ABBREVIATIONS AND SOURCES:
OHI: Oral history interview.
AIP: Center for the History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, New York, N.Y.
AHQP: Archives for the History of Quantum Physics, available at the AIP and several other repositories.
Bush-Conant File: Vannevar Bush-James B. Conant files, Office of Scientific Research and Development, S-l (Record Group 227), National Archives.
MED: Manhattan Engineer District Records (Record Group 77), National Archives.
JRO Papers: J. Robert Oppenheimer Papers, Library of Congress.
Strauss Papers: Lewis L. Strauss Papers, Herbert Hoover Library, West Branch, Iowa.
Szilard Papers: Leo Szilard Papers, University of California at San Diego.
Chapter 1: Moonshine
1. September 12, 1933: I derive this date from Leo Szilard’s statement at Szilard (1972), p. 529, that he read about Ernest Rutherford’s speech to the British Association “one morning . . . in the newspapers” and “that day . . . was walking down Southampton Row.” The British Association story appeared prominently on p. 7 of The Times on Sept. 12.
2. “short fat man . . . wives”: Szilard (1972), p. xv.
3. “Mr. Wells . . . justification”: The Times, p. 6.
4. He knew Wells personally: Shils (1964), p. 38.
5. Szilard read Wells’ tract: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 22n.
6. he traveled to London in 1929: ibid.
7. Szilard bid: Shils (1964), p. 38.
8. “I knew languages . . . .mascot”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 4.
9. “When I was young . . . politics”: Szilard (1972), p. xix.
10. “I said to them . . . this statement”: Weart and Szilard (1978), pp. 4-5.
11. his clarity of judgment: ibid., p. 5.
12. the Eötvös Prize: von Kármán and Edson (1967), p. 22.
13. “no career in physics”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 5.
14. “felt that his skill . . . colleagues”: Wigner (1964), p. 338.
15. saved his life: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 8.
16. “family connections”: ibid., p. 7.
17. “Not long afterward . . . disappeared”: ibid., p. 8.
18. around Christmastime: ibid.
19. “In the end . . . ’21”: ibid., p. 9.
20. “As soon . . . Einstein”: Wigner (1964), p. 338.
21. Wigner remembers: ibid.
22. Szilard won his attention: Segrè (1970), p. 106.
23. von Laue . . . accepted Szilard: Weart and Szilard (1978), Fig. 1, p. 10.
24. “There was snow . . . strange”: de Jonge (1978), p. 125.
25. “the air . . . counted out”: ibid., p. 130.
26. Press Ball: ibid., p. 132.
27. Mies van der Rohe: Friedrich (1972), p. 163.
28. Yehudi Menuhin: ibid., p. 219.
29. George Grosz: Grosz (1923); Friedrich (1972), p. 152.
30. “an elderly . . . shoelaces”: quoted in ibid., p. 90.
31. Fyodor Vinberg: ibid., pp. 95-96.
32. “a dark . . . enigma”: quoted in ibid., p. 190.
33. “No, one . . . gods”: de Jonge (1978), p. 99.
34. “In order . . . of inflation”: Elsasser (1978), pp. 31-32.
35. “During a . . . and opinion”: Wigner (1964), p. 337.
36. “Berlin . . . of physics”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 8.
37. “In order . . . original work”: ibid., p. 9.
38. “I couldn’t . . . to my mind”: ibid.
39. Einstein, for example: Cf. Einstein’s own evaluation: “Because of the understanding of the essence of Brownian motion, suddenly all doubts vanished about the correctness of Boltzmann’s [statistical] interpretation of the thermodynamic laws.” Cited in Pais (1982), p. 100. Cf. also Szilard (1972), p. 31ff.
40. “and I saw . . . to do”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 9.
41. “Well . . . very much”: ibid., p. 9ff.
42. “and next . . . degree”: ibid., p. 11.
43. Six months later: ibid.
44. accepted as Habilitationsschrift: Szilard (1972), p. 6.
45. Szilard patents: ibid., pp. 697-706.
46. “A sad . . . valve”: Feld (1984), p. 676.
47. pumping refrigerant: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 12.
48. January 5, 1929: Szilard (1972), p. 528.
49. April 1, 1929: Childs (1968), p. 138ff.
50. “the mid-twenties in Germany”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 22.
51. “had a . . . scale”: Snow (1981), p. 44.
52. Der Bund: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 23ff.
53. “a closely . . . spirit”: ibid., p. 23.
54. “If we . . . own”: ibid., p. 24.
55. “take over . . . parliament”: ibid., p. 25.
56. “The Order . . . state”: ibid., p. 28n.
57. “The Voice of the Dolphins”: Szilard (1961).
58. banding together: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 22.
59. “the parliamentary . . . generations”: ibid.
60. “I reached . . . Switzerland”: ibid., p. 13.
61. Chadwick Nature letter: Chadwick (1932a).
62. Chadwick Proc. Roy. Soc. paper: Chadwick (1932b).
63. Szilard found orphan: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 16.
64. “the liberation . . . bombs”: ibid.
65. “oppressed . . . application”: Wells (1914), p. 46.
66. “This book . . . time”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 16.
67. “I met . . . system”: ibid.
68. Such must . . . nuclear physics: ibid., pp. 12-13.
69. “All I . . . too bad”: ibid., p. 13.
70. Things got . . . Meitner: ibid.
71. “They all . . . happening”: ibid.
72. “He looked . . . eyes”: ibid., p. 14.
73. “I took . . . day earlier”: ibid.
74. £1595: Bank receipt dated 6 September 1933 in Szilard Papers.
75. £854: Letter to “Béla” dated 31 August 1933 in Szilard Papers.
76. “I was . . . Association”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 17.
77. “attempted . . . developments”: The Times, p. 6.
78. “Lord Rutherford . . . irritated me”: Szilard (1972), p. 529.
79. “This sort of . . . Row”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 17.
80. “I was . . . be wrong”: Szilard (1972), p. 530.
81. “It occurred . . . may react”: ibid., p. 183.
82. Polanyi: Semenoff (1935), p. 5.
83. “As the light . . . the street”: Szilard (1972), p. 530.
84. “it suddenly . . . atomic bombs”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 17.
Chapter 2: Atoms and Void
85. “For by convention . . . void”: quoted in Scientific American (1949), p. 49.
86. “It seems . . . formed them”: in Optics, quoted in Guillemin (1968), p. 15.
87. “Though in . . . and weight”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 82.
88. “It is . . . pursuit in life”: Planck (1949), p. 13.
89. “the process . . . by any means”: ibid., p. 17.
90. “Thus . . . is settled”: W. Ostwald, at a meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Naturforscher und Ärzte in 1895, quoted in Pais (1982), p. 83.
91. “The consistent . . . finite atoms”: in 1883, quoted in ibid., p. 82.
92. “What the atom . . . as ever”: quoted in Chadwick (1954), p. 436.
93. “republic of science”: Polanyi (1962).
94. “a highly . . . free society”: ibid., p. 5.
95. “Millions are . . . committed”: Polanyi (1974), p. 63.
96. “the established . . . letter”: Polanyi (1946), p. 43.
97. “uncertainties . . . nature”: ibid.
98. “a full initiation”: ibid.
99. “close personal . . . master”: ibid.
100. “what do we . . . the world”: Feynman (1963), p. 2-1.
101. “no one . . . accepted”: Polanyi (1946), p. 45.
102. “Any account . . . is untrue”: Polanyi (1974), p. 51.
103. an analogy: Polanyi (1962), p. 6ff.
104. “Let them . . . consequence”: ibid., p. 7.
105. “growing points”: ibid., p. 15.
106. “The authority . . . above them”: ibid., p. 14. His emphasis.
107. “This network . . . neighborhoods”: ibid.
108. “Physics . . . those events”: Wigner (1981), p. 8.
109. three broad criteria: cf. discussion in Polanyi (1962), p. 10ff.
110. one thousand . . . physicists: cf. Segrè (1980), p. 9.
111. “his genius . . . astonished”: Chadwick (1954), p. 440. Details of Rutherford’s childhood selected from Eve (1939), Feather (1940) and Crowther (1974).
112. sickening insecurity: the phrase is C. P. Snow’s in Snow (1967), p. 11.
113. “That’s the last potato”: Eve (1939), p. 11.
114. “Now Lord . . . mine”: ibid., p. 342.
115. “Magnetization of . . . discharges”: 1894, in Rutherford (1962), pp. 25-57.
116. the world record: Marsden (1962), p. 3.
117. “like an . . . lion’s skin”: Eve (1939), p. 24.
118. “A magnetic detector . . . applications”: Rutherford (1962), pp. 80-104.
119. Marconi . . . in September: cf. Eve (1939), p. 35.
120. “The reason . . . the future”: ibid., p. 23.
121. “You cannot serve . . . time”: quoted in Kapitza (1980), p. 267.
122. “one curious . . . mistakes”: Snow (1967), p. 7.
123. “I believe . . . commercially”: Oliphant (1972), p. 140ff.
124. “in his . . . cultured man”: Marsden (1962), p. 16.
125. “before tempting . . . more”: ibid., p. 3.
126. “I hope . . . by myself”: Eve (1939), p. 34.
127. Bank of England sealing wax: Blackett (1933), p. 72: “It is curious that the most universally successful vacuum cement available for many years should have been a material of common use for quite other purposes. At one time it might have been hard to find in an English laboratory an apparatus which did not use red Bank of England sealing-wax as a vacuum cement.”
128. “the almost . . . passes”: J. J. Thompson in Conn and Turner (1965), p. 53.
129. “the corpuscle . . . cathode ray”: Crowther (1974), p. 123.
130. “a number . . . electrification”: J. J. Thompson in Conn and Turner (1965), p. 97.
131. Thompson . . . discovering X rays: cf. ibid., p. 33.
132. Frederick Smith: cf. Andrade (1957), p. 444.
133. “at a . . . discharge-tube”: J. J. Thompson in Conn and Turner (1965), p. 33.
134. Röntgen, Becquerel: these details from Segrè (1980), p. 19ff.
135. “exposed . . . on the negative”: quoted in ibid., p. 28.
136. “expecting . . . in the dark”: quoted in ibid., p. 29.
137. “There are . . . [beta] radiation”: Rutherford (1962), p. 175.
138. P. V. Villard: Segrè (1980), p. 50.
139. “The McGill . . . cannot complain”: Eve (1939), p. 57.
140. In 1900 . . . radioactive gas: “A radioactive substance emitted from thorium compounds.” Rutherford (1962), pp. 220-231.
141. “At the beginning . . . be examined”: Soddy (1953), p. 124ff.
142. “conveyed the . . . gas!”: ibid., p. 126.
143. an “isotope”: Soddy (1913), p. 400.
144. “for more than . . . an institution”: Soddy (1953), p. 127.
145. “similar . . . cathode rays”: Rutherford (1962), p. 549.
146. “It may . . . molecular charge”: ibid., p. 606ff.
147. “playful suggestion . . . in smoke”: Eve (1939), p. 102.
148. “some fool . . . unawares”: ibid.
149. “It is . . . secret”: Soddy (1953), p. 95.
150. “My idea . . . romances”: quoted in Dickson (1969), p. 228.
151. “After a very . . . radium rays”: Eve (1939), p. 93.
152. “I may . . . keep going”: ibid., p. 123.
153. “they are . . . moving”: ibid., p. 127.
154. “it remained . . . true physicist”: R. H. Fowler, quoted in ibid., p. 429.
155. An eyewitness: ibid., p. 183.
156. reported the month before: “The Nature of the a Particle,” Nov. 3, 1908; Rutherford (1963), pp. 134-135.
157. “After some days . . . vessel”: ibid., p. 145.
158. “In this . . . style”: Russell (1950), p. 91.
159. “I see . . . his apparatus”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 239.
160. “supper in . . . the motor”: Russell (1950), p. 88.
161. his handshake: Oliphant (1972), p. 22.
162. “he gave . . . physical contact”: ibid.
163. He could still be mortified: cf. his response to the bishop in gaiters who presumed to compare the South Island to Stoke-on-Trent in Russell (1950), p. 96.
164. “He was . . . tricks”: ibid., p. 89.
165. “Youthful . . . fools gladly”: Weizmann (1949), p. 118.
166. “Scattering of . . . rays”: Feather (1940), p. 117.
167. “I was . . . to taste”: Eve (1939), p. 384.
168. Philipp Lenard: cf. Andrade (1957), p. 441.
169. 100 million volts: Rutherford’s calculation in 1906 cited in Feather (1940), p. 131.
170. “Such results . . . electrical forces”: ibid.
171. rang a bell: Blackett (1933), p. 77.
172. But the experiment was troubled: details from Marsden (1962), p. 8ff.
173. “See if . . . surface”: ibid., p. 8.
174. “I remember . . . told him”: ibid.
175. “If the . . . be required”: H. Geiger and E. Marsden, “On a diffuse reflection of α-particles” in Conn and Turner (1965), p. 135ff.
176. a first quick intuition: cf. Norman Feather in Rutherford (1963), p. 22.
177. “It was . . . minute nucleus”: quoted in Conn and Turner (1965), p. 136ff.
178. sheets of good paper: cf. photographs of these historic notes in Rutherford (1963), following p. 240.
179. a model . . . pendulum: cf. Eve (1939), p. 197.
180. “largely . . . people”: Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 11.
181. a rare snake: ibid. Cf. also Chadwick (1954), p. 442n.
182. “a most . . . it”: Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 12.
183. “a central . . . in amount”: Rutherford (1963), p. 212.
184. Nagaoka had postulated: cf. Conn and Turner (1965), p. 112ff, for partial text.
185. “Campbell tells . . . optical effects”: quoted in Feather (1940), p. 136.
186. “supposed to . . . rotating electrons”: Rutherford (1963), p. 254.
187. “for the . . . in Manchester”: Nagaoka refers in his letter to “your paper on the calculation of alpha particles which was in progress when I visited Manchester.” That paper, “The number of a particles emitted by uranium and thorium and by uranium minerals,” was written with Hans Geiger, appeared in the Philosophical Magazine in Oct. 1910 and was sent July 1910. For the text of Nagaoka’s letter cf. Eve (1939), p. 200.
188. the same theoretical defect: cf. discussion in Heilbron and Kuhn (1969), p. 241ff.
189. “Bohr . . . radioactive work”: Eve (1939), p. 218.
Chapter 3: Tvi
190. Tvi: conversations with Josiah Thompson greatly enlightened this discussion.
191. “There came . . . Niels Bohr!”: Eve (1939), p. 218.
192. “an enormous . . . head”: Snow (1981), p. 19.
193. “much more . . . later years”: ibid.
194. “he took . . . the matter”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 78.
195. “uttering his . . . truth”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 417.
196. “his assurance . . . vivid images”: Frisch (1979), p. 94.
197. “he would . . . as criticism”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 79.
198. “Not often . . . of trance”: quoted in Pais (1982), pp. 416-417.
199. “gloomy . . . smile”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 215.
200. “keen worshipper”: Harald Høffding, quoted in ibid., p. 13.
201. “lovable personality”: the surgeon Ole Chievitz, quoted in ibid., p. 15.
202. great interrelationships: Petersen (1963), p. 9: “Bohr has said that as far back as he could remember he liked to dream of great interrelationships.”
203. speaking in paradoxes: according to Høffding in his Memoirs, quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 13.
204. “I was . . . different character”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 1.
205. “At a . . . his imagination”: Rozental (1967), p. 15.
206. “the special . . . the family”: quoted in ibid.
207. “Even as . . . fundamental problems”: Petersen (1963), p. 9.
208. trouble learning to write: cf. Segrè (1980), p. 119.
209. “There runs . . . two brothers”: Rozental (1967), p. 23.
210. “à deux”: Vilhelm Slomann, quoted in ibid., p. 25.
211. “In my . . . than I”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 1.
212. Harald . . . told whoever asked: cf. for example Richard Courant in Rozental (1967), p. 301.
213. a stick used as a probe: e.g., Rozental (1967), p. 306.
214. “believed literally . . . of faith”: quoted in ibid., p. 74.
215. “I see . . . his heart”: quoted without citation in Moore (1966), p. 35. Moore was allowed access to some of Bohr’s unpublished private correspondence.
216. Bohr drafted . . . private letters: cf. Rozental (1967), p. 30.
217. “If the . . . will come”: quoted in Cline (1965), p. 214.
218. Bohr’s anxiety: this discussion is based on Lewis S. Feuer’s excellent analysis in Feuer (1982) but differs in emphasis and to some extent in conclusions. Holton (1973) is also an essential source.
219. “a young . . . unusual resolution”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 74.
220. “an unfinished . . . in [Denmark]”: Bohr (1963), p. 13.
221. “a remarkably . . . position [as human beings]”: ibid.
222. “Every one . . . his initiation”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 121.
223. “very soberly . . . social activities”: Bohr (1963), p. 13.
224. “[I start] . . . bottomless abyss”: ibid.
225. “Bohr kept . . . studies itself”: Oppenheimer (1963), II, pp. 25-26.
226. “Certainly I . . . to madness”: quoted in Rosenfeld (1963), p. 48.
227. “Thus on . . . becomes actor”: quoted in ibid., p. 49.
228. “Bohr would . . . emphasized”: Rozental (1967), p. 121.
229. the image that recurred: cf. ibid., pp. 77, 327-328. Examples abound in the written record.
230. “suspended in language”: quoted in Petersen (1963), p. 10.
231. “Nur die . . . die Wahrheit”: quoted in Holton (1973), p. 148.
232. “I took . . . with Høffding”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 1.
233. Harald Høffding: cf. biographical note at Bohr (1972), p. xx.
234. “despair”: Holton (1973) notes this confession on p. 144.
235. Møller taught Kierkegaard: cf. Thompson (1973), p. 88.
236. “my youth’s . . . departed friend”: quoted in ibid.
237. The Danish word . . . “ambiguity”: paraphrased from ibid., p. 155.
238. “His leading . . . the individual”: quoted in Holton (1973), p. 146.
239. “Only in . . . of continuity”: quoted in ibid., p. 147.
240. “At that . . . multivalued functions”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 1.
241. the solid work: cf. Bohr (1972), p. 4.
242. “took such . . . the flame”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 325.
243. “the experiments . . . the paper”: quoted in Rosenfeld (1963), p. 39.
244. “not a professor”: Bohr (1972), p. 10.
245. “This is . . . ever read”: ibid., p. 501.
246. “envy would . . . the rooftops”: ibid., p. 95, adjusting the idiom.
247. “four months . . . rough drafts”: ibid.
248. “unpractical”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 2.
249. “He made . . . something good”: quoted in Nielsen (1963), pp. 27-28.
