Angels and Demons
This book was actually written before The DaVinci Code, and I read it first. The premise of the book is that when enough antimatter is synthesized in the laboratory to make a bomb, then this is proof of it's (antimatter's) existence. In 1927 Paul Dirac wrote the relativistic equation for the electron, proving the mathematical necessity for antimatter. In 1932 the existence of positrons (anti-electrons) was verified experimantally by Carl D Anderson. Antimatter was artificially synthesized in 1990 at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) by Stanley Brodsky, Ivan Schmidt and Charles Munger. In 1995 CERN announced the creation of 9 anti-Hydrogen atoms by Walter Oelert and Mario Macri in the Low energy antiproton ring using the SLAC procedure. This was soon confirmed by Fermilab's creation of over 100 anti-Hydrogen atoms. Antimatter has to be created in low energy accelerators, because high energy accelerators makes atoms too "hot" (that is too energetic and moving to fast) to study.
Now these are the facts, and I learned them by researching for 10 minutes on the internet. But in a year of research, Dan Brown came up with the notion that antimatter could only be created by extremely high acceleration, that this could only be done at CERN because they have the highest energy accelerator, and that the very existence of antimatter cannot be confirmed until there is enough to build a bomb. If a thing can't be used in some sort of military technology, then it doesn't exist, is Mr Brown's reasoning, I guess.
OK, so step one is the idiotic notion that making a bomb proves the existence of antimatter. Step two is the preposterous notion that the existence of antimatter proves that the big bang really happened. Nevermind any other cosmological problems with this notion, simple-minded dogma is what Brown is after here. Of course an antimatter explosion is a million orders of magnitude too small to account for the big bang, but Brown's mind is incapable of comprehending numbers that big. Two hundred years ago Dan Brown would have hailed the invention of dynamite as proof of catastrophic creation. He doesn't really comprehend the extent of an explosion caused by matter-antimatter, to him it's just a large "boom". Hey, "large boom", "big bang", it's all the same, isn't it?
So, having proved the occurence of the big bang, in Brown's mind we have now proved creationism. It is uncertain whether this is the Protestant fundy "young earth" creationism, or some Roman Catholic version with unspecified variations. Somehow, proving creationism, in turn, proves the existence of a God, and this in turn proves all Roman Catholic dogma is 100 per cent accurate. Nevermind that explosions and bangs and such like point more in the direction of maybe Shiva for example, as the creationist creator who uses big bangs. To Brown, if there's a God, it has been proved that He is a Roman Catholic.
Yes, proved. Not suggested, this is the whole premise of the book. If this isn't certain proof, then there is no plot. When the existence of antimatter is announced, the entire world will immediately convert to Roman Catholicism, and this is why the Vatican gets involved in the entire matter of antimatter. Obviously, the good little Catholics want the discovery announced immediately and anybody else who hears of it wants it supressed. Nevermind that in Brown's mind, if his premise was sane, all opponents would immediately convert to Catholicism and switch sides—a little inconsistency never bothered our Mr Brown. Evil people will want the truth supressed because, of course, they are evil. What else?
Unlike The DaVinci Code which is characterized by historical blunders and logical absurdities, in this book, the very plot depends on buying into Brown's demented fantasy. The scientist who creates this bomb immediately realizes the religious implications of his deeds and consults a spiritual advisor.
I would ordinarily warn the reader that what follows will spoil the plot. But how can you spoil something that came from a barnyard to start with?
The "spiritual advisor" that the scientist consults is the Pope's Camerlengo. Now Brown doesn't know what a Camerlengo is, but it's got to be something important, so Brown makes him some sort of domestic butler with no religious ordination. Mind you, for the Protestants out there who can't spend five minutes with an encyclopedia (like Brown), a Camerlengo is a Monsignor, a dignity between priest and bishop, usually ordained in one of the major orders (deacon, priest, and bishop), and if they are not bishops, they are nevertheless occorded approximately the same honor as a bishop. The current Camerlengo is His Eminence Eduardo Martínez Somalo, J.C.D., Titular Archbishop of Thagora, appointed by Pope John Paul II on April 5, 1993, and reappointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Many monsignors are the aide and designated successor of a bishop, called a domestic prelate (meaning a clergymen who's benefice is not tied to a specific geographical territory). Of course it is most important to Brown's plot that a Camerlengo is excluded from the possibility to be elected pope. Actually, two Camerlengos have been elected Pope: Gioacchino Pecci who was elected as Pope Leo XIII in 1878 and Eugenio Pacelli who was elected as Pope Pius XII in 1939. It is the Cardinal Secretary of State who is excluded from the possibility of being elected Pope, but Brown doesn't know the difference. Actually two Cardinal Secreteries of State have also been elected Pope.
