When the atoms failed

"When the Atoms Failed" by John W. Campbell, Jr. is an early 20th-century science fiction story about a war between Earth and technologically superior Martians wielding the power of atomic energy. The book follows Stephen Waterson, a talented scientist, who builds the "Terrestrian," a state-of-the-art spaceship with powerful weapons, to defend Earth from the Martian attack. He is joined by his friend David Gale and his assistant Wright as they venture into space to fight the Martians, who are attacking Earth with dangerous weapons. As they fight, the team learns more about the destructive potential of atomic energy, leading them to create new technologies to defeat the alien threat and changing the course of relations between planets.