and 'Big Science', he tempered his boosterism for nuclear power with honest and vocal reflection.