The Best Technological Research Books of All Time

Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times bestseller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain," from its Cold War inception in 1958 to the present.

This is the book on DARPA -- a compelling narrative about this clandestine intersection of science and the American military and the often frightening results.

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) is a fast reactor system developed at Argonne National Laboratory in the decade 1984 to 1994. The IFR project developed the technology for a complete system; the reactor, the entire fuel cycle and the waste management technologies were all included in the development program. The reactor concept had important features and characteristics that were completely new and fuel cycle and waste management technologies that were entirely new developments. The reactor is a “fast” reactor – that is, the chain reaction is maintained by “fast” neutrons with high energy – which produces its own fuel.

The IFR reactor and associated fuel cycle is a closed system. Electrical power is generated, new fissile fuel is produced to replace the fuel burned, its used fuel is processed for recycling by pyroprocessing – a new development – and waste is put in final form for disposal. All this is done on one self-sufficient site.The scale and duration of the project and its funding made it the largest nuclear energy R and D program of its day. Its purpose was the development of a long term massive new energy source, capable of meeting the nation’s electrical energy needs in any amount, and for as long as it is needed, forever, if necessary. Safety, non-proliferation and waste toxicity properties were improved as well, these three the characteristics most commonly cited in opposition to nuclear power.Development proceeded from success to success. Most of the development had been done when the program was abruptly cancelled by the newly elected Clinton Administration. In his 1994 State of the Union address the president stated that “unnecessary programs in advanced reactor development will be terminated.” The IFR was that program.This book gives the real story of the IFR, written by the two nuclear scientists who were most deeply involved in its conception, the development of its R and D program, and its management.Between the scientific and engineering papers and reports, and books on the IFR, and the non-technical and often impassioned dialogue that continues to this day on fast reactor technology, we felt there is room for a volume that, while accurate technically, is written in a manner accessible to the non-specialist and even to the non-technical reader who simply wants to know what this technology is.

This textbook explains Technology Roadmapping, in both its development and practice, and illustrates the underlying theory of, and empirical evidence for, technologic evolution over time afforded by this strategy. The book contains a rich set of examples and practical exercises from a wide array of domains in applied science and engineering such as transportation, energy, communications, and medicine.

Professor de Weck gives a complete review of the principles, methods, and tools of technology management for organizations and technologically-enabled systems, including technology scouting, roadmapping, strategic planning, R&D project execution, intellectual property management, knowledge management, partnering and acquisition, technology transfer, innovation management, and financial technology valuation. Special topics also covered include Moore’s law, S-curves, the singularity and fundamental limits to technology. Ideal for university courses in engineering, management, and business programs, as well as self-study or online learning for professionals in a range of industries, readers of this book will learn how to develop and deploy comprehensive technology roadmaps and R&D portfolios on diverse topics of their choice. Introduces a unique framework, Advanced Technology Roadmap Architecture (ATRA), for developing quantitative technology roadmaps and competitive R&D portfolios through a lucid and rigorous step-by-step approach;Elucidates the ATRA framework through analysis which was validated on an actual $1 billion R&D portfolio at Airbus, leveraging a pedagogy significantly beyond typical university textbooks and problem sets;Reinforces concepts with in-depth case studies, practical exercises, examples, and thought experiments interwoven throughout the text;Maximizes reader competence on how to explicitly link strategy, finance, and technology. The book follows and supports the MIT Professional Education Courses “Management of Technology: Roadmapping & Development,” https://professional.mit.edu/course-catalog/management-technology-roadmapping-development and “Management of Technology: Strategy & Portfolio Analysis” https://professional.mit.edu/course-catalog/management-technology-strategy-portfolio-analysis.