250. “in deepest . . . my father”: Bohr (1972), p. 295.
251. “Dr. Bohr . . . a record”: quoted in ibid., pp. 98-99.
252. “Oh Harald! . . . little fireplace”: ibid., p. 519.
253. “under threat . . . stand it”: ibid., p. 523.
254. “for an . . . blustering wind”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 44, adjusting the idiom.
255. “absolute geniuses . . . you out”: quoted in ibid., p. 40.
256. “I wonder . . . his ideas”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 32.
257. “I’m longing . . . silly talk”: quoted in ibid., p. 33.
258. “It takes . . . was different”: Bohr OHI, AIP, pp. 13-14.
259. “came down . . . his name”: Bohr (1963), p. 31. My chronology of Bohr’s visits to Manchester and his arrangements to work there generally follows the plausible conjectures of Heilbron and Kuhn (1969), p. 233, n. 57.
260. “just then . . . atomic nucleus”: Bohr (1963), p. 31.
261. Bohr had matters on his mind: cf. his letter to C. W. Oseen on Dec. 1, 1911: “I am at the moment very enthusiastic about the quantum theory (I mean its experimental side), but I am still not sure this is not due to my ignorance.” Quoted in Heilbron and Kuhn (1969), p. 230, with a following discussion.
262. “the patience . . . his mind”: Bohr (1963), p. 32.
263. “one of . . . of Rutherford”: ibid., p. 31.
264. “Bohr’s different . . . football player!”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 46.
265. eleven Nobel Prize winners: cf. Zuckerman (1977), p. 103.
266. Manchester is always here: cited by A. S. Russell in Birks (1962), p. 93ff.
267. “an introductory . . . research”: Bohr (1963), p. 32.
268. Bohr learned about radiochemistry: cf. ibid., pp. 32-33.
269. “Rutherford . . . thought . . . his atom”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 13.
270. “Ask Bohr!”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 46.
271. “It could . . . quickly”: Heilbron and Kuhn (1969), p. 238; Bohr (1972), p. 559; selecting the most idiomatic phrases from each translation.
272. “getting along . . . to you!”: Bohr (1972), p. 561, adjusting the idiom.
273. July 22: Bohr to Harald Bohr, ibid.
274. “to be . . . few weeks”: quoted in Heilbron and Kuhn (1969), p. 256.
275. “a very . . . these things”: quoted in ibid.
276. “One must . . . mechanical sort”: quoted in ibid., p. 214. My discussion here generally follows this excellent monograph.
277. “Later measurements . . . to be”: Planck (1949), p. 41.
278. “a universal . . . of action”: ibid., p. 43.
279. “The spectra . . . a butterfly”: quoted in Heilbron and Kuhn (1969), p. 257, n. 117.
280. “As soon . . . to me”: quoted in ibid., p. 265.
281. “There is . . . its advent”: Darrow (1952), p. 53.
282. “There appears . . . to stop”: quoted in Bohr (1963), p. 41.
283. “Every change . . . possible transitions”: quoted in Feuer (1982), p. 137.
284. “principal assumptions”: cf. Shamos (1959), p. 338.
285. “Bohr characteristically . . . phenomena”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 318.
286. “asking questions of Nature”: Rosenfeld (1963), p. 51.
287. “I try . . . I think”: Oppenheimer (1963), I, p. 7.
288. “He points . . . their validity”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 318.
289. “the fairyland of the imagination”: quoted in Thompson (1973), p. 176.
290. “It is . . . about nature”: Petersen (1963), p. 12.
291. “It was . . . so seriously”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 13.
Chapter 4: The Long Grave Already Dug
292. October 23, 1912: Hahn (1966), p. 70. Hahn (1970), p. 102, says Oct. 12. The official program confirms the later date.
293. a wet day, etc.: cf. photo “The dedication of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry” in Hahn (1966), following p. 72.
294. the Kaiser Wilhelm Society: details from Haber (1971), pp. 49-50.
295. an embarrassment: cf. Hahn (1966), p. 50.
296. Hahn admired women: cf. Hahn (1970), passim.
297. For details of Meitner’s early life: cf. Frisch (1979), p. 3.
298. “There was . . . close friends”: Hahn (1970), p. 88.
299. “an emanating . . . screen”: Hahn (1966), p. 71.
300. “If I . . . in prison”: Hahn (1970), p. 110.
301. “worthy of . . . noble brows”: quoted in ibid., p. 102.
302. Moseley: this discussion relies on Heilbron (1974).
303. “so reserved . . . like him”: quoted in ibid., p. 57.
304. “Hindoos, Burmese . . . ‘scented dirtiness’ ”: Moseley to his mother, ibid., p. 176.
305. “Some Germans . . . photographing them”: ibid., p. 193.
306. “We find . . . the atom”: ibid., p. 205.
307. “unbearably hot . . . start measurements”: ibid., p. 206.
308. “I want . . . a thousand”: ibid., pp. 207-208.
309. a billiard table: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 7.
310. “And that . . . were away”: ibid.
311. “the only . . . of success”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 58.
312. “a definite . . . chemical properties”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 224.
313. “shy . . . and noble”: ibid., p. 223.
314. “great developments . . . on mankind”: quoted in ibid., p. 224.
315. “do not . . . and ‘fantastic’ ”: Bohr (1972), p. 567.
316. “Speaking with . . . saying so”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 226.
317. “During the . . . on Physics”: Heilbron (1974), pp. 211-213.
318. “Because you . . . from Moseley”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 4.
319. Bayer Dye Works: cf. Haber (1971), p. 128.
320. “In the . . . thermos vessels”: Hahn (1970), p. 107.
321. “It is . . . whole valley”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 64.
322. “The eleven- . . . of Palestine”: quoted in Weisgal and Carmichael (1963), p. 20.
323. “a deliberate . . . ‘eternal students’ ”: Weizmann (1949), p. 93.
324. “inviting every . . . remuneration”: ibid., p. 171.
325. “In the . . . thrown away”: ibid., p. 134.
326. January 1915: Stein (1961), p. 140.
327. “Really messianic . . . upon us”: quoted in ibid., p. 137n.
328. “You know . . . your hands”: quoted in Weizmann (1949), p. 171.
329. “So it . . . British Admiralty”: ibid., p. 172. Weizmann writes 1916, but this is clearly a slip of memory. Cf. Stein (1961), p. 118. Churchill was no longer First Lord in 1916.
330. “brisk, fascinating . . . two years”: Weizmann (1949), p. 173.
331. “Horse-chestnuts . . . for maize”: Lloyd George (1933), pp. 49-50.
332. “When our . . . in Palestine”: ibid., p. 50. Vera Weizmann affirmed the authenticity of this conversation; cf. Stein (1961), p. 120n.
333. “view with . . . this object”: cf. frontispiece facsimile, Stein (1961).
334. “outstanding war . . . National Home”: quoted in ibid., p. 120n.
335. “it being . . . in Palestine”: ibid., frontispiece facsimile.
336. a German rocket signal, etc.: these details at Lefebure (1923), pp. 36-37; Goran (1967), p. 68; and Hahn (1970), pp. 119-120.
337. “to abstain . . . deleterious gases”: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1915), p. 1.
338. 300,000 pads: Pound (1964), p. 131.
339. Otto Hahn helped: cf. Hahn (1970), p. 118ff.
340. 5,730 of them: Prentiss (1937), p. 148.
341. “Haber informed . . . gas-warfare”: Hahn (1970), p. 118.
342. James Franck: according to ibid., p. 119ff.
343. I. G. Farben: cf. Lefebure (1923), p. 86; Haber (1971), pp. 279-280.
344. mid-June 1915: as Hahn remembers it in Hahn (1970), p. 120. Prentiss (1937) says phosgene was first used by the Germans in a cloud-gas attack against the British at Nieltje on Dec. 19, 1915. Hahn may have meant 1916.
345. “the wind . . . success”: Hahn (1970), p. 120.
346. buying German dyestuffs: cf. Haber (1971), p. 189.
347. phosgene: cf. Prentiss (1937), p. 154ff.
348. chlorpicrin: cf. ibid., p. 161ff.
349. mustard gas: cf. ibid., p. 177.
350. a typical artillery barrage: estimated from the figures given at Lefebure (1923), pp. 77-80.
351. “She began . . . of life”: Goran (1967), p. 71.
352. a scientist belongs: according to ibid.
353. “Our destination . . . in doubt”: Heilbron (1974), p. 271.
354. “to be . . . or systematizing”: ibid., p. 271ff.
355. “full of . . . and Australians”: ibid., p. 272.
356. “The one . . . food”: ibid., p. 274.
357. “over ghastly . . . slippery inclines”: G. E. Chadwick, quoted in ibid., p. 122.
358. “They came . . . The Farm”: Masefield (1916), p. 206.
359. “one of . . . in history”: quoted in Kevles (1979), p. 113.
360. Folkestone: this section relies primarily on Fredette (1976).
361. “I saw . . . the sight”: quoted in ibid., pp. 20-21.
362. “You must . . . in war”: quoted in ibid., p. 30.
363. “a basis . . . to fight”: ibid., p. 39.
364. “The day . . . and subordinate”: quoted in ibid., p. 111.
365. research contracts: Prentiss (1937), p. 84.
366. “the great . . . of warfare”: Lefebure (1923), p. 173.
367. a vast war-gas arsenal: cf. Prentiss (1937), p. 85, for these details and statistics.
368. “Had the . . . war”: Lefebure (1923), p. 176.
369. 500,000 . . . 300,000: cf. Ellis (1976), p. 62.
370. 170 million rounds: ibid.
371. “Concentrated essence of infantry”: J. F. C. Fuller, quoted in Keegan (1976), p. 228.
372. “I go . . . others”: Edmund Blunden, quoted in Ellis (1975), pp. 137-138.
373. 21,000 men: cf. Keegan (1976), p. 255.
374. “It bears . . . common needle”: quoted in Ellis (1975), p. 16.
375. “For the . . . working shift”: Keegan (1976), pp. 229-230.
376. a software package: this discussion benefits from Elliot (1972), p. 20ff.
377. “The basic . . . trenches”: ibid., p. 20.
378. “The War . . . of victims”: Sassoon (1937), II, p. 143.
379. the long grave already dug: Masefield (1916), p. 104.
380. “The war . . . human variation”: Elliot (1972), p. 23.
381. Elliot stresses: ibid., p. 25.
Chapter 5: Men from Mars
382. “Horse-drawn . . . social currents”: von Kármán (1967), p. 14.
383. “the fountain . . . to oppression”: Paul Ignotus, quoted in Fermi (1971), pp. 38-39.
384. 33 percent . . . illiterate: Jászi (1924), p. 7.
385. 37.5 percent of . . . arable land: McCagg (1970), p. 186.
386. 1910 statistics: cf. Nagy-Talavera (1970), p. 41n.
387. S. V. Schossberger: cf. McCagg (1970), p. 132. My discussion of this phenomenon generally follows McCagg.
388. “one day . . . almost unpronounceable”: von Kármán (1967), p. 17.
389. Jewish family ennoblements: cf. McCagg (1970), p. 63.
390. “galaxy of . . . lived elsewhere”: Frisch (1979), pp. 173-174.
391. Von Kármán at six: von Kármán (1967), pp. 15-16.
392. Von Neumann at six: cf. Goldstine (1972), pp. 166-167.
393. Edward Teller . . . late . . . to talk: cf. Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 6.
394. “Johnny used . . . improved”: Ulam (1976), p. 111.
395. “As a . . . were good”: Teller (1962), p. 81.
396. “addiction to . . . of Man”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 4.
397. “the most . . . 19th century”: E. F. Kunz, quoted in Madach (1956), p. 7.
398. “In [Madach’s] . . . is pessimistic”: New York Post, Nov. 24, 1945, quoted in Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 3n.
399. “a society . . . achievement”: Smith (1960), p. 78.
400. “My father . . . them ourselves”: von Kármán (1967), p. 21.
401. “We had . . . mathematician”: interview with Eugene Wigner, Princeton, N.J., Jan. 21, 1983.
402. Teller recalls . . . syllogism: cf. Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 137.
403. At Princeton: cf. Goldstine (1972), p. 176.
404. even Wigner thought: cf. Heims (1980), p. 43.
405. the only authentic genius: cf. Fermi (1971), pp. 53-54.
406. “So you . . . like geniuses”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), pp. 15-16.
407. “I think . . . impressed me”: ibid., p. 23.
408. “The Revolution . . . irresistible momentum”: Ferenc Göndör, quoted in Völgyes (1971), p. 31.
409. “Es ist passiert”: quoted in ibid., p. 12.
410. “the rousing . . . melodious flood”: Koestler (1952), p. 63.
411. “So far . . . sadistic excesses”: von Kármán (1967), p. 93.
412. “because it . . . to come”: Koestler (1952), p. 67.
413. “We left . . . put down”: USAEC (1954), p. 654.
414. the group of Hungarian financiers: McCagg (1970), p. 16.
415. Teller heard of corpses: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 18.
416. The Tellers acquired two soldiers: cf. ibid.
417. “I shiver . . . terrible revenge”: quoted in ibid., p. 19.
418. five hundred deaths: I use Koestler’s figure (“under five hundred”), the larger of the two I have found. Koestler (1952), p. 67.
419. at least five thousand deaths: Heims (1980), p. 47, citing Rudolf L. Tökes, Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic (Praeger, 1967), p. 214.
420. “no desire . . . all question”: Jászi (1923), p. 160, the atrocities in detail ff.
421. “that the . . . nationalities”: quoted in ibid., p. 186.
422. “It will . . . face extinction”: Ulam (1976), p. 111.
423. “dinned into . . . stay even”: Time, Nov. 19, 1957, p. 22.
424. “I loved . . . doomed society”: Cough-Ian (1963), p. 89.
425. “I was . . . is lasting”: von Kármán (1967), p. 95.
426. “once commented . . . the ‘it’ ”: Pais (1982), p. 39.
427. “the acquisition . . . hostile world”: Weizmann (1949), p. 18.
428. “every division . . . a watershed”: ibid., p. 29.
429. “In the . . . little understanding”: Born (1981), p. 39.
430. “Only a . . . the maze”: Segrè (1980), p. 124.
431. “Bohr remembered . . . of Maxwell”: Oppenheimer (1963), I, p. 21.
432. “His reactions . . . as well”: Rozental (1967), p. 138.
433. “That . . . of thought”: quoted in Segrè (1980), p. 124.
434. “a unique . . . unforgettable experience”: Bohr (1963), p. 54.
435. “I shall . . . highly exciting”: Heisenberg (1971), pp. 37-38.
436. “At the . . . that afternoon”: ibid., p. 38.
437. “Suddenly, the . . . of hope”: ibid., p. 42.
438. “You are . . . small children!”: Gamow (1966), p. 51.
439. “radiant . . . walking shorts”: quoted in Jungk (1958), p. 26.
440. “But now . . . very seriously”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 55.
441. “It saddened . . . such fancies”: ibid., p. 8.
442. “a few . . . to rise”: ibid., p. 61.
443. “a coherent . . . atomic physics”: ibid., p. 62.
444. “This was . . . scholarship”: the interviewer was Thomas Kuhn, in 1963, quoted in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 3.
445. one of Robert’s friends: Francis Fergusson, cited in ibid., p. 2.
446. “desperately amiable . . . be agreeable”: Paul Horgan, quoted in ibid.
447. “an unctuous . . . a bastard”: quoted in Royal (1969), pp. 15-16.
448. “tortured him”: quoted in ibid., p. 23.
449. “Still a . . . about him”: Jane Didisheim Kayser, quoted in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 6.
450. “came down . . . the time”: ibid., p. 7.
451. a Goth coming into Rome: Royal (1969), p. 27.
452. “He intellectually . . . the place”: quoted in ibid. Michelmore (1969), p. 11, however, has Oppenheimer himself saying: “I . . . just raided the place intellectually.”
453. a typical year: cf. Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 45.
454. “although I . . . with murder”: ibid., p. 46.
455. “the most . . . came alive”: Michelmore (1969), p. 11.
456. “Up to . . . of wrong”: Seven Springs Farm transcript, p. 5, in JRO Papers, Box 66.
457. “Generously, you . . . dead. Voila”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 54.
458. Both of Oppenheimer’s . . . friends: they are quoted in this regard in ibid., p. 32.
459. “It came . . . in physics”: ibid., pp. 45-46.
460. “a man . . . an apprentice”: ibid., p. 69.
461. “But Rutherford . . . the center”: ibid., p. 75.
462. “perfectly prodigious . . . success”: quoted in ibid., p. 77.
463. “I am . . . Harvard overnight”: ibid., p. 87.
464. “The business . . . interested in”: ibid, p. 88ff.
465. “The melancholy . . . been snubbed”: ibid., p. 128.
466. “How is . . . worth living”: ibid., p. 86.
467. “making a . . . a career”: ibid., p. 90.
468. “on the . . . was chronic”: quoted in Royal (1969), p. 35.
469. “noisy . . . me crazy”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 92.
470. “doing a . . . and alarm”: John Edsall, quoted in ibid.
471. “When Rutherford . . . That’s bad”: ibid., p. 96.
472. “sweetness”: Snow (1981), p. 60.
473. “At that . . . theoretical physicist”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 96.
474. “He said . . . probably true”: quoted in ibid., p. 94.
475. “a great . . . to brigantines”: ibid., p. 95.
476. “The [Cambridge] . . . but love”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 22.
477. “a great . . . it”: quoted in ibid., p. 21.
478. “Although this . . . very much”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 103.
479. “Not only . . . for generations”: Teller (1980), p. 137.
480. “a desert”: second AHQP interview, p. 18.
481. “largeness and . . . fixed up”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 121.
482. “house and . . . and stream”: ibid., p. 126.
483. Everyone went . . . except Einstein: Segrè (1980) gives Einstein’s reason at p. 168.
484. “In other . . . same structure”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 71.
485. “This hypothesis . . . be true”: ibid., p. 72.
486. “with . . . liberation”: ibid., p. 71.
487. “Wilhelm Wien . . . by Schrödinger”: Heisenberg in Rozental (1967), p. 103.
488. “For though . . . laborious discussions”: ibid.
489. “While Mrs. . . . admit that”: Heisenberg (1971), pp. 75-76.
490. “If one . . . step forward”: quoted in Rozental (1967), pp. 103-104.
491. “utterly . . . all along”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 77.
492. “It is . . . can observe”: quoted in ibid.
493. “On this . . . quantum mechanics”: Heisenberg in Rozental (1967), p. 105.
494. Bohr ought to have liked: cf. Heisenberg’s discussion in ibid., p. 106.
495. “the great . . . scientists”: Bohr (1961), p. 52.
