"Basil Schonland the physicist unravelled the mysteries of lightning. Schonland the soldier served as scientific advisor to two Generals, became Chancellor of his alma mater, and Superintendent of the Army Operational Research Group. Schonland the administrator was President of the CSIR and Director of Harwell. But who was this exceptional man?".

"In this book Brian Austin has written not just a scientific biography, but a biography which tells much of a highly placed scientist and administrator, of the increasing engagement between science and the military, and of changing military and diplomatic relationships between Britain and South Africa. He has drawn on a profusion of primary and secondary source material, from both South African and British archives, to produce a fine and very readable biography."--BOOK JACKET.