Transcript The Men Who Made the Atomic

The Men Who Made
The Atomic Bomb
THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A BIBLICAL STORY
“Your children who follow you in later
generations and foreigners who come from
distant lands will see the calamities that have
fallen on the land and the diseases with which
the LORD has afflicted it. The whole land will be a
burning waste of salt and sulfur — nothing
planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation
growing on it. It will be like the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim,
which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger.”
- Deuteronomy 29:22-23
THE REAL STORY IS ABOUT JEWISH
SCIENTISTS MAKING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Albert Einstein
Leo Szilard
Robert Oppenheimer
Definition From Wikipedia - A weapon of mass
destruction (WMD or WoMD) is a nuclear,
radiological, chemical, biological or other
weapon that can kill and bring significant harm
to a large number of humans or cause great
damage to human-made structures (e.g.
buildings), natural structures (e.g. mountains),
or the biosphere.
Early WMDs –
Chemical weapons,
such as Greek Fire,
were in use as early
as 673 CE. Even
earlier legend says
that Archimedes had
developed a “heat
ray” using mirrors
circa 250 BCE.
H. G. Wells – Science Fiction
• Heat Ray – War of the Worlds (1898)
• Tanks – The Ironclads (1903)
• Aerial Combat – The War in the Air (1907)
• Poison Gas (Black Smoke) – War of the
Worlds (1898)
• Biological Weapons – War of the Worlds
(1898)
• Atomic Bomb – The World Set Free (1914)
WMD - World War I
Fritz Haber had won the 1918 Nobel Prize in chemistry for
his invention of the Haber-Bosch process, a means of
synthesizing fertilizer that is credited with saving Europe
from famine caused by depleted soil. During the First
World War, Haber turned his genius in a different direction
– the development and production of poison gases, most
notably chlorine gas. He is considered the “father of
chemical warfare.”
After the war, Haber continued his research and teaching
at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin. One of his
students would develop the Zyklon-B gas, originally
intended as an insecticide, that would be used so
infamously in the concentration camps.
Most ironically, Haber had been born into a Jewish family
from Breslau, Poland.
Einstein
At the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Haber would share the
podium with another brilliant Jewish scientist – Albert
Einstein.
Born in Germany to non-observant Jewish parents, Einstein
had traveled with his family to Italy. He would later attend
school in Switzerland and, after a time spent working in the
patent office, would himself become a professor of physics.
In 1905, the so-called “miracle year” Einstein would publish
four papers, each considered to be ground-breaking.
In 1914, he would return to Germany, where he would be
appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and a
professor of the Humboldt University of Berlin. Because of
his stature in the field, Einstein was freed from teaching
duties, but he both attended and gave lectures.
The Germans
Max Planck, one of the original founders of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (which
would be renamed the Max Planck Institute for Physics after the war) Planck was
the originator of quantum theory and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Max von Laue had won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his work on the
diffraction of X-rays by crystals. He would succeed Einstein in the position of
Director of the Institute. He was also a staunch opponent of National
Socialism.
Werner Karl Heisenberg also worked on quantum mechanics and also served as
the Director of the Institute in the years after the war. The degree to which
Heisenberg willingly participated in Germany’s war-time atomic research and
his relationship with Danish physicist Niels Bohr are matters that are debated
even today.
The Students – Leo Szilard
Leo Szilard at age 18
Brilliant teachers attract brilliant students. People came from all over Europe to study physics
at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute; perhaps none was more brilliant than Leo Szilard, a young
man from Hungary. First an engineering student at the Palatine Joseph Technical University
in Budapest, his studies were interrupted by military service during World War I. After the
war, in 1919, he left Hungary to attend the Technische Hochschule (Institute of Technology)
in Berlin. He grew bored with engineering and in 1920 transferred over to study physics.
Leo was not only a student of Einstein‘s, but also a collaborator. By 1926, the two of them
had filed a patent for the Einstein-Szilard Refrigerator (also known as the Einstein
Refrigerator) which has no moving parts, operated at constant pressure, and required only a
heat source to operate.
Szilard was known for his dry sense of humor and his abrasive personality. Because he was
not well-liked (although he was respected by his colleagues) he often did not receive the
credit that he was due. It was said of him that he “was the most brilliant scientist never to
have won a Nobel Prize.” But he was not only brilliant, he was a man that changed the
course of history.
The Hungarian Quartet
Eugene Paul Wigner – Four years younger then Leo Szilard, Wigner followed an almost identical
path in his early years. Also born in Budapest, Wigner attended first the Technical University and
then the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Not only a brilliant physicist, Wigner was also a brilliant
mathematician. Wigner’s theorem is considered instrumental in the mathematical analysis of
quantum physics. As an aside, Wigner’s younger sister Margit married physicist Paul Dirac.
