DiscoverAfternoon LightRoland Perry on Australia's Nuclear Genius Mark Oliphant: "I wanted to scream on the steps"
Roland Perry on Australia's Nuclear Genius Mark Oliphant: "I wanted to scream on the steps"

Roland Perry on Australia's Nuclear Genius Mark Oliphant: "I wanted to scream on the steps"

Update: 2025-12-02
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Was an Aussie more essential to the development of the Atom bomb than J. Robert Oppenheimer, & if so why don't we remember him?


On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Roland Perry to reveal the remarkable story of Mark Oliphant. A man who arguably won the Second World War twice: first by developing radar to stave off the Nazis, and then by developing the bomb that knocked out Japan. Perhaps the most amazing part of the story is that he is not a household name - reflecting Australia's own discomfort with the destructive power that Oliphant helped to unleash upon the world.


Roland Perry OAM is one of Australia’s best-known authors whose books have sold more than two million copies. He has published 40 books, many of them bestsellers, including Bill the Bastard, Horrie the War Dog, The Australian Light Horse, The Changi Brownlow, Monash & Chauvel, and Anzac Sniper. His latest book is Oliphant: The Australian genius who developed radar and showed Oppenheimer how to build the bomb.


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Roland Perry on Australia's Nuclear Genius Mark Oliphant: "I wanted to scream on the steps"

Roland Perry on Australia's Nuclear Genius Mark Oliphant: "I wanted to scream on the steps"

Robert Menzies Institute