496. “renunciation”: e.g., ibid., pp. 77, 80.
497. “Two magnitudes . . . the other”: Segrè (1980), p. 167.
498. “bears a . . . and object”: Bohr (1961), p. 91.
499. “quantum mechanics . . . play dice”: quoted in Holton (1973), p. 120.
500. “We all . . . it all”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 79.
501. “ ‘God does . . . the last”: ibid., p. 80.
502. “Nor is . . . the world”: quoted in ibid., p. 81.
Chapter 6: Machines
503. “I shall . . . world”: Snow (1958), p. 88.
504. “uncarpeted floor . . . volcano”: Oliphant (1972), p. 19.
505. “An anomalous effect in nitrogen”: Rutherford (1963), p. 585ff.
506. “gave rise . . . itself”: ibid., p. 547.
507. “I occasionally . . . this method”: quoted in Bohr (1963), p. 50.
508. “appeared to . . . H scintillations”: Rutherford (1963), p. 585.
509. “must be . . . in air”: ibid., p. 587.
510. “From the . . . is disintegrated”: ibid., p. 589.
511. one . . . in 300,000: Rutherford (1965), p. 24.
512. Francis William Aston: biographical details from de Hevesy (1947).
513. “In this . . . discharge tube”: ibid., p. 637.
514. building the precision instrument: cf. Aston (1927, 1933).
515. “In letters . . . atomic model”: Bohr (1963), p. 52.
516. “that neon . . . to 1”: Aston (1938), p. 105.
517. “High packing . . . the reverse”: Aston (1927), p. 958.
518. “If we . . . full speed”: Aston (1938), p. 106.
519. “the nuclear . . . door neighbor”: ibid., pp. 113-114.
520. “Stockholm . . . ever since”: quoted in de Hevesy (1947), p. 645.
521. “particularly detested . . . barking kind”: quoted in ibid., p. 644.
522. “What is . . . not answer”: quoted in Kevles (1977), p. 96. Numbers of American physicists given here and ff.
523. Psychometricians: e.g., Eiduson (1962), Goodrich et al. (1951), Roe (1952) and Terman (1955).
524. IQ scores: cf. Roe (1952), p. 24.
525. “He is . . . his nature”: ibid., p. 22.
526. A psychological examination: Eiduson (1962).
527. “their fathers . . . knew them”: ibid., p. 65.
528. “rigid . . . reserved”: ibid., p. 22.
529. “shy, lonely . . . or politics”: Terman (1955), p. 29.
530. a fatherly science teacher: cf. Goodrich et al. (1951), p. 17.
531. “masterfulness . . . dignity”: ibid.
532. “It would . . . their students”: ibid.
533. Ernest Orlando Lawrence: biographical details from Alvarez (1970), Childs (1968) and Davis (1968).
534. “almost . . . mathematical thought”: Alvarez (1970), p. 253.
535. “it seemed . . . atomic nucleus”: Lawrence (1951), p. 430.
536. “the tedious . . . electron volts”: Alvarez (1970), p. 260.
537. “In his . . . after night”: ibid., p. 261.
538. “This new . . . arrangement”: Lawrence (1951), p. 431.
539. “It struck . . . magnetic field”: Alvarez (1970), p. 261.
540. “Oh, that . . . your own”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 19.
541. “I’m going . . . famous!”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 140.
542. a battered gray Chrysler: cf. Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 135.
543. “unbelievable vitality . . . the opposite”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 143.
544. “The intensity . . . was before”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 38.
545. “having a . . . about 300”: Lawrence and Livingston (1932), p. 32.
546. “Assuming then . . . do this”: ibid., p. 34.
547. Oppenheimer told a friend: cf. Davis (1968), p. 23.
548. “men of . . . broad intuition”: Rabi (1969), p. 7.
549. the tunnel effect: cf. Bethe (1968), p. 393: “This work led him on to a treatment of the ionization of the hydrogen atom by electric fields, probably the first paper describing the penetration of a potential barrier.”
550. dying suns: e.g. Oppenheimer and Snyder (1939).
551. “You put . . . know peace”: Smith and Weiner (1980), pp. 155-156.
552. “Interested to . . . the circumstances”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 174.
553. “uncommon sensitivity . . . of thinking”: Eiduson (1962), p. 105-106.
554. “Were this . . . such fantasying”: ibid., p. 106.
555. “This discovery . . . in him”: Pais (1982), p. 253.
556. “But if . . . about them”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 139.
557. “And Bohr . . . not quite’ ”: Oppenheimer (1963), I, p. 3.
558. The Bakerian Lecture: “Nuclear constitution of atoms” in Rutherford (1965), p. 14ff.
559. “the possible . . . intense field”: ibid., p. 34.
560. James Chadwick: biographical details in Massey and Feather (1976). Cf. also Chadwick’s various recollections.
561. “was hardly . . . of Moseley”: Massey and Feather (1976), p. 50.
562. “But also . . . Soldiers’ ”: Chadwick (1954), p. 443.
563. “Before the . . . neutral particle”: Chadwick OHI, AIP, pp. 35-36.
564. “And so . . . only occasionally”: ibid., p. 36.
565. “It was . . . disposal”: Oliphant (1972), p. 67.
566. “dour and . . . became apparent”: ibid., p. 68.
567. “to conceal . . . gruff façade”: quoted in Wilson (1975), p. 57.
568. “He had . . . chuckle”: Massey and Feather (1976), p. 66.
569. “the physics . . . noisy”: ibid., p. 12.
570. he said later: paraphrased in ibid., p. 15.
571. “were so . . . of alchemy”: Chadwick (1964), p. 159.
572. “passed through . . . be found”: Chadwick (1954), p. 445.
573. “the problem . . . to believe”: ibid., p. 444.
574. “was a . . . really important”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 49.
575. “We are . . . physics!”: Snow (1967), p. 3.
576. “We are . . . complex atoms”: Rutherford (1965), p. 181.
577. the scintillation method: this discussion follows Feather (1964), esp. p. 136ff.
578. “He found . . . while counting!”: Massey and Feather (1976), p. 19.
579. “The loss . . . of them”: Eve (1939), p. 341.
580. his armorial bearings: cf. illustration and description in ibid., p. 342.
581. “a real . . . physicist”: Segrè (1980), p. 180.
582. “I don’t . . . he did”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 70.
583. “Indeed . . . element investigated”: Feather (1964), p. 138.
584. “that the . . . backward direction”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 161.
585. “And that . . . the neutron”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 71.
586. “Of course . . . very much”: ibid.
587. “together . . . in Paris”: Feather (1964), p. 142.
588. “They fitted . . . hydrogenous material”: ibid., p. 140.
589. “Not many . . . strange”: Chadwick (1964), p. 161.
590. The radiation source: cf. photograph at Crowther (1974), p. 196.
591. “For the . . . oscillograph record”: Feather (1964), p. 141.
592. “the number . . . protons”: Chadwick (1932b), p. 695.
593. “In this . . . were tested”: ibid.
594. “Hydrogen . . . this way”: ibid., p. 696.
595. “In general . . . of 1920”: ibid., p. 697.
596. “It was . . . time”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 71.
597. “But there . . . the letter”: ibid., p. 72.
598. “To [Chadwick’s] . . . physicist”: Segrè (1980), p. 184.
599. That Wednesday: the Kapitza Club traditionally met on Tuesday, but I take it that Chadwick finished the first intense phase of his work with the writing of his letter to Nature dated this day, Feb. 17, 1932. His remark about wanting to be chloroformed (see below) indicates he had not yet rested from his ten-day marathon.
600. “a very . . . us all”: Oliphant (1972), p. 76.
601. “one of . . . a fortnight”: Snow (1981), p. 35.
602. “A beam . . . times faster”: Morrison (1951), p. 48.
603. “the prehistory . . . nuclear physics”: Bethe OHI, AIP, p. 3.
604. “the personification . . . experimentalist”: Gamow (1966), p. 213. The complete Faust text is translated here by Barbara Gamow.
605. “The Neutron . . . you agree?: ibid., p. 213.
606. “That which . . . heart in”: ibid., p. 214.
607. “Now a . . . along!”: ibid.
Chapter 7: Exodus
608. “Antisemitism . . . is violent”: Nathan and Norden (1960), p. 37
609. “A new . . . Newton”: Pais (1982), Plate II.
610. Nobel Prize nominations: cf. ibid., p. 502ff.
611. “made . . . beyond Newton”: quoted in ibid., p. 508.
612. “a massive . . . muscled”: Snow (1967a), p. 52.
613. “A powerful . . . slipped off”: ibid., p. 49.
614. “to look . . . his image”: Erikson, “Psychoanalytic Reflections on Einstein’s Centenary,” p. 157, in Holton and Elkana (1982).
615. “dressed in . . . his eyes”: Infeld (1941), p. 92.
616. “finally the . . . structure”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 239. The paper is A. Einstein, PAW (1915), p. 844.
617. “One of . . . scientific ideas”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 290.
618. popular lectures: cf. Feuer (1982), p. 82.
619. disrupted lecture: cf. Pais (1982), p. 315ff.
620. “said that . . . German spirit”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 318.
621. Einstein mistakenly thought: cf. Einstein to Arnold Sommerfeld, Sept. 6, 1920: “I attached too much importance to that attack on me, in that I believed that a great part of our physicists took part in it. So I really thought for two days that I would ‘desert’ as you call it. But soon there came reflection.” Quoted in ibid., p. 323ff.
622. “ ‘My Answer . . . disposition, then”: quoted in ibid., p. 319.
623. “Everyone . . . my article”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 316.
624. “miracle . . . deeply hidden”: quoted in ibid., p. 37.
625. “If you . . . the things”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 469.
626. “Through the . . . social environment”: quoted in ibid., p. 36.
627. His father stumbled: for a careful reconstruction of this period in Einstein’s life cf. ibid., p. 39ff.
628. “Politically . . . my youth”: quoted in ibid., p. 315.
629. medically unfit: Pais (1982), p. 45n.
630. “victorious child”: Holton and Elkana (1982), p. 151.
631. “I sometimes . . . grown up”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 27.
632. E = mc2: the paper is A. Einstein, Jahrb. Rad. Elektr. 4, 411 (1907).
633. “It is . . . for radium”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 149.
634. “The line . . . the nose”: revised from ibid., p. 148ff.
635. “like men . . . postage stamp”: quoted in Holton and Elkana (1982), p. 326.
636. “great work . . . were slender”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 252.
637. “I begin . . . younger years”: c. 1915, revised from Pais (1982), p. 243.
638. “were . . . ambivalent”: quoted in ibid., p. 315.
639. “a new . . . eternity”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 473.
640. “first discovered . . . and dispersion”: quoted in ibid., p. 475.
641. “undignified . . . annoyed”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 314.
642. “in a . . . anti-Semitism also”: quoted in Young-Bruehl (1982), p. 92.
643. “I am . . . in Germany”: quoted in Feuer (1982), p. xxvi.
644. 54,000 marks: deJonge (1978), p. 240.
645. “I was . . . years ago”: Roberts (1938), p. 265.
646. “These points . . . Wittenberg!”: quoted in Toland (1976), p. 96.
647. refers to Jewry more frequently: cf. Hitler (1971), index.
648. “no lovers . . . of decomposition”: ibid., passim.
649. The sun shines in: cf. photograph of Hitler’s cell in Toland (1976), between pp. 172-173.
650. lederhosen: cf. photograph of Hitler at Landsberg, ibid.
651. “I often . . . magic formula!”: quoted in ibid., p. 64.
652. “If at . . . in vain”: Hitler (1971), p. 679.
653. The Jewish people: sources for this discussion include Arendt (1973), Bauer (1982), Cohn (1967), Dawidowicz (1967, 1975), Laqueur (1965), Litvinoff (1976), Mendelsohn (1970), Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz (1980), Parkes (1964), Patai (1977), The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion (1934), Rosenberg (1970), Veblen (1919), Weizmann (1949).
654. The fantasy of Jews: cf. Cohn (1967), p. 254.
655. “the enemies of Christ”: Parkes (1964) attributes this canard to Catherine II in 1762. The Encyclopedia Judaica, however, ascribes it to the Czarina Elizabeth Petrovna in 1742. Whether mother-or daughter-in-law made the statement, it clearly reflects imperial opinion of the Jews at the time of the Polish partition.
656. Edward Teller’s grandmother: interview with Herbert York, La Jolla, Calif., June 27, 1983.
657. “The Jews . . . a citizen”: Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz (1980), p. 104.
658. “Jewish disorders”: quoted in Levin (1977), p. 18.
659. Jews to the U.S.: for annual numbers cf. Mendes-Flohr and Reinharz (1980), p. 374.
660. “I have . . . of course”: reported by Herman Rauschning, quoted in Cohn (1967), p. 60.
661. “We owe . . . by heart”: quoted in Arendt (1973), p. 360.
662. “At eleven . . . the accursed”: Cohn (1967), p. 34.
663. “What I . . . the goyim”: Protocols (1934), p. 142.
664. “produced . . . our slaves”: ibid., p. 175ff.
665. “The principal . . . the Papacy”: ibid., p. 193.
666. “It will . . . a merit”: ibid., p. 205.
667. Protocols plagiarized: the best discussions of the bizarre history of the Protocols are Cohn (1967) and Laqueur (1965).
668. “gave them . . . state itself”: Arendt (1973), p. 39.
669. “Thus the . . . larger scale”: ibid., p. 360.
670. “Do you . . . need them”: Richard Breitling was the journalist. Quoted in Beyerchen (1977), p. 10.
671. meeting with Goebbels: cf. Goebbels’ diary entry quoted in Dawidowicz (1975), p. 68.
672. “I have . . . couldn’t happen”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 51.
673. “I didn’t . . . to change”: Otto Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 12.
674. “Civil . . . must retire”: quoted in Dawidowicz (1975), p. 77.
675. “descended from . . . grandparents”: quoted in ibid., p. 78.
676. a quarter of the physicists: Beyerchen (1977), p. 44.
677. Some 1,600 scholars: ibid.
678. “I decided . . . my life”: quoted in Clark (1971), p. 539.
679. “We sat . . . to America”: quoted in ibid., p. 543.
680. “Ich bin . . . dafür”: quoted in ibid., p. 544.
681. fifteen thousand: according to Pais (1982), p. 450. Clark (1971), p. 544, has $16,000.
682. “Turn around . . . again”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 318.
683. “recommended . . . me also”: Eugene Wigner OHI, AIP, p. 2.
684. “There was . . . it well”: ibid., p. 6.
685. Leo Szilard to Eugene Wigner: Oct. 8, 1932, Egon Weiss personal papers, USMA Library, West Point, N.Y. Trans. Edda König.
686. “close . . . 1933”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 14.
687. “On entering . . . up here”: Elsasser (1978), p. 161.
688. numbers of dismissals: Beyerchen (1977), p. 44.
689. Bethe’s dismissal: cf. Bernstein (1980), p. 34.
690. “Geiger . . . personal level”: ibid., p. 33.
691. “He wrote . . . nothing”: ibid., p. 35.
692. Bethe at 27: telephone interview with Rose Bethe, Jan. 18, 1984.
693. “I was . . . whatever”: interview with Hans Bethe, Ithaca, N.Y., Sept. 12, 1982.
694. “Sommerfeld . . . come back”: Bernstein (1980), p. 35.
695. “His early . . . mechanics”: Wigner (1969), p. 2.
696. “It was . . . I could”: interview with Edward Teller, Stanford, Calif., June 19, 1982.
697. “an old German nationalist”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 49.
698. “I really . . . in Germany”: ibid.
699. “quite shocked . . . the line”: Frisch (1979), p. 52.
700. “very disappointed . . . back to”: Otto Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 14.
701. “To me . . . I felt”: Rozental (1967), p. 137.
702. “Stern . . . Blackett had”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 14.
703. “If physics . . . dictator”: quoted in “Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett,” Biog. Mem. F.R.S. 21, p. 22.
704. “Lise Meitner . . . to you”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 12ff.
705. Bohr persuaded him: so Franck told Alice Kimball Smith: Smith, “The Politics of Control—The Role of the Chicago Scientists.” Symposium on the 40th Anniversary of the First Chain Reaction, University of Chicago, Dec. 2, 1982. Franck’s daughters have emphasized to the contrary that his decision to resign in protest was made “for himself and by himself and nobody else had any part in making it”: Beyerchen (1977), p. 16; p. 215, n. 8.
706. Max Born’s reinstatement: according to Beyerchen (1977), p. 21.
707. “We decided . . . of May”: Born (1971), p. 113.
708. “Ehrenfest . . . young ones”: ibid., p. 113ff.
709. “the old . . . for it”: Shils (1964). Shils tells the Vienna story here at length and notes that he heard it not from Szilard but from “other persons.” It was, he writes, “absolutely characteristic of Szilard to launch a campaign of aid and claim no credit later for himself.”
710. “that as . . . do something”: ibid., p. 38.
711. the major U.S. effort: cf. Duggan and Drury (1948) and Weiner (1969).
712. “a long . . . interview”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 32.
713. “university of exiles”: Born (1971), p. 114.
714. In Switzerland: Szilard reports these activities in a letter to Beveridge dated May 23, 1933. Leo Szilard Papers.
715. “sympathetic . . . German scientists”: Szilard to Beveridge, ibid.
716. “he proposed . . . them out”: Frisch (1979), p. 53.
717. Benjamin Liebowitz: for biographical data cf. “A memorial service for BENJAMIN LIEBOWITZ,” Egon Weiss personal papers, West Point.
718. “It is . . . Germany”: Liebowitz to Ernest P. Boas, May 5, 1933. Szilard Papers.
719. “dismissed . . . stronger”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 36.
720. “rather tired . . . the parties”: ibid., p. 35.
721. Locker-Lampson: cf. Clark (1971), p. 566ff.
722. “talking . . . goats”: quoted in ibid., p. 603.
723. “He did . . . forward”: Moon (1974), p. 23.
724. British appointments: Bentwich (1953), p. 13, puts this number at 155.
725. American contributions: ibid., p. 19: “The total American financial contribution by 1935 equalled that of the rest of the world.”
726. Emergency Committee arrivals: cf. Duggan and Drury (1948), p. 25.
727. one hundred physicists: Weiner (1969), p. 217.
728. “is a . . . distraction”: Nathan and Norden (1960), p. 245.
729. “fell in . . . to him”: Wigner OHI, AIP, p. 5.
730. “large and . . . atmosphere”: Ulam (1976), p. 69ff.
731. “I used . . . the climate”: ibid., p. 158.
732. “was astonished . . . and sang”: Infeld (1941), p. 245.
733. Hans Bethe walked: Hans Bethe OHI, AIP.
734. “When I . . . me away”: Mendelssohn (1973), p. 164.
