Dexter Masters
Encyclopedia
Dexter Wright Masters was an American editor and novelist who wrote extensively about the dangers of the atomic bomb.
, was born in Springfield, Illinois
, and studied at the University of Chicago.
Masters co-edited with nuclear physicist Katherine Way (1903-1995) the 1946 New York Times bestseller One World or None: a Report to the Public on the Full Meaning of the Atomic Bomb. The book included essays by Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, and sold over 100,000 copies. In 1955, Masters published a novel, "The Accident." detailing the last eight days of a nuclear physicist dying from radiation sickness after a criticality accident
, based on the death of physicist Louis Slotin
who died after such an accident in 1946. The novel was so controversial the US banned a movie version of it. A series of radio programs on the bomb earned Masters a Peabody award in 1963.
Shortly after its founding in 1936, Masters joined the staff of the Consumer's Union, publisher of the maganzine Consumer Reports, where he headed a task force publicizing the dangers of cigarette smoking. In the late 1950's, he was instrumental in the Union's analysis of milk samples from around the country for radiation, thus making widely available for the first time information about the fallout dangers of atmospheric nuclear tests. He became director of the Consumer's Union in 1958, a position he held until 1963.
Masters also contributed to the New Yorker, The Saturday Evening Post, the American Scholar, and other publications.
and their son Alexander Masters
, is also a writer. He moved to Totnes
, Devon, England in 1960, where he died in 1989.
Early life
Masters, a nephew of the poet Edgar Lee MastersEdgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist...
, was born in Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
, and studied at the University of Chicago.
Career
After working for Time and Fortune magazines, he became the first editor of Tide, a marketing trade journal, age 22. During the Second World War, Masters served on the communications staff of the US Air Force, worked with several research laboratories including the Radiation Laboratory at MIT, for which he edited Radar, a classified publication.Masters co-edited with nuclear physicist Katherine Way (1903-1995) the 1946 New York Times bestseller One World or None: a Report to the Public on the Full Meaning of the Atomic Bomb. The book included essays by Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, and sold over 100,000 copies. In 1955, Masters published a novel, "The Accident." detailing the last eight days of a nuclear physicist dying from radiation sickness after a criticality accident
Criticality accident
A criticality accident, sometimes referred to as an excursion or a power excursion, is an accidental increase of nuclear chain reactions in a fissile material, such as enriched uranium or plutonium...
, based on the death of physicist Louis Slotin
Louis Slotin
Louis Alexander Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project, the secret US program during World War II that developed the atomic bomb....
who died after such an accident in 1946. The novel was so controversial the US banned a movie version of it. A series of radio programs on the bomb earned Masters a Peabody award in 1963.
Shortly after its founding in 1936, Masters joined the staff of the Consumer's Union, publisher of the maganzine Consumer Reports, where he headed a task force publicizing the dangers of cigarette smoking. In the late 1950's, he was instrumental in the Union's analysis of milk samples from around the country for radiation, thus making widely available for the first time information about the fallout dangers of atmospheric nuclear tests. He became director of the Consumer's Union in 1958, a position he held until 1963.
Masters also contributed to the New Yorker, The Saturday Evening Post, the American Scholar, and other publications.
Personal life
He married author Joan BradyJoan Brady
Joan Brady is a writer. She is the first woman, and so far the only American, to win the prestigious Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Other winners include Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes.-Personal life:...
and their son Alexander Masters
Alexander Masters
Alexander Masters is an author, screenwriter, and worker with the homeless. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom.Masters is the son of authors Dexter Masters and Joan Brady. He was educated at Bedales School, and took a first in physics from King's College London...
, is also a writer. He moved to Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, Devon, England in 1960, where he died in 1989.