John von Neumann was born Neumann János Lajos in Budapest, although his parents used his
Hebrew name of Yonah. Not only was he a brilliant physicist, he also distinguished himself in
mathematics, economics, computer science and statistics. He published over 150 papers during his
life. His last work, written while he was in the hospital, would be published as a book entitled The
Computer and the Brain.
Edward Teller was the youngest of the group but brilliant in his own right. He made numerous
contributions in several areas of physics, including nuclear and molecular physics,
spectroscopy and surface physics. He is also considered one of the inspirations for Stanley
Kubrick’s character Dr. Strangelove.
WMD
Chemistry
Science
of the
Atom
Academics
Physics
Roentgen and X-Rays
Why Germany and what was so interesting about atomic
physics at this particular time? In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen was
conducting a particular experiment to determine the effects of
passing an electrical discharge though a vacuum tube covered
in aluminum with only a thin window to allow the cathode rays
to escape. Roentgen had added a protective covering of
cardboard to protect the aluminum; this should have blocked
all light from coming out. But he noticed a fluorescent effect on
a small cardboard screen painted with barium platinocyanide
when it was placed close to the aluminum window. He had
discovered X-Rays also known as Roentgen Rays, an
achievement that would earn him the first Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1901. The discovery of these X-Rays would not only
change medicine, but would greatly help in the understanding
of the structure of the atom.
France – the Curies
Marie Skłodowska Curie was born in Poland, part of a family known for
its illustrious academic accomplishments. In 1891, partially due to a
failed romantic relationship, she moved to France to study at the
Sorbonne. In 1893, she earned a degree in physics. In 1894 she would
add a degree in mathematics. That same year she met her future
husband and research partner, Pierre Curie.
She began to study the problem of how a specific chemical, uranium,
was producing energy similar to X-rays, without interaction from
outside sources. The energy appeared to come from the uranium
atoms themselves. But how could this be when the atom had been
defined as the smallest part of matter and indivisible?
Curie’s research would result in the discovery of two new elements,
polonium and radium and of the theory of radioactivity, a term that
she would coin. Her work required a reconsideration of how we
thought of the atom.
Denmark - Niels Bohr
Niels was born Denmark, in 1885. Son of Christian Bohr, a devout Lutheran and
Ellen Adler Bohr, who came from a wealthy Jewish family.
Working with New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford, the two would develop
the Rutherford-Bohr model of the atom:
• A “planetary” style model, electrons were in orbits around the nucleus.
• Electrons can only orbit stably, without giving off energy or radiating, in
certain orbits, called by Bohr “stationary orbits.”.
• Electrons can only gain or lose energy by moving from one of these stationary
orbits to another.
Bohr’s work was based on Planck’s theory of radiation, and was more
evolutionary than revolutionary. Bohr’s model had several errors and has since
been refined; however it provided a framework for what came next.
Italy- Enrico Fermi
Born in Rome in 1901, Fermi was interested in electrical and
mechanical toys from a very young age. Perhaps this was only natural
as his father held a senior position in the Ministry of Railways while his
mother was a teacher. As a physicist he would distinguish himself by
exceling both theoretically and experimentally.
Although Fermi was baptized in accordance with the wishes of his
grandparents, his immediate family was not religious and he would
consider himself an agnostic. In 1928, he would marry Laura Capon, a
science student that he met at university. Laura was Jewish. They
would have two children.
In 1928, Fermi published Introduction to Atomic Physics. As a teacher,
Fermi liked to gather colleagues and graduate students together to go
over problems. He began to generate international interest and in
1932 German physicist Hans Bethe came to collaborate with Fermi. In
1934, Fermi began his most important work with the atom, discovering
that nuclear transformation could occur in nearly every element. One
of the elements' atoms he split was uranium.
Rise of Fascism
In 1919, Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist
movement in Italy. By 1922 he would become Prime
Minister.
In 1919, a young German intelligence officer was sent
to infiltrate the German Workers Party or DAP. While
attending a meeting, he would become so impressed
with the ideas of DAP organizer Anton Drexler (antiSemitism, anti-capitalist, anti-Marxist and nationalist)
that he would join DAP, becoming member 555. By
1920 he had taken over the role of propaganda officer
and renamed DAP the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei better known as the Nazi Party.
By 1933, this man, Adolf Hitler by name, would
become Chancellor of Germany.
The Flight of the Scientists
• 67 days after taking power, Hitler strips “non-Aryans” of teaching positions.
• Einstein's theory of relativity declared to be 'Jewish world-bluff.'
• Hans Bethe is in the middle of teaching when a student informs him he has been
fired. He is one of the many that will flee to England.