Chapter 8: Stirring and Digging
735. Stirring and Digging: cf. Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning: “Surely to alchemy this right is due, that it may be compared to the husbandman whereof Aesop makes the fable: that, when he died, told his sons that he had left unto them gold buried underground in his vineyard; and they digged all over the ground, and gold they found none; but by reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of their vines, they had a great vintage the year following: so assuredly the search and stir to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitful inventions and experiments.” Quoted in Seaborg (1958), p. xxi.
736. the Gamows’ escape: cf. Gamow (1970), p. 108ff.
737. “I . . . my eyes”: ibid., p. 120.
738. “You see . . . to arrange”: ibid., p. 122.
739. “the voice . . . they were!”: ibid., p. 123.
740. “unable . . . neutron”: quoted in Weart (1979), p. 44.
741. “In the . . . encouragement”: revised from ibid., p. 44, and Biquard (1962), p. 36.
742. “the emission . . . element”: Joliot, quoted in Biquard (1962), p. 36.
743. “I irradiate . . . it continues”: quoted in ibid., p. 32.
744. “The following . . . working order”: ibid., p. 37.
745. “The yield . . . million atoms”: Joliot (1935), p. 370.
746. “never . . . of view”: quoted in Weart (1979), p. 46.
747. “Marie Curie . . . her life”: quoted in Biquard (1962), p. 33.
748. “one of . . . the century”: Segrè (1980), p. 197ff.
749. “These . . . transmutation”: ibid., p. 198, where the letter to Nature is reproduced as Fig. 9.15.
750. “I congratulate . . . any success”: quoted in Biquard (1962), p. 39.
751. “we are . . . necessary precautions”: Joliot (1935), p. 373.
752. “spending much . . . very long”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 36.
753. “became . . . chain reaction”: ibid., p. 17.
754. “a little . . . a job”: ibid.
755. “I remember . . . memoranda”: ibid., p. 19ff.
756. a patent application: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 622ff.
757. March 12, 1934: LS completed the application on Saturday, March 10. He had to wait until Monday to file.
758. books on microfilm: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 722.
759. “In accordance . . . substances”: ibid., p. 622. The balance of the application seems to concern a rough early conception of a thermonuclear fusion reactor of the Shiva type with a blanket for breeding heavy-element transmutations!
760. “that the . . . the other”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 18.
761. “None of . . . England”: ibid.
762. Fermi was prepared: cf. Holton (1974), for evidence and a discussion.
763. “I remember . . . effective”: Frisch (1976b), p. 46.
764. Both Fermi’s biographers: L. Fermi (1954) and Segrè (1970).
765. “Fermi must . . . handwriting”: Segrè (1970), p. 8.
766. “I studied . . . physics”: quoted in ibid., p. 10.
767. “a very . . . death”: quoted in ibid., p. 11.
768. “the partial . . . examination”: ibid., p. 12.
769. “In the . . . propagandist”: Fermi to Enrico Persico, Jan. 30, 1920, in ibid., p. 194. Segrè translates the extant Fermi-Persico correspondence in an appendix, p. 189ff.
770. “shy . . . solitude”: ibid., p. 33.
771. “could not . . . nebulous”: ibid., p. 23.
772. “he . . . in Rome”: ibid., p. 33.
773. “Fermi remembered . . . recognize him”: interview with Emilio Segrè, Lafayette, Calif., June 29, 1983.
774. “toward . . . experiment”: Segrè (1970), p. 23.
775. “disliked . . . possible”: quoted in ibid., p. 55.
776. “enlightening simplicity”: ibid.
777. “quantum engineer”: quoted by Weisskopf in Weiner (1972), p. 188.
778. “Not a . . . pretty active”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 266.
779. “cold . . . nature”: quoted in ibid., p. 265.
780. “Fermi’s thumb . . . flying”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 7ff.
781. “was . . . sex appeal”: ibid., p. 10.
782. “perhaps . . . than against”: ibid., p. 15. LF’s emphasis.
783. the time was ripe: sources for this discussion include Holton (1974) and Amaldi (1977) as well as L. Fermi (1954) and Segrè (1970).
784. “A fantastic . . . intuition”: quoted in Holton (1974), p. 172.
785. too remote: according to Segrè (1970), p. 72.
786. Fermi found amusing: Segrè interview, June 29, 1983.
787. Fermi skiing: L. Fermi in Badash (1980), p. 89.
788. “We had . . . radioactivity”: quoted in Holton (1974), p. 173, n. 81.
789. “Since the . . . interesting”: Rabi (1970), p. 16.
790. “The location . . . of study”: Segrè (1970), p. 53.
791. crude Geiger counters: cf. Amaldi (1977), p. 301, Fig. 3, and Libby (1979), p. 41.
792. 100,000 neutrons: cf. Fermi paper (hereafter FP) 84b, Fermi (1962), p. 674.
793. “Small cylindrical . . . seconds”: ibid.
794. “We organized . . . our stuff”: Segrè (1955), p. 258ff.
795. The next letter: FP 85b, Fermi (1962), p. 676.
796. “Amaldi . . . good loser”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 89.
797. 800 millicuries: cf. FP 99, Fermi (1962), p. 748.
798. “a very . . . determined”: FP 86b, ibid., p. 678.
799. “This negative . . . than 92”: FP 99, ibid., p. 750.
800. “a new element”: cf. partial text of Corbino’s address in Segrè (1970), p. 76.
801. “The discoveries . . . wars”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 37.
802. “Of course . . . the point”: ibid., p. 39.
803. “the liberation . . . the chain”: Szilard (1972), p. 639.
804. critical mass: cf. ibid., p. 642.
805. “some cheap . . . an explosion”: ibid.
806. “Marie Curie . . . not corrupted”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 388.
807. “which was . . . experiments”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 20.
808. Szilard applied to Rutherford: cf. LS to Ernest Rutherford, June 7, 1934, Szilard Papers.
809. “These experiments . . . confirmed”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 20.
810. the problem with helium: cf. Brown (n.d.), p. 53ff.
811. early in July: Amaldi (1977), p. 305. 216. “going on . . . laboratory”: ibid.
812. an unanswered question: cf. Amaldi (1977), p. 310, and FP 98 (p. 744), FP 103 (p. 755) and p. 641 of Fermi (1962).
813. “We also . . . 3 minutes”: Amaldi (1977), p. 310.
814. radiative-capture problem: cf. FP 103, Fermi (1962), p. 754ff.
815. “and those . . . important”: ibid., p. 756.
816. “Shortly afterwards . . . results”: ibid., p. 641.
817. “In particular . . . same room”: Amaldi (1977), p. 311ff.
818. “I will . . . have been”: quoted in Segrè (1970), p. 80. The colleague was Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
819. “About noon . . . radioactivity”: ibid.
820. “the halls . . . magic!”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 98.
821. water worked: cf. FP 105b, Fermi (1962), p. 761ff.
822. “Fermi dictated . . . time”: Segrè (1970), p. 81.
823. “They shouted . . . drunk”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 100.
824. “Influence of . . . neutrons—I”: FP 105b, Fermi (1962).
825. “The case . . . same element”: ibid., p. 761.
826. “might never . . . found out”: Hans Bethe OHI, AIP, p. 30.
827. Physical Review paper: A. von Grosse, Phys. Rev. 46:241 (1934).
828. “It was . . . characteristics”: Hahn (1966), p. 141.
829. “I began . . . chamber”: Amaldi (1977), p. 317.
830. “The experiments . . . results”: ibid.
831. “Through these . . . weight 239”: FP 107, Fermi (1962), p. 791.
832. “Other examples . . . bromine”: Szilard (1972), p. 646.
833. “So I . . . a chemist”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 18.
834. “understood . . . done”: ibid., p. 19.
835. Frederick Alexander Lindemann: cf. especially Mendelssohn (1973), p. 168ff.
836. “If your . . . physicist”: quoted in ibid., p. 168.
837. “he became . . . for arrogance”: ibid., p. 169.
838. “unbending . . . gentlemen”: ibid., p. 168.
839. “gracious living . . . friendship”: ibid., p. 171.
840. “saw a . . . modern war”: Churchill (1948), p. 79ff.
841. “the question . . . as possible”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 41.
842. “there is . . . taking patents”: ibid., p. 40.
843. “Early in . . . proper use”: ibid., p. 42.
844. “from private . . . at Oxford”: ibid.
845. “there appears . . . concerned”: quoted in ibid., p. 18, n. 28.
846. “I daresay . . . Government anything”: quoted in Szilard (1972), p. 733.
847. “contains . . . this country”: ibid., p. 734.
848. “Bohr in . . . that game”: Rozental (1967), p. 138.
849. “The lid . . . past year”: ibid., p. 153.
850. “was drowned . . . for him”: Oppenheimer (1963), II, p. 30.
851. “On that . . . understand it”: Frisch (1979), p. 102.
852. “Neutron capture and nuclear constitution”: Bohr (1936).
853. “For still . . . to become”: ibid., p. 348.
854. “the consequences . . . developed”: ibid.
855. “This 1937 . . . cleared up”: Wheeler (1963b), p. 40.
856. Rutherford’s death: cf. Eve (1939), p. 424ff, and Oliphant (1972), p. 153ff.
857. “seedy”: quoted in Oliphant (1972), p. 154.
858. “a wonderful . . . of hope”: quoted in ibid., p. 155.
859. “I want . . . Nelson College”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 425.
860. “When the . . . life”: Oliphant (1972), p. 155.
861. “Life is . . . encouragement”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 204.
862. “to me . . . father”: Bohr (1958), p. 73.
863. “Voltaire . . . atomic physics”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 430ff.
864. “I have . . . attractive”: ibid., p. 424.
865. “On element 93”: Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie 47: 653. Cf. translation in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 16ff.
866. Segrè remembers: cf. Emilio Segrè OHI, AIP, p. 24, and my Segrè interview.
867. “I think . . . elements”: Otto Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 38.
868. “It is . . . element”: FP 98, Fermi (1962), p. 734.
869. He later told Teller, Segrè, Woods: e.g., the three citations ff.
870. “Fermi refused . . . of nuclei”: Teller (1979), p. 140.
871. “You know . . . to himself”: Segrè interview, June 29, 1983.
872. “Why was . . . allowed”: Libby (1979), p. 43.
Chapter 9: An Extensive Burst
873. “I believe . . . been granted”: Meitner (1964), p. 2.
874. “quite convinced . . . had done”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 76.
875. “Slight . . . by nature”: Frisch (1968), p. 414.
876. “there . . . X-rays”: Frisch (1978), p. 427.
877. “persuaded . . . collaboration”: Meitner (1962), p. 6.
878. “not only . . . Professor Hahn”: Hahn (1966), p. 66.
879. “she could . . . story-teller”: Frisch (1968), p. 414.
880. “totally . . . vanity”: Frisch (1978), p. 426.
881. “though . . . could play”: Frisch (1968), p. 414.
882. “It . . . alert”: Axelsson (1946), p. 31.
883. “the vision . . . final truth”: Frisch (1978), p. 426.
884. “For Hahn . . . to explain”: ibid., p. 428.
885. Hahn met Joliot: Weart (1979), p. 57.
886. “It seems . . . its interpretation”: quoted in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 37.
887. “Who knows . . . storm”: quoted in Churchill (1948), p. 262.
888. “The years . . . conditions”: Meitner (1959), p. 12.
889. Meitner feared: cf. Frisch (1968), p. 410ff.
890. “I gave . . . an emergency”: an important detail; after the war Meitner bitterly accused Hahn of railroading her out of Germany so that he would not have to share the discovery of fission with her—as if he foresaw it in July. Cf. Hahn (1970), p. 199.
891. “I took . . . Holland colleagues”: Axelsson (1946), p. 31.
892. Physical Institute: such is LM’s address in Meitner and Frisch (1939). In his postwar recollections Frisch consistently places her at the “newlybuilt” Nobel Institute.
893. she photographed him: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 18.
894. “He told . . . the day”: quoted in Leigh Fenly, “The Agony of the Bomb, and Ecstasy of Life with Leo Szilard.” San Diego Union, Nov. 19, 1978, p. D-8.
895. “a very . . . a ‘stranger’ ”: LS to Gertrud Weiss, March 26, 1936. Trans. Edda König. Szilard Papers.
896. “stay in . . . the war?”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 20ff.
897. Lewis L. Strauss: details of his life from Pfau (1984), which Dr. Pfau was kind enough to allow me to read in MS.
898. “My boy . . . you down”: quoted in ibid.
899. “I became . . . hospitals”: Strauss (1962), p. 163.
900. the report to Nature: cf. Szilard (1972), pp. 140, 147ff.
901. “An isotope . . . my parents”: Strauss (1962), p. 164.
902. “August 30 . . . Leo Szilard”: Szilard Papers.
903. owned patent jointly: “Patents which have been taken out by Dr. Brasch and Dr. Szilard were to be brought into this foundation.” File memorandum, Szilard Papers.
904. “asked me . . . ‘surge generator’ ”: Strauss (1962), p. 164.
905. “In the . . . fresh fruit”: Shils (1964), p. 39.
906. debates among lawyers: cf. file memorandum, Szilard Papers.
907. “On April . . . taste unchanged”: M. Lenz to LS, April 15, 1938. Szilard Papers.
908. “I left . . . wife here”: Emilio Segrè OHI, AIP, p. 31.
909. a map of Ethiopia: Segrè (1970), p. 87.
910. “He was . . . to fascism”: ibid., p. 63.
911. “We worked . . . Civil War”: quoted in ibid., p. 90.
912. “That was . . . Italy”: ibid., p. 91.
913. “America . . . of Europe”: ibid., p. 92.
914. “I have . . . through anything”: quoted in Shirer (1960), p. 343.
915. “Rome of . . . and master”: revised from Segrè (1970), p. 95.
916. Fermi told Segrè: ibid., p. 96.
917. “Jews . . . Italian race”: quoted in L. Fermi (1954), p. 119.
918. “Why should . . . can’t he?”: quoted in Frisch (1979), p. 108.
919. “the dangers . . . other societies”: Bohr (1958), p. 23.
920. “we may . . . and variety”: ibid., p. 30.
921. the German delegates: according to Moore (1966), p. 218.
922. “the . . . prejudices”: Bohr (1958), p. 31.
923. “destroying . . . each other”: Arendt (1951), p. 478.
924. Bohr and Fermi’s Nobel: cf. L. Fermi (1954), p. 120ff.
925. Goldhaber: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 141ff.
926. “the whole . . . be delayed”: Churchill (1948), p. 292.
927. “I just . . . and see”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 21.
928. “was . . . mood”: quoted in Churchill (1948), p. 301.
929. “The British . . . worse treatment”: ibid., p. 301ff.
930. “conditions . . . security”: quoted in ibid., p. 302.
931. “He told . . . was accepted”: quoted in ibid., p. 306.
932. “that this . . . than Germans”: quoted in ibid., p. 309.
933. “How horrible . . . my soul”: quoted in ibid., p. 315.
934. “regard the . . . another again”: quoted in ibid., p. 318.
935. invasion of British Isles: cf. ibid.
936. “This is . . . our time”: quoted in ibid.
937. Lindemann drove up: this story and Lindemann’s remark appear in Mendelssohn (1973), p. 172.
938. “the complete . . . of force”: Churchill (1948), p. 303.
939. HAVE ON . . . DECISIONS: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 48.
940. “As my . . . decreased”: Szilard (1972), p. 185.
941. University of Rochester: Goldhaber, Hill and Szilard, Phys. Rev. 55:47, refers to these experiments “to be reported in the following paper.” They are therefore not reported in Phys. Rev. 55:47 as Weart and Szilard (1978) assert (p. 53, n.l). Szilard in Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 53, says to the point: “I went up to Rochester and stayed there for two weeks and made some experiments on indium which finally cleared up the mystery.” Since he wrote the Admiralty on Dec. 21, 1938 (cf. Weart and Szilard, p. 60), the Rochester work probably occurred in late November-early December.
942. “Taken . . . by fractionation”: quoted in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 38.
943. “You can . . . muddled up”: quoted in ibid., p. 39ff.
944. Strassmann speculated: cf. Irving (1967), p. 21. Irving interviewed both Strassmann and Hahn.
945. “must be . . . alpha particles”: quoted in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 42.
946. Meitner wrote in warning: according to Frisch (1979), p. 115. Frisch says elsewhere that this letter has been lost. It is not included among the Hahn-Meitner correspondence in Hahn (1975). All translations from the Hahn-Meitner correspondence by Edda König.
947. “Bohr was . . . elements”: Hahn (1970), p. 150.
948. “Hard . . . be withdrawn”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 123.
949. “especially rich ones”: quoted in Dawidowicz (1975), p. 135.
950. “your discovery . . . slow neutrons”: quoted in Segrè (1970), p. 98.
951. “Most of . . . very interesting”: Hahn (1975), p. 75ff.
952. Meitner’s living conditions: cf. ibid., pp. 91, 93, 103.
953. Eva von Bahr-Bergius: Johansson (n.d.), p. 1, and Hahn (1975), p. 103.
954. “Of course . . . important apparatus”: Hahn (1975), p. 99.
955. “Concerning . . . care of”: ibid., p. 76.
956. “a little . . . somewhat better”: ibid., p. 77.
957. “As much . . . like barium”: ibid., p. 77ff.
958. KWI layout: cf. floor plan, Max Planck Society Library and Archive, Berlin-Dahlem, and illustration accompanying “Die Kernspaltung,” Bild der Wissenschaft, Dec. 1978, pp. 68-69.
959. KWI tables: the composite worktable preserved at the Deutsches Museum in Munich would appear to be the measurement-room table with a paraffin block, flasks and filters added to represent the other work areas.
960. “forms . . . crystals”: Hahn (1966), p. 154ff.
961. “The attempts . . . being perceptible”: Hahn (1946), p. 58.
962. “Exciting . . . mesothorium”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 23.
963. “Perhaps you . . . somewhat bearable”: Hahn (1975), p. 78ff.
964. “very warm . . . wishes”: ibid., p. 79.
965. Hahn had little joy: cf. ibid., p. 78: “How much I am looking forward to it—after such a long time without you—you can imagine.”
966. Naturwissenschaften: cf. ibid.: “But before the institute closes we still want to write something . . . for Natur-wiss.” (Dec. 19, 1938); p. 81: “Since yesterday we have been putting together our Ra-Ba proofs. . . . On Friday the work is supposed to be turned in to Naturwiss. . . . The whole thing is not very well suited for [them] but they will publish it quickly” (Dec. 21, 1938). Cf. also Irving (1967), p. 27. Irving has it nearly right.
