Tracing uranium’s past, and how it intersects with our understanding of other radioactive elements, this book aims to disentangle our attitudes and to unpick the atomic mindset.

Chain Reactions looks at the fascinating, often-forgotten, stories that can be found throughout the history of the element. Ranging from glassworks to penny stocks; medicines to weapons; something to be feared to a powerful source of energy, this global history not only explores the development of our scientific understanding of uranium, but also shines a light on its cultural and social impact.

By understanding our nuclear past, we can move beyond the ideological opposition to atomic technology and encourage a more nuanced dialogue about whether it is feasible – and desirable – to have a genuinely nuclear-powered future.

Chain Reactions is an essential read for those interested in the history and future of our applications of the atomic nucleus. It is enlightening, engaging, tragic, funny, accurate, and optimistic, all at once. Lucy Jane Santos’ research and analysis have uncovered nearly-forgotten archival information and cleanly extracted an authoritative reality from stories riddled with myth and controversy. I’ve engaged with nuclear history for the past 20 years, and yet still learned something new and important on each page. ― Nick Touran, What is Nuclear

Full of surprising facts from a tumultuous past, Lucy Jane Santos offers an intriguing and entertaining story of a powerful element with revolutionary potential. ― Marco Visscher, author of The Power of Nuclear: The Rise, Fall and Return of Our Mightiest Energy Source

Uranium has lurked at the centre of some of our strangest visions and strongest fears in the modern world. Lucy Jane Santos has written a light, entertaining and revealing history of a heavy element ― Professor Jon Agar, University College London

A fascinating and richly detailed history charting an illuminating course through the story of one of the most useful and destructive elements. ― Kat Arney, Science writer and broadcaster