I had always thought of this book as an individual effort, that is, until I came to write this preface. However, the fact that I am indebted to the individuals listed below in no way implies or assumes that they necessarily are in agreement with what I have written. First of all, I was lucky enough to be able to meet and speak with many of the actors in my drama, which can be one of the great benefits of doing contemporary history. The list of my interview partners includes: Erich Bagge, Gerhard Borrmann, Adolf Butenandt, Werner Czulius, Gerhard Dickel, Heinz Ewald, F. Charles Frank, Ewald Fünfer, Wilhelm Hanle, Paul Harteck, Georg Hartwig, Otto Haxel, Julius Hiby, Karl-Heinz Höcker, Willibald Jentschke, Heinz Maier- Leibnitz, Werner Maurer, Wolfgang Paul, Rudolf Peierls, Michael Perrin, Nikolaus Riehl, Stefan Rozental, Kurt Sauerwein, Kurt Starke, Hans Suess, Wilhelm Walcher, Carl-Friedrich von Weizsäcker, Karl Wirtz, and Karl Zimmer. Since this book is a slightly revised version of my 1987 doctoral dissertation for the Department of History at Princeton University, I want to single out those who helped me through six long years of graduate school: Faye Angelozzi, who did more for the history of science graduate students than anyone else, all of my fellow graduate students at Princeton, without whom the Program in History of Science would not exist, and my first, and best, teacher in history, Charles C. Gillispie.