967. “Your radium . . . impossible”: Hahn (1975), p. 79.
968. “if you . . . New Year”: ibid., p. 79ff.
969. “Our radium . . . it quickly”: ibid., p. 81.
970. “Further experiments . . . altogether”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 80.
971. “just about . . . point”: Szilard (1972), p. 185.
972. Hahn’s and Strassmann’s paper: all quotations from Hahn and Strassmann (1939a), trans. Hans G. Graetzer.
973. “especially . . . any more”: Hahn (1966), p. 157.
974. “that I . . . box”: Jungk (1958), p. 68. The Rosebaud pickup version is in Irving (1967), p. 27.
975. Kungälv: for much of this history cf. Claesson (1959).
976. Frisch and Meitner in Kungälv: sources for this episode, one of the most confused in the entire story, are Frisch (1967b, 1968, 1978, 1979); Frisch OHI, AIP; Rozental (1967); Clark (1980); Meitner (1962, 1964). A close reading of Hahn (1975) is extremely important for straightening out the accumulated errors of memory.
977. a quiet inn: the building, at No. 9, had become in 1982 a veterans’ hall.
978. met in the evening: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 33.
979. a large magnet: ibid.
980. insisted Frisch read it: Rozental (1967), p. 144: “But she wouldn’t listen; I had to read that letter.”
981. “Barium . . . mistake”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 33.
982. “Finally . . . my problem”: Meitner (1962), p. 7.
983. “But it’s . . . that”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 34.
984. “But how . . . drop”: Rozental (1967), p. 144.
985. “Couldn’t . . . of thing”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 34.
986. “Now . . . opposite points”: ibid.
987. “Well . . . I mean”: ibid.
988. “I remember . . . instability”: ibid.
989. “Then . . . energy”: ibid.
990. “gave a . . . well”: Meitner (1964), p. 4.
991. “had . . . her head”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 34.
992. “One fifth . . . fitted”: Frisch (1979), p. 116.
993. “Lise . . . much lighter”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 37.
994. Hahn’s letter of Dec. 21: cf. LM to OH, Dec. 29, 1938: “Furthermore, how about the so-called actinium? Can they be separated from lanthanum or not?” Hahn (1975), p. 83. Hahn reported that result in his Dec. 21 letter; if Meitner had received it she would have known.
995. “barium fantasy . . . something”: Hahn (1975), p. 82.
996. “very exciting . . . it”: ibid., p. 83.
997. “Today . . . amazing”: ibid.
998. “against . . . experience”: quoted in Weart (1979), p. 59.
999. “We have . . . start”: Hahn (1975), p. 84.
1000. “If your . . . results”: ibid.
1001. “keen . . . Bohr”: Rozental (1967), p. 145.
1002. OF-NB meeting on Jan. 3: cf. OF to LM, Jan. 13, 1939: “Only today was I able to speak with Bohr about the bursting uranium.” Stuewer (1985), p. 50.
1003. “I had . . . be!”: Rozental (1967), p. 145. Frisch misplaces this conversation to a later time.
1004. “since Bohr . . . tomorrow”: quoted in Stuewer (1985), p. 51.
1005. “I am . . . findings”: Hahn (1975), p. 85ff.
1006. chronology of paper development and meeting with Bohr: Stuewer (1985), p. 51, quoting a contemporary letter from OF to LM.
1007. Frisch mentioned experiment to Bohr: cf. Bohr’s letter to his wife quoted at Moore (1966), p. 233: “I emphasized that Frisch had also spoken of an experiment in his notes.” Note that according to OF this discussion occurred before he talked to Placzek. Placzek probably did not, therefore, as OF later remembered, suggest the experiment.
1008. chronology of Placzek discussion: OF to LM, Jan. 8, 1939, quoted in Stuewer (1985), p. 53.
1009. “was like . . . cancer”: Stuewer (1979), p. 72.
1010. “One would . . . high”: Frisch (1939), p. 276.
1011. Jan. 13 until 6 A.M.: Frisch confirms date and time from his original laboratory notes in Stuewer (1979), p. 72.
1012. “pulses at . . . two”: Frisch (1939), p. 276.
1013. “At seven . . . camp”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 35.
1014. “a state . . . confusion”: ibid.
1015. William A. Arnold: personal communication.
1016. a dividing living cell: “Bohr had always urged that a nucleus behaved like a small droplet; a uranium nucleus . . . might divide itself into two smaller nuclei . . . much as a living cell becomes two smaller cells by fission.” Frisch (1978), p. 428.
1017. “I wrote . . . tail”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 36.
1018. two papers for Nature: Meitner and Frisch (1939); Frisch (1939).
1019. papers posted: Stuewer (1985), p. 53.
1020. “As we . . . seasickness”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 342.
1021. “We . . . Fermi family”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 139.
1022. “During the . . . none”: ibid., p. 154.
1023. Rosenfeld thought paper sent: cf. Rosenfeld (1979), p. 343.
1024. “In those . . . train”: Stuewer (1979), p. 77.
1025. “The effect . . . directions”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 343.
1026. “I was . . . off”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 231.
1027. Bohr letter to Nature: Bohr (1939a).
1028. “Can you . . . weeks”: Eugene Wigner OHI, AIP, p. 28.
1029. “they said . . . doomed”: interview with Eugene Wigner, Princeton N.J., Jan. 21, 1983.
1030. “Wigner told . . . me”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 53.
1031. “if, as . . . proceeding”: quoted in Stuewer (1985), p. 52.
1032. Rabi from Bohr himself: as he remembers it. Telephone interview Feb. 27, 1984.
1033. “probably . . . night”: telephone interview with Willis E. Lamb, Jr., Feb. 24, 1984.
1034. Rabi told Fermi: but remembers doing so as early as Jan. 17, 1939, which is difficult to reconcile with Fermi’s proposal to Dunning of a confirming experiment on Jan. 25.
1035. “I remember . . . news”: Fermi (1962), p. 996.
1036. “spreading . . . around”: Lamb interview, Feb. 24, 1984.
1037. “The discovery . . . uranium”: quoted in Segrè (1970), p. 217.
1038. “I thought . . . Fermi”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 53.
1039. “I feel . . . time”: ibid., p. 62.
1040. Fermi/Dunning/Anderson experiment: cf. Wilson (1975), p. 69ff, and Sachs (1984), p. 18ff.
1041. “He came . . . say”: Wilson (1975), p. 69ff.
1042. “Before I . . . Bohr’s”: ibid., p. 71.
1043. “All we . . . thought”: ibid., p. 72.
1044. “in general . . . me”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 70.
1045. “Bohr has . . . obvious”: Teller (1962), p. 8ff.
1046. “Fermi . . . at Princeton”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 233.
1047. Anderson returned to Pupin: cf. Anderson’s account in Sachs (1984), p. 24ff, which includes photostats of Anderson’s entries that night in his laboratory notebook, quoted here.
1048. thought Dunning would telegraph: Evidence that Dunning had not wired Fermi as of Saturday night is Fermi’s unusual response to the Roberts experiment at the DTM. Cf. Bolton (n.d.), p. 18. Frisch’s explanation to Bohr is quoted in Stuewer (1985), p. 53.
1049. Bohr chiding Frisch: quoted in Stuewer (1985), p. 53.
1050. “that no . . . results”: quoted in ibid., p. 55.
1051. 51 participants: cf. group portrait, Carnegie Institution archives, Washington, D.C.
1052. Gamow introduced Bohr: Roberts, et al. (1939). Roberts says Tuve wrote the introductory paragraph to this contemporary paper; the conference, it says, “began . . . with a discussion by Professor Bohr and Professor Fermi.” Cf. also R. B. Roberts to E. T. Roberts, Jan. 30, 1939: “The annual theoretical physics conference started Thursday with an announcement by Bohr that Hahn in Germany had discovered a radioactive isotope of barium as a product of bombarding uranium with neutrons.” DTM archives, Carnegie Institution.
1053. “The Theo . . . implications”: Roberts (1979), p. 29.
1054. “Fermi . . . atomic power”: RBR to ETR, Jan. 30, 1939.
1055. KINDLY . . . WRITING: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 60.
1056. “in a . . . anybody”: quoted in Weart (1979), p. 63.
1057. Joliot’s response: cf. ibid., p. 63ff.
1058. APO: Dr. Louis Brown, DTM, personal communication.
1059. “Sat 4:30 . . . Kr?)”: R. B. Roberts laboratory notes (n.p.), DTM archives.
1060. “tremendous . . . energy release”: RBR to ETR, Jan. 30, 1939.
1061. “We promptly . . . thorium”: Roberts (1979), p. 29.
1062. “I told . . . night”: RBR to ETR, Jan. 30, 1939.
1063. all except Teller: RBR’s laboratory notes.
1064. Fermi amazed: Bolton (n.d.), p. 18. Bolton talked to both Roberts and Meyer; both agreed on Fermi’s response.
1065. “I had . . . Nature”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 236.
1066. “There . . . phone calls”: Roberts (1979), p. 30.
1067. “Fermi . . . 1939”: Wilson (1975), p. 73.
1068. “I would . . . physics”: ibid., p. 72.
1069. “So . . . almost pitiful”: Luis Alvarez OHI, AIP.
1070. “About 9:30 . . . proceed”: Wilson (1975), p. 28ff.
1071. “I remember . . . conclusions”: Alvarez OHI, AIP.
1072. “The U . . . way”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 270ff, conjecture this letter to have been written on Jan. 28, 1939. The “papers” JRO refers to must be Henry’s AP story, which reached Berkeley via the Chronicle on Sunday, Jan. 29 (on the evidence of Abelson’s “About 9:30 a.m.”). JRO dated the letter “Saturday”; probably therefore Feb. 4, 1939.
1073. “might . . . to hell”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 209.
1074. “when fission . . . bomb”: quoted in Weiner (1972), p. 90.
1075. “A little . . . disappear”: quoted in Kevles (1977), p. 324.
Chapter 10: Neutrons
1076. I. I. Rabi: cf. Bernstein (1975).
1077. “infinite”: ibid., p. 64.
1078. “the mystery . . . nature is”: ibid., p. 50.
1079. Szilard learned: cf. Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 54.
1080. “and say . . . about it”: ibid.
1081. “Nothing known . . . quantitatively”: Wilson (1975), p. 76.
1082. “From the . . . precautions”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 54.
1083. at Strauss’ request: Strauss (1962), p. 172.
1084. “the performance . . . been completed”: ibid., p. 171.
1085. “No! . . . on it”: Teller (1962), p. 9ff.
1086. “It is . . . than ever”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 343.
1087. “For example . . . square foot”: quoted in Clark (1980), p. 86.
1088. “From these . . . slow neutrons”: Roberts et al. (1939a), p. 417.
1089. “Taking a . . . blackboard”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 343.
1090. “He wrote . . . the process”: ibid., p. 344.
1091. “It was . . . also present”: Dempster (1935), p. 765.
1092. Nier measured the ratio: Nier (1939).
1093. “changing from . . . two MeV”: Fermi (1949), p. 166.
1094. “Resonance in . . . nuclear fission”: Bohr (1939b).
1095. “were . . . inseparable”: Fermi (1962), p. 999.
1096. “slow neutrons . . . in uranium”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 64.
1097. “Bohr . . . to U238”: Roberts et al. (1940), second page of introduction (unnumbered).
1098. “For fast . . . abundant isotope”: Bohr (1939b), p. 419.
1099. a tank of water: cf. Fermi (1962), p. 5ff.
1100. “Szilard watched . . . get them’ ”: Booth (1969), p. 11.
1101. “All we . . . no radium”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 55.
1102. “to see . . . uranium”: ibid., p. 64.
1103. “just . . . from England”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 55.
1104. “a strange . . . object”: Booth (1969), p. 11.
1105. “Fermi and . . . was U-238”: Booth (1969), p. 20.
1106. “outraged”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 248.
1107. “It was . . . Bohr’s argument”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 345.
1108. Roberts’ and Meyer’s Phys. Rev. letter: Roberts et al. (1939b).
1109. “As soon . . . their thoughts”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 66.
1110. Szilard-Zinn experiment: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 158ff.
1111. “Everything was . . . went home”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 55.
1112. “We find . . . about two”: Szilard (1972), p. 158.
1113. “more than . . . absorbed”: Joliot et al. (1939a), p. 471.
1114. “a yield . . . captured”: Fermi (1962), p. 6.
1115. “I was . . . the neutrons”: Teller (1962), p. 10.
1116. PERFORMED . . . 50%: Strauss (1962), p. 174.
1117. “That night . . . for grief”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 55.
1118. “strongly appealed . . . discoveries”: LS to A. H. Compton, Nov. 12, 1942, p. 3. MED 201.
1119. “such a . . . handling it”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 56.
1120. G. B. Pegram: cf. Embrey (1970).
1121. “probably the . . . world’s work”: quoted in ibid., p. 378.
1122. “Experiments in . . . be disregarded”: quoted in L. Fermi (1954), p. 162.
1123. “Szilard . . . certainly possible?”: Stuewer (1979), p. 282.
1124. “We tried . . . into physics”: Teller (1979), p. 143.
1125. “the enormous . . . of U235”: Stuewer (1979), p. 282.
1126. “it was . . . taken seriously”: Fermi (1962), p. 999.
1127. “it can . . . huge factory”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 89.
1128. “two months . . . one idea”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 155.
1129. “There’s a wop”: Hans Bethe interview, Sept. 12, 1982.
1130. “a . . . board room”: Strauss (1962), p. 236.
1131. officer taking notes: these details in ibid., p. 238.
1132. “Enrico . . . predictions”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 165.
1133. “to discuss . . . the majority”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 56.
1134. Joliot et al. paper: Joliot et al. (1939a).
1135. “From that . . . no sense”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 57.
1136. a second Joliot paper: Joliot et al. (1939b).
1137. “The interest . . . satisfied”: ibid.
1138. “I began . . . absurd”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 58ff.
1139. German initiatives: cf. especially Irving (1967), the basic reference to this subject.
1140. “We take . . . others”: quoted in ibid., p. 34.
1141. “Tempers and . . . atoms”: New York Times, April 30, 1939, p. 35.
1142. “There is . . . whole matter”: quoted in Groueff(1967), p. 191.
1143. “By separating . . . very great”: Wilson (1975), p. 75.
1144. “went back . . . to do”: Booth (1969), p. 27.
1145. “He was . . . Fermi”: Wilson (1975), p. 76.
1146. “The [radio] . . . neutrons present”: Fermi (1962), p. 12.
1147. “He liked . . . time thinking”: Wilson (1975), p. 78.
1148. “Szilard made . . . assistant”: Emilio Segrè interview, June 29, 1983.
1149. “very competent”: Wilson (1975), p. 78.
1150. “about ten . . . by uranium”: Fermi (1962), p. 12.
1151. “an average . . . perhaps 1.5”: ibid., p. 13.
1152. “We were . . . Placzek’s helium”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 81.
1153. the resulting paper: Fermi (1962), p. 11ff.
1154. “by an . . . rays”: ibid., p. 15.
1155. “I was . . . to think”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 81.
1156. “is an . . . possibility”: ibid., p. 88.
1157. “It seems . . . reasonable price”: Szilard (1972), p. 195.
1158. “Thank you . . . of uranium”: ibid., p. 197. Fermi’s emphasis.
1159. “the carbon . . . canned form”: ibid., p. 196.
1160. “even more . . . considered”: ibid., p. 213.
1161. “perhaps 50 . . . uranium”: ibid., p. 196.
1162. about $35,000: LS to “Bill Richards,” July 9, 1939. Szilard Papers.
1163. “He took . . . fall”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 82.
1164. “I knew . . . really seriously”: ibid.
1165. “it seems . . . no escape”: ibid., p. 90.
1166. “Dr. Wigner . . . and me”: ibid., p. 98.
1167. “He was . . . concerned”: ibid., p. 82.
1168. “shared the . . . be advised”: Szilard (1972), p. 214.
1169. “worry about . . . to Germany?”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 82.
1170. Gustav Stolper: LS implies in ibid., p. 84, that he first contacted Stolper after his first visit to Long Island. His letter to Einstein of July 19, 1939 (p. 90), however, makes it clear that he talked to Stolper before his first visit but that Stolper did not connect him to Alexander Sachs until after that visit. In 1945 (Hellman [1945], p. 70) Sachs implied that he had, been in touch with Einstein, Wigner and Szilard before this introduction. The contemporary record cited here indicates otherwise.
1171. Sunday, July 16: the letter that resulted from the first meeting was transcribed by Wigner’s secretary on Monday morning; July 16, 1939, is the only Sunday between LS’s July 9 letter to Fermi and his post-meeting July 19 letter to AE.
1172. “We were . . . us there”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 83.
1173. “He came . . . soda water”: Snow (1967), p. 52ff.
1174. “Daran . . . gedacht!”: Nathan and Norden (1960), p. 291; Clark (1971), p. 669ff.
1175. “very quick . . . to object”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 83.
1176. Einstein dictated a letter: cf. ibid, for an English paraphrase of this first Einstein draft. The letter to Roosevelt that eventually resulted is often erroneously attributed to LS. As will become apparent, that letter grew directly from this first draft.
1177. “He reported . . . this matter”: ibid., p. 90.
1178. Alexander Sachs: cf. Hellman (1945). Sachs’ book title appears on the cover page of Notes on imminence world war in perspective accrued errors and cultural crisis of the inter-war decades, March 10, 1939, MED 319.7.
1179. “took the . . . in person”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 91.
1180. “Although I . . . his promise”: ibid.
1181. Teller midweek: cf. LS to AE, July 19, 1939, ibid., p. 90.
1182. “Perhaps you . . . particularly nice”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 91.
1183. July 30: I find no reference to this date except the garbled account in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 94, which gives it for the earlier LS-Wigner visit. It fell somewhere between July 20, 1939, when LS called AE to confirm his proposal by letter of July 19, and August 2, 1939, when LS again wrote AE. July 30 looks possible.
1184. “I entered . . . chauffeur”: NOVA (1980), p. 2.
1185. a third text: cf. LS to AE, July 2, 1939: “I am enclosing the German text which we drafted together in Peconic.” Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 92.
1186. “Yes, yes . . . than indirectly”: quoted in Teller (1979), p. 144.
1187. “at long . . . middle man”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 92.
1188. “that you . . . too cleverly”: AE to LS (n.d.). Szilard Papers. Trans. Edda König.
1189. “We will . . . too stupid”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 96. Translation revised.
1190. Lindbergh letter: cf. ibid., p. 99.
1191. “the Administration . . . in America”: ibid., p. 95. This is the letter Sachs ultimately delivered to Roosevelt for AE. Szilard’s accompanying memorandum is in Szilard (1972), p. 201ff.
