The Men Who Made The Atomic Bomb

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1 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

2 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

3 THE REAL STORY IS ABOUT JEWISH SCIENTISTS MAKING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION Albert Einstein Leo Szilard Robert Oppenheimer

4 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.

5 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.

6 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

7 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.

8 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

$Max von Laue had won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his work on the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.$ Werner Karl Heisenberg also worked on quantum mechanics and also served as the Director of the Institute in the years after the war.

Werner Karl Heisenberg also worked on quantum mechanics and also served as the Director of the Institute in the years after the war.

9 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 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.

10 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.

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.

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.

11 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.

12 WMD Chemistry Science of the Atom Physics Academics

13 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 The discovery of these X-Rays would not only change medicine, but would greatly help in the understanding of the structure of the atom.

14 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.

15 Denmark - Niels Bohr Niels was born Denmark, in 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.

16 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.

17 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 (anti- Semitism, 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.

18 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 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 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.

19 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. *

20 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.

21 Einstein s Letter to FDR

22 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.

23 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. 6 th, 1941. The next day the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.

24 The Metallurgical Laboratory Established by the National Defense Research Committee on Dec. 6 th, 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.

25 Chicago Pile-1 1 st 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

26 Believing the Unbelievable On Dec. 13 th, 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.

27 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.

28 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.

29 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.

30 Manhattan Project

31 Trinity at Alamogordo First detonation of a nuclear device. July 16 th, 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.

32 Letter From Gen. Groves to Henry Stimson

The Decision Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt dies April 12, 1945. Harry S. Truman succeeds him.

33 The Decision Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt dies April 12, Harry S. Truman succeeds him. Truman s diary of July 17 th, 1945 records a meeting with Stalin and also references the atomic bomb. Diary of July 30 th, 1945 records Truman authorizing Stimson to release a public statement about the use of the bomb. No actual signed order has ever been found.

34 Truman s Handwritten Notes

35 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.

36 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

37 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 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?

38 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.

39 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 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.

40 Continued: Robert Oppenheimer First chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission in 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 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.

41 This presentation as well as numerous others are available from LarryKuperman.com

Primary Sources: Einstein Urges FDR to Build Nuclear Weapons in WWII

Primary Sources: Einstein Urges FDR to Build Nuclear Weapons in WWII By Original document from the public domain, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.09.17 Word Count 765 German-born physicist Albert Einstein