In Brown's demented fantasy, there is no Cardinal Secretery of State, and the Camerlengo is the sole authority of the Vatican City during the vacancy of the Papacy. Thus a "lowly" and non-ordained and non-cleric domestic is suddenly in charge of the entire Church upon the death of the Pope. So this Camerlengo, upon learing from the scientist of the existence of this bomb, and immediately realizing that the entire world will have no choice except to become Roman Catholic at once upon learning of it, wants to be Pope of the entire world, and hatches a plot to accomplish same. He proceeds to murder the Pope to give himself sole authority over the Vatican City, then he murders the scientist to steal his bomb, and plants it in the Vatican City to create a crisis which he can fix, thereby making himself a hero and being acclaimed Pope by the crowd, which will, of course, take precedence over the vote of the College of Cardinals.
Wikipedia has this to say:
Acclamation was formerly one of the methods of papal election.
The method of electing the Roman Pontiff is contained in the constitutions of Gregory XV, "Ęterni Patris Filius", "Decet Romanum Pontificem", Urban VIII's constitution, "Ad Romani Pontificis Providentiam", and Universi Dominici Gregis, issued by John Paul II in 1996. Prior to the issuance of Universi Dominici Gregis, three methods of election were valid. These were, namely, by scrutiny, by compromise, and by acclamation (or "quasi-inspiration"). This last form of election consisted in all the cardinals present unanimously proclaiming one of the candidates Supreme Pontiff, without the formality of casting votes. As this was required to be done without previous consultation or negotiation it was looked on as proceeding from the Holy Spirit and hence was also designated "quasi-inspiration".
An example of this mode of election in more recent times is found in the case of Clement X (1670-76), formerly Emilio Cardinal Altieri, whose election is said to have been determined by the sudden cry of the people outside the conclave, "Altieri Papa", which was confirmed by the cardinals. Innocent XI (1676-89) is another example. The cardinals surrounded him in the chapel of the conclave and in spite of his resistance every one of them kissed his hand, proclaiming him Pope.
Notice that "acclamation as a method of election of a Pope" means acclamation by the College of Cardinals and acclamation by the crowd, which was referred to as happening once, was actually election by the College of Cardinals, who had to confirm it by an acclamation of their own. Acclamation actually means unanimous voice vote by the College, without secret ballot, and was made illegal by John Paul II in 1995. Election by the crowd was never legal. So much for Brown's research.
In Brown's fantasy world, acclamation by the crowd is an ancient and honored method of circumventing the College of Cardinals. Of course this method has hardly ever been used before, according to Brown, because in Brown's fantasy world only one or two Popes have ever come to the Throne of St Peter without the College of Cardinals. And this Camerlengo is the first ever Pope who was not himself a Cardinal. Nevermind that Cardinals didn't elect the Pope until AD1059, in Brown's demented fantasy world, the current state of affairs is the way things have always been—Brown has no conception of history. To Brown, history is something that happened last Thursday. In the Roman Catholic list, Popes go back to St Peter. There have been 266 Popes by this list, of which 113 have been Cardinals before their election. Less than half. Two Popes have been Camerlengos when they were elected (Leo XIII and Pius XII), and two have been Cardinal Secretery of State (Clement IX and Pius XII who was actually both Camerlengo and Cardinal Secretery of State).
So Brown's Camerlengo "discovers" the bomb, hauls it into a helicopter and flies it up into the air about 1000 feet to let it explode over Rome where it will do no harm. Then he parachutes out to land gently on the roof of St Peter's where the crowd acclaims him Pope. Brown's claim is that he will be the legal Pope, no matter what the College does. Meanwhile Langdon who has discovered his plot, and was in the helecopter with him, has bailed out using a blanket and floated to the ground with no harm, despite the greatest bomb in the history of the world going off just above his head.
On the morning of August 9, 1945, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, flown by the crew of 393rd Squadron, commander Major Charles W. Sweeney, carried the nuclear bomb code-named "Fat Man", with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the secondary target. At 11:01 AM this 21 kiloton bomb was exploded 1540 feet in the air over Nagasaki, creating temperatures of 7000 degrees Fahrenheit and winds of 624 miles per hour. 74,000 dead immediately and another 60,000 injured, despite the main part of the city being protected by a mountain ridge. That's what happens when you detonate in the air over a city instead of underground. Brown's detailed historical research in this book cannot be blamed on some conspiracy-theory-UFO-comic book. This time he just pulled it out of his butt.
Thrillers and action stories and suspense novels are supposed to be possible, not total fantasies. In that aspect Brown fails miserably because he is incapable of doing elementary research. No doubt the newspaper reviews will hail this one as the most historically accurate book they have ever read. If The DaVinci Code was "several doctorates worth of historical information", then this one must surely be several senior doctorates worth, because this one is just plain stupid. That seems to be what the newspaper reviewers are after.