1192. “If a . . . the case”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 97ff.
1193. “a horrible . . . atomic bombings”: Wigner (1945), p. 28.
1194. “the Hungarian conspiracy”: E. P. Wigner, memorandum to LS, April 16, 1941. Szilard Papers.
1195. “Our social . . . the eye”: U.S. Senate (1945), p. 7.
1196. “a perfect . . . of armour”: Churchill (1948), p. 447.
1197. “Adam and . . . ever since”: Ulam (1976), p. 116.
1198. revulsion against bombings: this discussion follows Hopkins (1966).
1199. “No theory . . . people”: quoted in ibid., p. 454.
1200. “inhuman . . . populations”: quoted in ibid., p. 455.
1201. “one of . . . reprisals”: quoted in ibid., p. 457.
1202. “Although . . . to come”: ibid.
1203. “The ruthless . . . immediate reply”: Roosevelt (1939), p. 454.
1204. a secret conference: cf. Irving (1967), p. 40ff.
1205. Bohr-Wheeler paper: Bohr and Wheeler (1939c).
1206. “Preparatory . . . Fission”: Irving (1967), p. 46n.
1207. “felt that . . . is abolished”: von Weizsäcker (1978), p. 199ff.
1208. “is . . . our man”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 100.
1209. “He says . . . matters stand”: ibid., p. 101.
1210. late afternoon: on the evidence of the brandy and of Sachs’ evening meeting with Briggs.
1211. Watson meeting: according to AS to E. Wigner, Oct. 17, 1939, MED 319.7. Hewlett and Anderson (1962) identify the two participants besides Watson as Adamson and Hoover, the ordnance specialists subsequently appointed to the Uranium Committee, citing a 1947 statement filed by Adamson. Sachs’ contemporary letter is more authoritative.
1212. “Alex . . . up to?”: Moore (1966), p. 268. I have found no other source for this quotation or the Napoleon story but take it Moore interviewed Sachs.
1213. Napoleon story: ibid. Moore places this story near the end of the meeting, but it was clearly designed to catch FDR’s attention. Cf. also Hellman (1945), p. 71: “The October 11th White House interview was one of a considerable series, during which Sachs, according to friends, would ease the President into the discussion with a few learned jokes.”
1214. “Bah! . . . visionists!”: A. C. Sutcliffe, Robert Fulton (Macmillan, 1915), p. 98.
1215. “I am . . . to him”: quoted in Hellman (1945), p. 70.
1216. Sachs did not read the Einstein letter: there is considerable evidence in the record to this point; cf. especially Sachs’ almost-explicit admission at U.S. Senate (1945), p. 10: “The Einstein letter of August 2, from which I quoted in part in my own letter, was left with the President, along with my own letter.” Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 17, confirm the omission: “Sachs read aloud his covering letter, which emphasized the same ideas as the Einstein communication but was more pointed on the need for funds.”
The scientific authority behind the meeting was nevertheless AE’s, as FDR wrote AE on Oct. 19, 1939: “I found this data of such import that I have convened a board . . . to thoroughly investigate the possibilities of your suggestion.” Nathan and Norden (1960), p. 297. Some have questioned the effect of the Einstein/Szilard/Sachs contact. Its effect was to convince FDR to appoint the Advisory Committee on Uranium. The emigrés were hardly to blame for the inadequacies of that committee.
1217. Sachs summation: Sachs (1945).
1218. Sachs intentionally: U.S. Senate (1945), p. 7.
1219. “ambivalence . . . and evil”: ibid., p. 9.
1220. “the more . . . door neighbor”: Aston (1938), p. 113ff. Also quoted in ibid.
1221. “Alex . . . requires action”: U.S. Senate (1945), p. 9.
1222. “Don’t let . . . me again”: ibid.
1223. Tuve deputized Roberts: Roberts (1979), p. 37.
1224. Sachs breakfast: AS to E. Wigner, Oct. 17, 1939. MED 319.7.
1225. Szilard began: cf. his Oct. 26, 1939, memorandum to L. Briggs (Szilard [1972], p. 204ff), which embodies “the statements and recommendations made by me at the meeting of October 21st”: LS to LB, Oct. 26, 1939. Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 110ff.
1226. “too heavy . . . airplane”: Szilard (1972), p. 202.
1227. “In Aberdeen . . . prize yet”: quoted in Teller (1979), p. 144.
1228. ordnance depot: cf. Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 98.
1229. Roberts raised objection: Sachs notes “a strong objection” (Sachs [1945] p. 7) from “scientists who were not as much concerned as these refugee scientists”—U.S. Senate (1945), p. 11. The only other American scientist at the meeting besides Briggs was Möhler. He may have concurred with Roberts, but Roberts had the necessary fast-neutron measurements.
1230. “there are . . . possibility”: Roberts (1939c), p. 613.
1231. the DTM had begun assessing: Roberts writes: “After Florida [i.e., March 1939] I continued work . . . on neutron scattering but my main efforts went into measuring cross-section for fission for neutrons of various energies. These were essential in calculating whether a chain reaction would run.” Roberts (1979), p. 37. Roberts “made rough measurements of the fission cross-section for neutrons in the energy range 500-2000 kv.” Roberts (1940), p. 2.
1232. “very unlikely . . . reaction”: Roberts (1939c), p. 613.
1233. Briggs spoke up: Sachs (1945), p. 11.
1234. “astonished . . . enthusiastic”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 110.
1235. “The issue . . . ahead”: U.S. Senate (1945), p. 11.
1236. “I said . . . is expensive”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 98.
1237. “How much . . . need”: Eugene Wigner interview, Jan. 21, 1983.
1238. “The diversion . . . such recommendation”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 110.
1239. “For the . . . me yet”: Teller (1979), p. 145.
1240. $33,000: Szilard (1972), p. 205.
1241. “At this . . . be cut”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 85.
1242. “All right . . . your money”: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 20.
1243. Uranium Committee report: excerpts at Sachs (1945), p. 7ff.
1244. Fermi letter: EF to AOCN, Oct. 28, 1939. A.O.C. Nier, personal communication.
1245. Nier finally began preparing: A.O.C. Nier, personal communication.
Chapter 11: Cross Sections
1246. “I regularly . . . every night”: Otto Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 12.
1247. “in a . . . any good”: ibid., p. 40.
1248. “I first . . . concentration camp”: ibid., p. 39ff.
1249. “So I . . . tourist”: Frisch (1979), p. 120.
1250. “a great . . . sobriety”: ibid., p. 121.
1251. “a sample . . . changed”: ibid., p. 123ff.
1252. “material enriched . . . bottom”: ibid., p. 124.
1253. “the most . . . Hitler war”: Snow (1981), p. 105.
1254. “I managed . . . on time”: Frisch (1979), p. 125.
1255. “That process . . . the trouble”: Frisch (1971), p. 22.
1256. “new explosives . . . by them”: Churchill (1948), p. 386ff.
1257. when Oliphant consulted Peierls: cf. Frisch (1971), p. 123.
1258. Perrin’s formula: Perrin (1939).
1259. Peierls’ formula: Peierls (1939).
1260. “of the . . . practical significance”: Clark (1981), p. 85.
1261. “ran her . . . times since”: Frisch (1979), p. 130.
1262. “Is that . . . written?”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 39.
1263. “I wondered . . . be needed?”: Frisch (1979), p. 126.
1264. “we had . . . to happen”: Frisch (1977), p. 23.
1265. 1023 cm2: ibid.
1266. “Just . . . playfully”: ibid., p. 22
1267. “To my . . . or two”: Frisch (1979), p. 126.
1268. four millionths/second: Gowing (1964), p. 391.
1269. “I worked . . . by them”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 88.
1270. “I had . . . be possible”: Frisch (1979), p. 126.
1271. “The cost . . . the war”: Wilson (1975), p. 55.
1272. “Look . . . about that?”: Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 39.
1273. “They . . . me”: Oliphant (1982), p. 17.
1274. “I remember . . . were doing”: Frisch (1977), p. 25.
1275. “On the . . . in uranium”: the full text appears at Gowing (1964), p. 389ff.
1276. “to point . . . discussions”: ibid., p. 389.
1277. “the energy . . . or less”: ibid., p. 391.
1278. “Memorandum . . . ‘super-bomb’ ”: Ronald M. Clark found this document among the papers of Henry Tizard and published it in Clark (1965), p. 214ff.
1279. “I have . . . present time”: quoted in ibid., p. 218.
1280. “I have . . . on it”: Frisch (1979), p. 126.
1281. “heavy water . . . yet known”: Irving (1967), p. 49.
1282. Norsk Hydro: cf. ibid., pp. 49ff, 56ff.
1283. Allier and heavy water: cf. Weart (1979), p. 130ff.
1284. “The complete . . . United States”: York (1976), p. 30. For York on Soviet research cf. p. 29ff.
1285. Japanese studies: cf. Pacific War Research Society (1972) (hereafter PWRS) and Shapley (1978).
1286. Takeo Yasuda: PWRS (1972), p. 18ff.
1287. “We are . . . any day”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 267.
1288. “this . . . coup”: Churchill (1948), p. 600.
1289. “It was . . . to persecute”: Rozental (1967), p. 160ff.
1290. Nobel Prize medals: cf. de Hevesy (1962), p. 27.
1291. 1.5 tons heavy water: Irving (1967), p. 61.
1292. “What I . . . a committee”: quoted in Clark (1965), p. 218.
1293. “the possibility . . . the Germans”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 92ff.
1294. “We entered . . . be investigated”: Gowing (1964), p. 394.
1295. “unnecessarily excited”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 94.
1296. “I still . . . very low”: quoted in Clark (1965), p. 219.
1297. “Dr. Frisch . . . was feasible”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 95.
1298. “The Committee . . . separation”: Oli-phant (1982), p. 17.
1299. “the most . . . was wrong”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 115.
1300. Watson decided: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 21.
1301. “a crucial . . . application”: quoted in ibid.
1302. “Divergent chain . . . and carbon”: Szilard (1972), p. 216ff.
1303. “seemed to . . . went home”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 115.
1304. “the most . . . this research”: ibid., p. 122.
1305. “I worked . . . of uranium”: Booth et al. (1969), p. 28.
1306. “very doubtful . . . uranium”: quoted in Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 20.
1307. “These experiments . . . in uranium”: Nier et al. (1940a).
1308. “Furthermore . . . unseparated U”: Nier et al. (1940b).
1309. 400 to 500 × 10−24 cm2: Nier et al. (1940a).
1310. “Cartons of . . . make measurements”: Wilson (1975), p. 83ff. Anderson recalls 1.5 tons of graphite here; but Fermi (1962), FP 136, p. 34, the report of this experiment, confirms the larger figure.
1311. “So physicists . . . happening”: Fermi (1962), p. 1000.
1312. “A precise . . . delight him”: Wilson (1975), p. 84.
1313. 3 × 10~27 cm2: Fermi (1962), p. 32.
1314. “scientists . . . Institution”: Gowing (1964), p. 43.
1315. “It is . . . goose chase”: quoted in Clark (1965), p. 220.
1316. Teller calculation: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 32.
1317. “the cross-section . . . pure uranium”: Roberts et al. (1940), Introduction, second page.
1318. “I came . . . miracle happened”: Teller (1977), p. 11.
1319. “To deflect . . . my mind”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 100.
1320. “In the . . . to go”: Teller (1979), p. 145.
1321. Teller had never bothered: cf. ibid.
1322. “We had . . . to me”: quoted in Forbes, Feb. 18, 1980, p. 62.
1323. “the continuance . . . mystic immunity”: Roosevelt (1941), p. 184.
1324. “Then he . . . be lost”: Teller (1979), p. 145ff.
1325. “but something . . . be lost”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 101.
1326. “conquest and . . . different cause”: Roosevelt (1941), pp. 184-187.
1327. “My mind . . . changed since”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 101.
1328. “That experience . . . lack meant”: Bush (1970), p. 74.
1329. “It was . . . certainly need”: ibid., p. 33.
1330. “something meshed . . . language”: ibid., p. 35.
1331. “Each of . . . to turn”: ibid., p. 36.
1332. “the threat . . . our minds”: ibid., p. 34.
1333. Bush and Conant proving impossibility: this insightful assessment comes from Dupree (1972), p. 456.
1334. “I remember . . . and voice”: Snow (1967b), p. 149ff.
1335. Franz Simon: cf. Arms (1966).
1336. “use my . . . this country”: ibid., p. 111.
1337. Simon joked: ibid., p. 109.
1338. “It was . . . the streets”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 108.
1339. “Within a . . . the matter”: Moon (1977), p. 544.
1340. “I do . . . taken seriously”: quoted in Gowing (1964), p. 47.
1341. hammered kitchen strainer: Arms (1966), p. 109, says this occurred in “late spring.” Fitted against other events June is a reasonable surmise.
1342. “Arms . . . separate isotopes”: ibid.
1343. “The first . . . soda-water”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 110.
1344. MET . . . KENT: quoted in ibid., p. 95.
1345. “an anagram . . . they can”: quoted in ibid., p. 96.
1346. strategic bombing: cf. Burns (1967); Kennett (1982); Saundby (1961).
1347. “short . . . air raid”: quoted in Kennett (1982), p. 112.
1348. “to undertake . . . are available”: quoted in ibid., p. 113.
1349. Hitler reserved London: ibid., p. 118.
1350. “And if . . . cities out!”: quoted in ibid., p. 119.
1351. “will-to-resist”: quoted in ibid., p. 118.
1352. “a systematic . . . Lion unnecessary”: quoted in ibid., p. 120.
1353. HE tonnage: Harrisson (1976), p. 128.
1354. deaths: ibid., p. 265.
1355. Simon report: reproduced, probably in rewritten form, under a different title as part of the MAUD Report and given in this form in Gowing (1964), p. 416ff. I quote from the MAUD version, p. 416.
1356. Simon delivered report: Arms (1966), p. 111.
1357. Auer ordered sixty tons: Irving (1967), p. 65.
1358. Joliot: the cyclotron episode appears at Weart (1979), p. 156ff.
1359. Bothe graphite measurements: Bothe (1944).
1360. “When . . . was on”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 116.
1361. “These galling . . . scientific fraud”: Bothe (1951), p. Iff. Trans. Louis Brown.
1362. “uranium . . . not work”: Frisch (1979), p. 138.
1363. “only for . . . consideration”: Irving (1967), p. 80. Irving’s report of Harteck’s meaning is here and on p. 277; the heavy-water recommendation is also here.
1364. Suzuki report/Nishina: PWRS (1972), p. 19ff; Shapley (1978), p. 153.
1365. Turner letter to Phys. Rev.: Turner (1946).
1366. “It seems . . . to say”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 126ff.
1367. Turner review article: Turner (1940).
1368. “a little . . . of isotopes”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 126.
1369. “it is . . . be used”: Turner (1946).
1370. “In 94 EkaOs240 . . . be expected”: Turner (1946).
1371. Bohr had speculated: cf. Nobel Committee presentation speech preceding McMillan (1951), p. 310ff.
1372. “When a . . . a book”: McMillan (1951), p. 314.
1373. “Nothing very . . . very interesting”: ibid., p. 315.
1374. “a uranium . . . neutron capture”: McMillan (1939).
1375. “the two-day . . . explanation”: McMillan (1951), p. 316.
1376. “Segrè . . . the story”: ibid., p. 317.
1377. “As time . . . vacation”: ibid., p. 318.
1378. “When he . . . work together”: ibid., p. 319.
1379. “Within a . . . like uranium”: Wilson (1975), p. 33.
1380. “Radioactive element 93”: McMillan and Abelson (1940).
1381. “it might . . . contribution”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 127.
1382. idea occurred to von Weizsäcker: cf. Irving (1967), p. 68.
1383. “finding that . . . neptunium”: McMillan (1951), p. 321.
1384. “I left . . . national defense”: ibid., p. 322.
1385. “excellent public . . . children have”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 145.
1386. “an . . . annual”: ibid., p. 148.
1387. “ ‘D’you know . . . crab grass”: quoted in ibid., p. 147.
1388. “purposely studied . . . Americanization”: Segrè (1970), p. 104.
1389. Segrè at Purdue: Segrè discusses this episode, including Lawrence’s attitude, in Emilio Segrè OHI, AIP, p. 33.
1390. “the machine . . . I do”: ibid.
1391. “we had . . . scary problem”: Segrè (1981), p. 11.
1392. “Fermi . . . 94]”: ibid.
1393. “I suggested . . . his collaborators”: Seaborg (1976), p. 5.
1394. Two searches: both of which may be followed day by day in ibid.
1395. 0.6 microgram: ibid., p. 13.
1396. “key step . . . discovery”: Seaborg (1958), p. 4.
1397. Seaborg remembers: cf. Bickel (1980), p. 188.
1398. “With this . . . 94”: Seaborg (1976), p. 25.
1399. “This morning . . . neutrons”: ibid., p. 34.
1400. larger critical mass: Gowing (1964), p. 68.
1401. “This first . . . is manageable”: quoted in ibid., p. 67ff.
1402. “I remember . . . 28 years”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 105.
Chapter Twelve: A Communication from Britain
1403. Conant: cf. Conant (1970), Kistiakowsky and Westheimer (1979).
1404. “the most . . . race”: Conant (1970), p. 252.
1405. “What shall . . . formality”: quoted in ibid., p. 253.
1406. “I said . . . the Interior”: ibid., p. 52.
1407. “I did . . . or weapon”: ibid., p. 49.
1408. “Conant achieved . . . chemistry”: Kistiakowsky and Westheimer (1979), p. 212.
1409. “strong belief . . . involving Briggs”: Conant (1970), p. 276ff.
1410. “Light a . . . possibilities?”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 311.
1411. Compton follow-up letter: K. Compton to V. Bush, March 17, 1941. OSRD S-l, Bush-Conant File, folder 19.
1412. “by nature . . . solution”: ibid.
1413. “I told . . . trail behind”: VB to F. Jewett, June 7, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4.
1414. “a very . . . atomic weapon”: Wilson (1975), p. 205.
1415. Bainbridge contacted Briggs: on the evidence of V. Bush to F. Jewett, April 15, 1941: “The immediate reason being a suggestion from Bainbridge that we send a member of our group to London on the uranium problem.” Bush-Conant File, f. 19.
1416. “I am . . . my head”: Bush (1970), p. 60.
1417. “it would . . . present time”: VB to FJ, April 15, 1941.
1418. “It was . . . scientific problems”: Compton (1956), p. 45.
1419. “disturbed . . . bloodedly evaluate”: VB to FJ, April 15, 1941.
1420. “fitness . . . task”: Compton (1956), p. 46.
