"The birth of Big Science can be traced to Berkeley, California, nearly nine decades ago, when a resourceful young scientist with a talent for physics and an even greater talent for promotion pondered his new invention and declared, 'I'm going to be famous!' Ernest Orlando Lawrence's cyclotron would revolutionize nuclear physics, but that was only the beginning of its impact. It would change our understanding of the basic building blocks of nature....

The story of the "collection of eccentric young inventors brought together by Xerox corporation," of their "hothouse of ideas" including a windows-style graphical user interface and the laser printer, of why Xerox discarded the ideas, and of the individuals involved: Bob Taylor, Jack Goldman, Alan Kay, and Steve Jobs.--Jacket.