From Nobel Prize-winning work in atomic physics to community concerns over radiation leaks, Brookhaven National Laboratory's ups and downs track the changing fortunes of "big science" in the United States since World War II. But Brookhaven is also unique; it was the first major national laboratory built specifically for basic civilian research. In Making Physics, Robert P. Crease brings to life the people, the instruments, the science, and the politics of Brookhaven's first quarter-century.