1421. “Arthur Compton . . . and strong”: Libby (1979), p. 91ff.
1422. “tallness . . . enormously”: ibid., p. 16.
1423. “a small . . . place”: Compton (1967), p. 31.
1424. “probably the . . . of physics”: quoted in Pais (1982), p. 414.
1425. “Bohr spoke . . . different manner’ ”: Nielson (1963), p. 27.
1426. “In 1940 . . . time later”: Compton (1967), p. 44.
1427. “There followed . . . interested”: Compton (1956), p. 46.
1428. first NAS report (May 17, 1941): Bush-Conant File, f. 3.
1429. “the matter . . . applications multiply”: ibid.
1430. “And only . . . negative”: Conant (1970), p. 278.
1431. “authoritative and impressive”: discussed in FJ to VB, June 6, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4.
1432. “a lurking . . . well balanced”: ibid.
1433. “This uranium . . . doubt”: VB to FJ, June 7, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4.
1434. “We told . . . at Columbia”: Seaborg (1976), p. 42.
1435. “to crush . . . against England”: Hitler directive #21, “Operation Barbarossa,” Dec. 18, 1940, quoted in Churchill (1949), p. 589.
1436. “What worried . . . to priorities”: Conant (1970), p. 278ff. Conant (1943), p. 5, confirms this recollection.
1437. Briggs learned from Lawrence: a letter dated July 10, 1941, according to Conant (1943), p. 13.
1438. “In the . . . no money”: Eugene T. Booth, personal communication.
1439. “The government’s . . . war program”: Compton (1956), p. 49.
1440. “More significant . . . entirely feasible”: Conant (1970), p. 280.
1441. eight of twenty-four physicists: Conant (1943), p. 20.
1442. “In essence . . . ‘draft report’ ”: ibid.
1443. MAUD Report: given in full in Gowing (1946), p. 394ff.
1444. “With the . . . in order”: Conant (1943), p. 21.
1445. “During July . . . uranium program”: Conant (1970), p. 279.
1446. “If each . . . efficiently”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 138.
1447. “Fritz Houtermans . . . brilliant ideas”: Frisch (1979), p. 71ff.
1448. “that at . . . energy”: Bethe (1967), p. 216.
1449. “but fell . . . the Nazis”: Frisch (1979), p. 72ff.
1450. Houtermans report: cf. Irving (1967), p. 84.
1451. “Every neutron . . . thermal neutrons”: quoted in ibid., p. 85.
1452. “at worst . . . been defeated”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 126.
1453. “Although personally . . . Lord Cherwell”: Churchill (1950), p. 814.
1454. “If Congress . . . receive one”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 146.
1455. “most important . . . and determined”: Conant (1943), p. 19.
1456. “The minutes . . . and distressed”: Oliphant (1982), p. 17.
1457. “came to . . . for submarines”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 112.
1458. “I’ll even . . . in Berkeley”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 315. Childs attributes this wire to Lawrence. Since he was in Berkeley and Oliphant in Washington, I take it to be Oliphant’s.
1459. “How much . . . complete consideration”: quoted in ibid., p. 316ff.
1460. Oliphant sees Conant and Bush: cf. Bickel (1980), p. 166. Bickel interviewed Oliphant at length.
1461. “gossip . . . subjects”: Conant (1943), p. 19.
1462. “non-committal . . . of fission”: quoted in Gowing (1964), p. 84n.
1463. “that the . . . serious consideration”: quoted in Conant (1943), p. 20.
1464. “Certain developments . . . its development”: Compton (1956), p. 6.
1465. “out of the blue”: interview with Edward Teller, Stanford, Calif., June 19, 1982.
1466. “I decided . . . bombs”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 110.
1467. “Next Sunday . . . believed me”: NOVA (1980), p. 3.
1468. Hagiwara lecture: quoted in “Concerning uranium, Tonizo Laboratory, April 43.” Document copy and translation in the private collection of P. Wayne Reagan, Kansas City, Mo.
1469. Chicago meeting: Conant lists Pegram as a fourth participant. Compton, who believed the meeting to be crucial to his future and who describes it in detail, does not.
1470. “It was . . . talk freely”: Compton (1956), p. 7.
1471. “very vigorous . . . whole field”: Conant (1943), p. 21.
1472. “Conant was . . . be convinced”: Compton (1956), p. 7ff.
1473. “I could . . . research programs”: Conant (1970), p. 280.
1474. “If this . . . do it”: Compton (1956), p. 8.
1475. “the results . . . been exposed”: Conant (1943), p. 22.
1476. “I grew . . . a Russian’ ”: interview with George Kistiakowsky, Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 15, 1982.
1477. “When I . . . have reservations?”: Conant (1970), p. 279.
1478. “counted . . . significant”: ibid., p. 280.
1479. Bush memorandum: VB to J. B. Conant, Oct. 9, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4. Quotations describing Bush’s meeting with FDR come from this memo.
1480. “emphasized to . . . are over”: VB to F. Jewett, Nov. 4, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4.
1481. Bush to expedite research: cf. VB to FDR, March 9, 1942: “In accordance with your instructions [on October 9] I have since expedited this work in every way possible.” Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1482. “called . . . hundred pounds”: Compton (1956), p. 53ff.
1483. Dunning and Booth choosing gaseous diffusion: Booth et al. (1975), p. Iff.
1484. “Our . . . enriched uranium”: Eugene T. Booth, personal communication.
1485. barrier materials: cf. Cohen et al. (1983), p. 636ff.
1486. “One cannot . . . more tons”: FP 143, Fermi (1962), p. 99. Herbert Anderson’s headnote here confirms the chronology of this incident.
1487. “He urged . . . so well”: Compton (1956), p. 55.
1488. October 21 in Schenectady: Compton (1956), p. 56, says Cambridge, but Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 46, referring to the minutes of the meeting, locate it here.
1489. “I have . . . deliberation”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 321.
1490. Conant scolded Lawrence: ibid., p. 319.
1491. “leftwandering activities”: quoted in ibid.
1492. “Many of . . . of them”: USAEC (1954), p. 11.
1493. “causes and . . . with us”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 319.
1494. Oppenheimer debated Lawrence: cf. ibid.
1495. “It was . . . direct use”: USAEC (1954), p. 11.
1496. “I . . . forget it”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 220.
1497. “Kistiakowsky . . . members objected”: Compton (1956), p. 56ff.
1498. “In our . . . grave responsibility”: quoted in Childs (1968), p. 321.
1499. “the destructiveness . . . of inertia”: Compton (1956), p. 57.
1500. “No help . . . helpful suggestions”: ibid., p. 58.
1501. “It was . . . atomic bomb”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 93.
1502. “he was . . . his trip”: E. Heisenberg (1984), p. 77ff.
1503. “with . . . hospitality”: ibid., p. 78.
1504. “Being aware . . . this conversation”: quoted in Jungk (1958), p. 103ff.
1505. “The impression . . . actual events”: Rozental (1967), p. 193.
1506. “Heisenberg and . . . a standoff”: Oppenheimer (1963), III, p. 7.
1507. Heisenberg reactor drawing: reported by Hans Bethe in Bernstein (1979), p. 77.
1508. “Bohr . . . all else”: E. Heisenberg (1984), p. 81.
1509. “bond to . . . Bohr’s reply”: ibid., p. 80.
1510. “a state . . . despair”: ibid., p. 81.
1511. “he had . . . enough spoon”: Mott and Peierls (1977), p. 230.
1512. third NAS report: Report to the President of the National Academy of Sciences by the Academy Committee on Uranium, Nov. 6, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 18.
1513. “The special . . . with U235”: ibid., p. 1.
1514. “a fission . . . can be”: ibid.
1515. “The mass . . . fast neutrons”: ibid., p. 2.
1516. “may be . . . itself”: ibid., p. 3.
1517. “approaching . . . test”: ibid., p. 4.
1518. “in . . . four years”: ibid.
1519. “The possibility . . . this program”: ibid., p. 6.
1520. “more . . . of accomplishment”: Compton (1956), p. 61.
1521. “leaving Briggs . . . Ernest Lawrence”: VB to FJ, Nov. 4, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4.
1522. “Jan 19 . . . FDR”: Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1523. “The meeting . . . more firmly”: Compton (1956), p. 70.
1524. “a worthy . . . said Conant”: ibid., p.70ff.
1525. “the construction . . . secret project”: Conant (1970), p. 282.
1526. December 7, 1941: I rely primarily on Prange (1982) for this summary reconstruction, but cf. also Murukami (1982), Coffey (1970) and Toland (1970).
1527. “must be . . . ever seen”: quoted in Prange (1982), p. 500.
1528. “Negotiations with . . . disclose intent”: quoted in ibid., p. 402.
1529. “a defense . . . Philippines”: quoted in ibid., p. 403.
1530. “This dispatch . . . tasks assigned”: quoted in ibid., p. 406.
1531. “more . . . phrasing”: quoted in ibid., p. 409.
1532. “Well . . . it”: quoted in ibid., p. 501.
1533. Nagasaki torpedoes: cf. ibid., p. 323.
Chapter 13: The New World
1534. “Szilard at . . . customers”: Fermi (1962), p. 1003.
1535. thirty tons of graphite: ibid., p. 546.
1536. “Much of . . . with heap”: Segrè (1970), p. 116.
1537. “We . . . oxide”: Fermi (1962), p. 1002.
1538. The cans: cf. FP 150, ibid., p. 128.
1539. “This structure . . . as possible”: ibid.
1540. “We were . . . exhausting work”: Wilson (1975), p. 86.
1541. “We . . . four pounds”: Fermi (1962), p. 1002.
1542. “Fermi tried . . . and precision”: Wilson (1975), p. 87.
1543. k: cf. FP 149, Fermi (1962), p. 120.
1544. “Now that . . . Pearl Harbor”: ibid., p. 1002ff.
1545. “the atmosphere . . . optimism reigned”: Conant (1943), II, p. 2.
1546. the next day: i.e., Dec. 19, 1941. Compton gives Dec. 20 but cf. Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 53.
1547. “On the . . . 18 months”: AHC to VB et al., Dec. 20, 1941, p. 2. Bush-Conant File, folder 5.
1548. “This figure . . . per year”: Compton (1956), p. 72.
1549. Anderson scouting locations: cf. his letter to Szilard, Jan. 21, 1942, Szilard Papers.
1550. “egg-boiling”: ibid.
1551. “Each was . . . for Chicago”: Compton (1956), p. 80.
1552. “We will . . . war”: quoted in Compton, “Operation of the Metallurgical Project,” memorandum, July 28, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 20a.
1553. “Finally, wearied . . . to Chicago”: Compton (1956), p. 81.
1554. “had come . . . moving again”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 174.
1555. “was unhappy . . . quite efficiently”: ibid., p. 169.
1556. THANK YOU . . . ORGANIZATION: AHC to LS, Jan. 25, 1942. Szilard Papers.
1557. uranium press: Libby (1979), p. 70. Libby’s chronology here is garbled, however.
1558. “There are . . . ordered one”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 186. LF believed the pile was canned to exclude the air, but cf. FP 151, Fermi (1962), p. 137: “Particular care was taken to eliminate as much as possible the moisture.”
1559. “required soldering . . . the job”: Wattenberg (1982), p. 23.
1560. “To insure . . . their heads”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 186.
1561. “Like the . . . winter meant”: Churchill (1950), p. 536.
1562. “well-fed . . . fighting”: Guderian, quoted in Shirer (1960), p. 862.
1563. “The winter . . . certain”: Churchill (1950), p. 537.
1564. “The work . . . near future”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 94.
1565. “Experimental Luncheon”: cf. Goudsmit (1947), p. 170.
1566. “too busy . . . moment”: quoted in ibid., p. 171.
1567. “Pure uranium-235 . . . colossal force”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 99.
1568. “it would . . . to detonate”: quoted in ibid., p. 100.
1569. “The first . . . be done”: quoted in Groves (1962), p. 335. Note that this is testimony obtained surreptitiously by bugging while its subjects, who have claimed it was mistranslated and misinterpreted, were prisoners of war. To the extent that it is reliable it is far more candid than published statements, however.
1570. “In the . . . its importance”: Speer (1970), p. 225.
1571. “The word . . . reaction”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 108.
1572. “As . . . a pineapple”: quoted in ibid., p. 109.
1573. “His answer . . . the war”: Speer (1970), p. 226.
1574. “Hitler had . . . see it”: ibid., p. 227.
1575. “on the . . . propelling machinery”: ibid.
1576. “In the . . . prime movers”: Heisenberg (1947), p. 214.
1577. “We may . . . finding out”: VB to FDR, March 9, 1942. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1578. March 9 report: “Report to the President, status of tubealloy development” (n.d.). Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1579. “I think . . . the essence”: FDR to VB, March 11, 1942. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1580. “While all . . . the other”: JBC to VB, May 14, 1942. Bush-Conant File, f. 5.
1581. Conant reviewed the evidence: cf. ibid.
1582. “if the . . . of machinery”: ibid.
1583. Seaborg to Chicago: chronology and details of this section follow Seaborg (1977).
1584. “This day . . . Project”: ibid., p. 2.
1585. 250 ppm: Seaborg (1958), p. 16.
1586. “We conceived . . . were employed”: ibid., p. 8.
1587. “I . . . precipitation”: Seaborg (1977), p. 9.
1588. “Sometimes I . . . right now”: ibid., p. 42.
1589. “We looked . . . concrete bench”: ibid., p. 56.
1590. “I always . . . fit”: ibid., p. 112.
1591. “It was . . . balance”: Seaborg (1958), p. 38.
1592. “the fellows . . . Hall”: Seaborg (1977), p. 66.
1593. “But to . . . the north”: ibid., p. 68.
1594. “Our witnesses . . . stay”: ibid., p. 70.
1595. “it was . . . call”: ibid., p. 75.
1596. “I do . . . a whole”: G. Breit to L. Briggs, May 18, 1942. Bush-Conant File, f. 5.
1597. “a prerequisite . . . bomb”: Seaborg (1977), p. 75.
1598. “because . . . use helium”: ibid., p. 91.
1599. “a water . . . time”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 157.
1600. “Compton repeated . . . of 1944”: Seaborg (1977), p. 86ff.
1601. “Compton opened . . . people present”: ibid., p. 93ff.
1602. “Stated in . . . lines”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 156.
1603. “In 1939 . . . were eliminated”: ibid., p. 152.
1604. “The UNH . . . a minimum”: Seaborg (1977), p. 148.
1605. “facetiously . . . attention”: interview with Glenn Seaborg, Berkeley, Calif., June 22, 1982.
1606. “Perhaps today . . . of man”: Seaborg (1977), p. 192ff.
1607. “a holiday . . . hue”: ibid., p. 193.
1608. “luminaries”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 227.
1609. “I considered . . . practical way”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 70.
1610. “After the . . . effort”: quoted in ibid., p. 61.
1611. “The essential . . . hands full”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 226.
1612. Kiddygram: cf. ibid.
1613. “our best . . . country”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 55.
1614. early July: on July 9, 1942, Teller told Seaborg he was leaving for a month in Berkeley. Seaborg (1977), p. 111.
1615. “He had . . . probably work”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 71.
1616. “We were . . . do it”: Teller (1962), p. 38.
1617. “We had . . . hydrogen bomb”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 72ff.
1618. “in the . . . been tragic”: “Remarks by Raymond T. Birge,” May 5, 1964, p. 5ff. JRO Papers, Box 248.
1619. “The theory . . . do much”: interview with Hans Bethe, Ithaca, N.Y., Sept. 12, 1982.
1620. “My wife . . . doing it”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 73.
1621. 35,000 eV/400 million degrees: Hawkins (1947), p. 14.
1622. 85,000 tons: ibid., p. 15.
1623. 500 atomic bombs: based on Bush’s March estimate of 2 KT per “unit.”
1624. “I didn’t . . . know more”: Bethe interview, Sept. 12, 1982.
1625. “I’ll never . . . their calculations”: Compton (1956), p. 127ff.
1626. “I very . . . my arguments”: Bethe interview, Sept. 12, 1982.
1627. “It was . . . common sense”: Hawkins (1947), p. 15.
1628. “My theories . . . conclusion”: Teller (1962), p. 39.
1629. “Konopinski . . . guess”: ibid.
1630. lithium deuteride: cf. Teller to Oppenheimer, Sept. 5, 1942, JRO Papers, Box 71: “In connection with these reactions it occurred to me that our Lithium Deuterite estimate which we made at Berkeley might be wrong . . . But even so I agree that Lithium Hydride will probably not be possible without some change in isotopic composition.”
1631. “We were . . . unforgettable”: Bethe (1968), p. 398.
1632. a major effort: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 2.
1633. “Fast neutron . . . work”: Seaborg (1977), pp. 269-271.
1634. Cincinnati/Tennessee: ibid.
1635. Conant notes: handwritten on yellow legal pad paper, headed “August 26, 1942. Status of the Bomb.” Bush-Conant File, f. 14a.
1636. Executive Committee report: “Status of Atomic Fission Project,” (n.d.), Bush-Conant File, f. 12.
1637. “the physicists . . . report”: via Harvey Bundy. Cf. VB, “Memorandum for Mr. Bundy,” July 29, 1942. OSRD S-l Bush Report March 1942 #58.
1638. “Classical engineers . . . everyone”: Libby (1979), p. 90ff.
1639. Wilson’s meeting: Leona (Woods) Libby’s is the more detailed recollection and squares with the timing of the Stone & Webster appointment in June, following which the engineering firm conducted preliminary studies during the summer. Compton apparently confuses the meeting Wilson called with the June meeting Seaborg describes when the decision to turn Pu production over to industry was first announced—also a rowdy meeting. Cf. Libby (1979), p. 90ff; Compton (1956), p. 108ff; Seaborg (1977), p. 93ff.
1640. “We (some . . . & Webster”: Libby (1979), p. 91.
1641. “When Compton . . . and disbanded”: ibid., p. 91 ff.
1642. Szilard memorandum: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 153ff, and draft “Memorandum” dated Sept. 19, 1942, Szilard Papers.
1643. “In talking . . . instrument”: LS, draft “Memorandum,” p. 5.
1644. “I have . . . OSRD”: ibid., p. 4.
1645. “The situation . . . our work”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 155.
1646. “There is . . . be functional”: ibid., p. 156.
1647. “If we . . . it up”: quoted in ibid., p. 147.
1648. “We may . . . responsibility lies”: ibid., p. 159ff.
1649. “From my . . . war efforts”: VB to Harvey Bundy, Aug. 29, 1942. OSRD S-l Bush Report March 1942 #58, p. 4.
1650. “On the . . . Oh”: Groves (1948), p. 15.