• In May of 1933. Einstein’s books are burned. A German magazine lists him as an
enemy along with the phrase “not yet hanged.” He flees to England, then on to
the U.S.
• Leo Szilard does his best to get other scientists out and to find places for them,
staying in Germany through much of 1933. By his account he himself catches the
last train out to Hungary. The next day the same train was being stopped by the
German military.
The “In-Between” Days
• Einstein arrives in America in October 1933 and takes a position at
the Institute for Advanced Study located in Princeton, NJ.
• At this time and continuing until after the end of WW II major
universities including Harvard, Yale and Princeton still have Jewish
quotas in place.
• In 1934 Leo Szilard takes a position at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in
London in order to get access to radioactive materials.
• While crossing a busy London street in 1936, Szilard conceived of the
idea of a nuclear chain reaction. *
Research in Manhattan
• January 2, 1938 Leo Szilard arrives in the U.S.; begins series of lectures.
• Niels Bohr sends word that the Germans (Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassmann,
Lise Meitner, Otto Frisch) have developed nuclear fission using uranium.
• Unable to convince anyone (esp. Fermi) that uranium could sustain a
chain reaction, Szilard starts experimenting at Columbia for proof.
• Canadian born Walter Zinn joins Szilard.
• Using a radium-beryllium source to bombard uranium with neutrons,
the experiment proved that a chain reaction was possible.
Einstein’s Letter to FDR
Key Points of the Letter
• “In the course of the last four months it has been made probable — through the work of Joliot in
France as well as Fermi and Szilárd in America — that it may become possible to set up a nuclear
chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of
new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be
achieved in the immediate future.”
• “This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable —
though much less certain — that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be
constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well
destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory.”
• “I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian
mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be
understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker,
is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium
is now being repeated.”
…and so it begins.
• FDR to Brigadier General Edwin M. "Pa" Watson "Pa, this requires
action!”
• In Oct. of 1939, Szilard, Teller and Wigner meet with the newly
formed Advisory Committee on Uranium.
• Initial budget for the project is $6,000.
• Experiments continue using graphite as a moderator.
• Breakthrough comes when Szilard meets with the National Carbon
Company.
The Metallurgical Laboratory
• Established by the National Defense Research
Committee on Dec. 6th, 1941.
• The next day the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
• Headed by Arthur Compton, work moves to the
University of Chicago.
• Goals are to produce a chain reaction (Jan. 1943) then a
nuclear reactor to manufacture plutonium (Jan. 1944)
then finally an atomic bomb (Jan. 1945)
• At first, Szilard is excluded. But this doesn’t last.
• In January of 1942, Szilard joins as a research assistant
before being promoted to chief physicist.
• Szilard was the man with the ideas, while Fermi was the
experimentalist.
Front row: Enrico Fermi, Walter Zinn, Albert Wattenberg and Herbert Anderson
Middle row: Harold Agnew, William Sturm, Harold Lichtenberger, Leona Woods and Leo Szilard.
Back row: Norman Hilberry, Samuel Allison, Thomas Brill, Robert Nobles, Warren Nyer, and
Marvin Wilkening.
Chicago Pile-1
• 1st Nuclear reactor - 45,000 graphite
blocks weighing 400 tons; 6 tons of
uranium metal; 50 tons of uranium oxide.
• Build under the abandoned football field
at the University of Chicago.
• As a failsafe, Walter Zinn had fashioned a
cadmium rod that would drop ending the
reaction – Zinn’s Infernal Pile.
• “The reaction is self-sustaining. The curve
is exponential.” – Enrico Fermi
Believing the Unbelievable
On Dec. 13th, 1942, America’s most
popular newsman took to the airwaves
with "Millions of human beings, most of
them Jews, are being gathered up with
ruthless efficiency and murdered...It is a
picture of mass murder and moral
depravity unequaled in the history of the
world. It is a horror beyond what
imagination can grasp...There are no
longer 'concentration camps' - we must
speak now only of 'extermination
camps'."
Robert Oppenheimer
• Born in NYC on April 22, 1904 to wealthy Jewish parents.
• Attended Felix Adler’s Ethical Culture Society School before going on
to Harvard. Develops colitis and is sent to New Mexico. Returns and
graduates summa cum laude in three years.
• Graduate work at Christ’s College Cambridge, then to the University
of Göttingen to study under Max Born. Meets Heisenberg, Dirac,
Fermi, Pauli and Teller.
• Teaches at Harvard, Caltech and Berkeley.
• In May of 1942, he joins the atomics project and is appointed
"Coordinator of Rapid Rupture.“ Immediately he hosts a session on
bomb theory. Edward Teller is one of the attendees.
• When Gen. Leslie Groves is appointed director of the Manhattan
Engineer District, he selects Oppenheimer to head the secret
weapons project.
Los Alamos
In 1942, Groves and Oppenheimer
were looking for a secure site to
continue the work. Originally they
looked at a site near the ranch
where Oppenheimer had spent part
of his youth. Ultimately they picked
a site on a flat mesa, not too far
from Santa Fe. The facility was built
on what had been the Los Alamos
Ranch School.
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
A number of locations were established to
provide the scientists at Los Alamos with the
materials they needed. The plant at Oak
Ridge, Tennessee was so big that it was
sometimes called “the secret city.” More
than 25,000 workers were involved in the
construction. This building, the K-25, was a
mile long, in the shape of the letter “U”. It
was there that uranium was transformed to
make it “weapons grade.”
Manhattan Project
Trinity at Alamogordo
• First detonation of a nuclear device.
• July 16th, 1945 at Alamogordo, NM
• Testing range.
• Codename “Trinity”
• Device is called “The Gadget” but is
essentially the same as Fat Man.
• Effectively the same as 20 Kilotons
(20,000 tons) of TNT.
Letter From Gen. Groves to Henry Stimson
The Decision
• Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt dies April 12, 1945.
• Harry S. Truman succeeds him.
• Truman’s diary of July 17th, 1945 records a
meeting with Stalin and also references the
atomic bomb.
• Diary of July 30th, 1945 records Truman
authorizing Stimson to release a public statement
about the use of the bomb.
• No actual signed order has ever been found.
Truman’s Handwritten Notes
Little Boy
Oppenheimer originally thought of a “gun” approach to making a bomb. Using
conventional explosives as propellant, a uranium projectile that is of subcritical mass is fired at a uranium target, also of sub-critical mass. The
combination of the two becomes critical and a chain reaction ensues.
Fat Man
Fat man was an implosion type device. A sub-critical core of plutonium is
surrounded by high-explosive in such a way that it explodes inwards. When
the explosive goes off, the plutonium is crushed into a critical mass.
The Aftermath
Captain Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the
Enola Gay, meets Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a
Hiroshima survivor on the American
gameshow This Is Your Life in 1955.
When asked for his recollections of the
fateful day, Lewis referred to the
official log, “I wrote down the words,
"My God, what have we done?””
The Germans – A Fly On the Wall
• KORSCHING: That shows at any rate that the Americans are capable of real
cooperation on a tremendous scale. That would have been impossible in
Germany. Each one said that the other was unimportant.
• HEISENBERG: We wouldn't have had the moral courage to recommend to the
government in the spring of 1942 that they should employ 120,000 men just for
building the thing up.
• WEIZSAECKER: I believe the reason we didn't do it was because all the physicists
didn't want to do it, on principle. If we had wanted Germany to win the war we
would have succeeded!
• HAHN: I don't believe that, but I am thankful we didn't succeed.
• HEISENBERG: Well, that's not quite right. I would say that I was absolutely
convinced of the possibility of our making a uranium engine, but I never thought
we would make a bomb, and at the bottom of my heart I was really glad that it
was to be an engine and not a bomb. I must admit that.
Epilogue and Regrets:
• Albert Einstein to Linus Pauling – “I made one great mistake in my life—when I
signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be
made; but there was some justification—the danger that the Germans would
make them ..” (1954)
• Leo Szilard – In 1945, he drafted the Szilard Petition, advocating for an observed
demonstration of the atomic bomb (not to be used in war.) After the war, he
switched careers to biology. In 1960, diagnosed with bladder cancer, he
underwent Cobalt-60 treatment, which he had designed. He died in his sleep in
1964.
• Enrico Fermi – After the war he joined Oppenheimer on the General Advisory
Committee, which advised the Atomic Energy Commission on nuclear matters
and policy. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and testified on
behalf of Robert Oppenheimer. Died of stomach cancer at age 53.
Continued:
• Robert Oppenheimer – First chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the
Atomic Energy Commission in 1947. In 1954, while working as a consultant,
Oppenheimer was called to testify before a security committee. Despite “naming
names” he lost his security clearance. He joined fellow scientists in addressing the
potential dangers to humanity arising from scientific discoveries. In 1963, he was
presented with the Enrico Fermi Award by President Lyndon Johnson. In 1965, he
was diagnosed with throat cancer. He died at home in 1967.
• Edward Teller – In 1951, Edward Teller, working with mathematician Stanislaw
Ulam, developed the design for a hydrogen bomb. The force of detonation was
no longer measured in kilotons, but in megatons. (One million tons of TNT.) Teller
often proposed controversial technological solutions, such as excavating an
Alaskan harbor using a thermonuclear device. But he was also one of the earliest
scientists to warn of global climate change. He received numerous awards (Fermi
Award, Einstein Award) and lived to the age of 95.
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