1651. “to take . . . project”: “Memorandum for the Chief of Engineers,” Sept. 17, 1942. MD I/I/f.25b.
1652. “I thought . . . colonel”: Groves (1962), p. 5.
1653. Groves’ father: cf. Groves (n.d.), “The Army As I Saw It.”
1654. “Entering West . . . I knew”: ibid., p. 103.
1655. “A . . . wolf”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 244.
1656. “the biggest . . . of understanding”: quoted in Goodchild (1980), p. 56ff.
1657. “I was . . . horrified”: Groves (1962), p. 19.
1658. “I told . . . the soup”: quoted in ibid., p. 20.
1659. “His reaction . . . his wishes”: ibid., p. 22.
1660. “We had . . . a year”: ibid., p. 23.
1661. “You made . . . start moving”: quoted in Groueff(1967), p. 15n. Groueff interviewed Groves at length.
1662. k = 0.995: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 70.
1663. “I remember . . . beach”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 191.
1664. “in frigid . . . promontory”: Libby (1979), p. 2.
1665. “One evening . . . little kids”: ibid., p. 4.
1666. “As he . . . he was”: ibid., p. 1.
1667. “I was . . . we wanted”: R. Sachs (1984), p. 33.
1668. “At each . . . ‘metallurgists’ ”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 176.
1669. “one of . . . his wife”: Compton (1956), p. 207.
1670. “close to 1.04”: Fermi (1962), p. 207.
1671. “For the . . . questions asked”: Wilson (1975), p. 91.
1672. 1 percent improvement in k: Fermi (1962), p. 212.
1673. Zinn preparations: cf. FP 181 ibid.; Wattenberg (1982); Wilson (1975), p. 108ff.
1674. “The War . . . build both”: Seaborg (177), p. 284ff.
1675. “I left . . . be impossible”: Groves (1962), p. 41.
1676. “Its reasons . . . design data”: ibid., p. 48.
1677. “if we . . . casualties”: ibid., p. 49.
1678. “dreadful decision”: Seaborg (1977), p. 343.
1679. “We did . . . be intolerable”: Compton (1956), p. 137.
1680. “most significant . . . fission occurs”: ibid., p. 136ff.
1681. delayed neutrons: Roberts et al. (1939b).
1682. “The only . . . myself”: Compton (1956), p. 138.
1683. building CP-1: cf. Allardice and Trapnell (1955); Compton (1956), p. 132ff; FP 181, Fermi (1962); L. Fermi (1954), p. 176ff; Groueff (1967), p. 54ff; Libby (1979), p. 118ff and passim; R. Sachs (1984), pp. 32ff and 281ff; Seaborg (1977), p. 388ff; Segrè (1970), p. 120ff; Wigner (1967), p. 228ff; Wilson (1975), pp. 91ff and 108ff.
1684. “Gus Knuth . . . on hand”: Wilson (1975), p. 92.
1685. number of layers: 57 layers/17 days/2 shifts = 1.7 per shift.
1686. “A simple . . . and myself”: Wilson (1975), p. 93.
1687. “Each day . . . following shifts”: Fermi (1962), p. 268.
1688. pile countdown: these numbers charted in ibid., FP 181, p. 275.
1689. “We tried . . . the business”: quoted in Wilson (1975), p. 94.
1690. “That night . . . in place”: Fermi (1962), p. 269.
1691. “I will . . . leisurely”: ibid., p. 270.
1692. “The next . . . the batter”: Libby (1979), p. 120.
1693. “Back we . . . received heat”: ibid.
1694. “several of . . . the material”: Wattenberg (1982), p. 30.
1695. “Fermi instructed . . . supposed to”: ibid., p. 31.
1696. “Again the . . . control rod”: ibid.
1697. “After the . . . and locked”: ibid.
1698. “This time . . . level off”: quoted in ibid., p. 32.
1699. “at first . . . about it”: Wilson (1975), p. 95.
1700. Fermi told tech council: cf. Seaborg (1977), p. 394. Seaborg gives k = 1.006, presumably a typographical error; cf. FP 181, Fermi (1962), p. 276.
1701. “Then everyone . . . ZIP in!”: Wilson (1975), p. 95.
1702. “Nothing very . . . cannot foresee”: Wigner (1967), p. 240.
1703. “We each . . . except Wigner”: Wattenberg (1982), p. 32.
1704. “bursting . . . news”: Seaborg (1977), p. 390.
1705. “in my . . . University”: Conant (1970), p. 290.
1706. “Jim . . . and happy”: Compton (1956), p. 144.
1707. “There was . . . of mankind”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 146.
Chapter 14: Physics and Desert Country
1708. “massive . . . work”: Bethe (1968), p. 396.
1709. “[Oppenheimer] . . . choir boy”: Chevalier (1965), p. 11.
1710. “He was . . . loved him”: Dorothy McKibben, quoted in Else (1980), p. 9.
1711. “He was . . . unspoken wishes”: Chevalier (1965), p. 21.
1712. “painful but . . . my voice”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 129.
1713. “sometimes appeared . . . most sensitive”: Segrè (1970), p. 134.
1714. “Robert could . . . like it”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 103.
1715. “But it . . . or something”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 135.
1716. “the loneliest . . . world”: quoted in ibid., p. 145.
1717. “My friends . . . to change”: USAEC (1954), p. 8.
1718. “I had . . . my students”: ibid.
1719. “very grave . . . those days”: interview with Philip Morrison, Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 1982.
1720. “And through . . . the community”: USAEC (1954), p. 8.
1721. “In the . . . and country”: ibid.
1722. “I never . . . to me”: ibid., p. 10.
1723. “Dr. [Stewart] . . . it was”: ibid.
1724. “I went . . . the world”: ibid., p. 9.
1725. “created the . . . nuclear physics”: Bethe (1968), p. 396.
1726. “He began . . . to try”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 79.
1727. JRO meeting Groves: cf. LRG to JRO, Sept. 27, 1960. JRO Papers, Box 36.
1728. “I became . . . no consideration”: USAEC (1954), p. 12.
1729. “a military . . . as officers”: ibid.
1730. “original . . . in Berkeley”: LLG to JRO, Sept. 27, 1960.
1731. “the work . . . pace”: Groves (1962), p. 60.
1732. “Outside the . . . Oppenheimer”: ibid., p. 62.
1733. “It was . . . a theorist”: Bethe (1968), p. 399.
1734. “snag . . . any means”: Groves (1962), p. 63.
1735. “He’s a . . . about sports”: interview, March 8, 1946. Szilard Papers.
1736. “After much . . . the task”: Groves (1962), p. 62ff.
1737. “by default . . . bad name”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 159.
1738. “it was . . . astonished”: Else (1980), p. 11.
1739. October 15 and 19: cf. LLG to JRO, Sept. 27, 1960.
1740. “For this . . . hands on”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 231.
1741. Bethe, Segrè et al.: Kunetka (1982), p. 48.
1742. “so that . . . conditions”: Groves (1962), p. 64.
1743. Groves’ criteria: cf. Badash (1980), p. 3ff.
1744. “a delightful . . . Utah”: ibid., p. 4.
1745. “a lovely . . . satisfactory”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 236.
1746. “considerable . . . usable site”: Badash (1980), p. 14ff.
1747. “as though . . . directly there”: ibid., p. 5.
1748. “The school . . . its stream”: Church (1960), p. 4.
1749. “beautiful . . . country”: Segrè (1970), p. 135.
1750. “hot and . . . or moisture”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 204.
1751. “I remember . . . the place’ ”: Badash (1980), p. 15.
1752. “My two . . . be combined”: quoted in Royal (1969), p. 49; cf. also Brode (1960), first page of Introduction. I merge these two versions of JRO’s statement; the sense is the same and the exact remark is variously attested.
1753. “Nobody could . . . go crazy”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 163.
1754. Corps of Engineers’ appraisal: MED 319.1.
1755. “What we . . . accelerators”: Badash (1980), p. 30.
1756. “The prospect . . . Los Alamos”: USAEC (1954), p. 12ff.
1757. “Oppenheimer . . . radar”: Moyers (1984).
1758. “the culmination . . . physics”: quoted by JRO in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 250.
1759. “To me . . . consequence”: ibid.
1760. “Laboratory . . . our hi-jinks”: ibid., p. 243ff.
1761. “Oppenheimer’s . . . a teletype”: Badash (1980), p. 10.
1762. “a very . . . to come”: ET to JRO, March 6, 1943. JRO Papers, Box 71.
1763. Teller’s prospectus: referred to in ET to JRO, Jan. 4, 1943 (misdated 1942). JRO Papers, Box 71.
1764. “mental love . . . in conversation”: quoted in Coughlan (1963), p. 90.
1765. “fundamentally . . . somewhat introverted”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 77.
1766. Alvarez disagrees: personal communication.
1767. “scientific autonomy . . . our work”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 247ff.
1768. “Several of . . . camps”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 201.
1769. Vemork raid: cf. Haukelid (1954); Irving (1967); Jones (1967).
1770. “one of . . . be repeated”: Jones (1967), p. 1422.
1771. “Here lay . . . Europe”: Haukelid (1954), p. 71.
1772. “one of . . . mountains”: ibid., p. 73.
1773. “Halfway down . . . and rivers”: ibid., p. 92ff.
1774. “It was . . . of sentries”: ibid., p. 94.
1775. “We were . . . grenades”: ibid., p. 95.
1776. “the thin . . . Europe”: ibid.
1777. “but an . . . to do?”: ibid., p. 98.
1778. “the best . . . seen”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 149.
1779. Japan: cf. Pacific War Research Society (1972). p. 27ff, and Shapley (1978).
1780. “The study . . . field”: quoted in PWRS (1972), p. 26.
1781. “The best . . . the meeting”: ibid., p. 35.
1782. “This was . . . Engineers”: Badash (1980), p. 31.
1783. “about thirty persons”: Segrè (1970), p. 135.
1784. Los Alamos Primer: Condon (1943). Designated LA-1.
1785. “The object . . . nuclear fission”: ibid., p. 1.
1786. “Since only . . . active material”: ibid., p. 2.
1787. 7 percent U235: Condon says at least tenfold; 1/140th × 10 = 7%. Condon (1943), p. 5.
1788. “to make . . . possible”: ibid.
1789. “the gadget”: ibid., p. 7.
1790. “severe . . . effects”: ibid., p. 9.
1791. “Since . . . is possible”: ibid., p. 10.
1792. “The reaction . . . gadget”: ibid., p. 11.
1793. “as the . . . [core]”: ibid., p. 13.
1794. “An explosion . . . distance”: ibid., p. 16.
1795. “When the . . . break”: ibid., p. 18.
1796. “is . . . at present”: ibid., p. 21.
1797. illustration: Condon’s drawing, ibid.
1798. “The highest . . . 10 tons”: ibid.
1799. “If explosive . . . sphere”: ibid., p. 22.
1800. illustration: Condon’s drawing, ibid.
1801. “All autocatalytic . . . needed”: ibid., p. 24.
1802. “relatively . . . physics”: Hans Bethe OHI, AIP, p. 59.
1803. “If there . . . ceremony”: Badash (1980), p. 31ff.
1804. April conference plans: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 16ff.
1805. Neddermeyer’s thoughts: as reported to Davis (1968), p. 170ff.
1806. “I remember . . . implosion”: quoted in ibid., p. 171.
1807. “expands . . . sixteenfold”: Condon (1943), p. 15.
1808. “At this . . . hand”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 171.
1809. “The gun . . . better still”: quoted in ibid., p. 172.
1810. “At a . . . of assembly”: Hawkins (1947), p. 23.
1811. “Neddermeyer . . . and Bethe”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 173.
1812. “Nobody . . . seriously”: Badash (1980). p. 34.
1813. “This will . . . into”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 173.
1814. “After he . . . surprised”: quoted in ibid., p. 182.
1815. Condon and The Tempest: cf. Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 252.
1816. the bombing of Hamburg: cf. Kennett (1982), Middlebrook (1980), Overy (1980).
1817. “But when . . . way through”: quoted in Jones (1966), p. 80ff.
1818. “the targets . . . bombing”: quoted in Kennett (1982), p. 128.
1819. “that although . . . night bombing”: Churchill (1950), p. 279.
1820. Headlines proclaiming raids: for a discussion of this point cf. Hopkins (1966), p. 461ff.
1821. “It has . . . workers”: quoted in Kennett (1982), p. 129.
1822. “a bomber . . . endure”: quoted in ibid., p. 130.
1823. “INFORMATION . . . HAMBURG”: quoted in Middlebrook (1980), p. 95.
1824. Operation Gomorrah: I rely here on Middlebrook (1980).
1825. “It was . . . night”: quoted in ibid., p. 253.
1826. “Most of . . . them all”: quoted in ibid., p. 244.
1827. “The burning . . . like again”: quoted in ibid.
1828. “Then a . . . of fire”: quoted in ibid., p. 259.
1829. “Mother wrapped . . . the doorway”: quoted in ibid., p. 264.
1830. “We came . . . knees screaming”: quoted in ibid., p. 266ff.
1831. “Four-storey . . . the pavement”: quoted in ibid., p. 276.
1832. two million Soviet soldiers: Elliot (1972), p. 48. Elliot puts total Soviet military POWs at 5 million and POW deaths at 3 million; I use his number here of those enclosed in occupied Russia, of which he writes: “Total deprivation of entire enclosed populations . . . does not exist elsewhere in human history.” The other 3 million were treated with more customary brutality.
1833. mammalian reflex: cf. Kruuk (1972).
1834. “We must . . . we’ve got”: quoted in Hopkins (1966), p. 464.
1835. Lewis committee findings: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 24.
1836. “In this . . . for U235”: ibid., p. 71.
1837. “I guess . . . why?”: interview with Glenn Seaborg, Berkeley, Calif., June 22, 1982.
1838. “Then I . . . suitcase”: ibid.
1839. “Of course not”: Groves (1962), p. 160.
1840. “all his . . . the Navy”: Joseph Hirschfelder, quoted in Badash (1980), p. 82.
1841. “within a . . . the job”: Groves (1962), p. 160.
1842. Tuve reassignment: cf. V. Bush to MT, Aug. 14, 1941. Bush-Conant File, f. 4.
1843. “As a . . . externally”: Ramsey (1946), p. 6ff.
1844. B-29: cf. Birdsall (1980). The first service-test model flew June 27, 1943 (ibid., p. 18).
1845. “On August . . . subsequent tests”: Ramsey (1946), p. 7.
1846. “At that . . . gun method”: Badash (1980), p. 17.
1847. “Those tests . . . practical method”: ibid.
1848. “It stinks”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 216.
1849. “With everyone . . . the beer”: quoted in ibid.
1850. “a simple . . . sophisticated”: quoted in ibid., p. 217.
1851. “Johnny was . . . previously discussed”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 455.
1852. JvN and ET to JRO: the official record says “autumn.” I conjecture October because the governing board met Oct. 28, 1943. Hawkins (1947), p. 76.
1853. “In order . . . 1943”: Ramsey (1946), p. 8ff.
1854. “Professor Bohr . . . micro-slide”: Rozental (1967), p. 192 plate.
1855. “The letter . . . help”: ibid., p. 193ff.
1856. “if I . . . refuge here”: quoted in ibid., p. 194.
1857. 3.6 million Germans: Yahil (1969), p. 118.
1858. “Danish statesmen . . . government”: ibid., p. 200ff.
1859. Margrethe Bohr remembers: cf. Moore (1966), p. 302.
1860. “We had . . . small bag”: quoted in ibid., p. 303.
1861. Bohr appeals to Swedish government: Flender (1963), p. 76. Flender interviewed Bohr at length; his account is garbled, however.
1862. 284 people: Yahil (1969), p. 187.
1863. Sept. 30, 1943: Yahil (1969), p. 328, puts this meeting “the day after [Bohr’s] arrival in Stockholm,” i.e., Oct. 1, 1943. But cf. Rozental (1967), p. 168: “on the same evening . . . .”
1864. “went to . . . of Sweden”: Rozental (1967), p. 169.
1865. contacted the Danish ambassador: Yahil (1969), p. 330.
1866. “The audience . . . operation”: Rozental (1967), p. 169.
1867. “At the . . . received”: quoted in Yahil (1969), p. 219.
1868. “The stay . . . in Sweden”: Rozental (1967), p. 195.
1869. “The Royal . . . as Bohr’s”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version), p. 7.
1870. “The Mosquito . . . conscious again”: Rozental (1967), p. 196.
1871. “Once in . . . going on”: Oppenheimer (1963), III, p. 7.
1872. “good first . . . years before”: ibid., p. 8.
1873. “The work . . . expected”: Rozental (1967), p. 196.
1874. “To Bohr . . . fantastic”: Oppenheimer (1963), III, p. 7.
Chapter 15: Different Animals
1875. “depends on . . . its mass”: Brobeck and Reynolds (1945), p. 4.
1876. “When the . . . of metal”: ibid., p. 5.
1877. 100-microgram sample: ibid., p. 7.
1878. “that . . . be assured”: EOL to LRG, Aug. 3, 1943. Bush-Conant file, f. 19.
1879. “At one . . . Troy ounce”: Groves (1962), p. 107.
1880. electromagnetic separation buildings: “Pertinent reference data, CEW.” Dec. 1, 1944. MED 319.1, p. 3ff.
1881. 20,000 workers: W. E. Kelley to W. H. Marsden, Aug. 9, 1943. MED misc., f. 4.
1882. 40 kg U235: JRO to LRG, Sept. 25, 1943, p. 3 MED 337.
1883. Army engineer’s summary: W. E. Kelley to E. H. Marsden, Aug. 9, 1943. MED misc., f.4.
1884. one supervisor remembers: interview with Leon Love, Oak Ridge, Tenn., 1975.
1885. “moved the . . . they belonged”: Groves (1962), p. 105ff.
1886. “The first . . . shorting”: ibid., p. 104ff.
1887. Dunning’s staff: Cohen (1983), p. 641.
1888. “three methods . . . method”: quoted in ibid., p. 637ff.
1889. “The method . . . stages”: Groves (1962), p. 111.
1890. “Further . . . be solved”: quoted in Cohen (1983), p. 637ff.
1891. 2,892 stages: Cave Brown (1977), p. 311.
1892. “from that . . . applications”: Cohen (1983), p. 643.
1893. “The Clinton . . . inoperable”: Groves (1962), p. 69ff.
1894. real estate appraisal: “Gross Appraisal, Gable Project.” Jan. 21, 1943. MED 319.1.
1895. Hanford description: ibid.
1896. dimensions: Cave Brown (1977), p. 322.
1897. 1:4000: Seaborg (1977), p. 548.
1898. “With water . . . arise”: Compton (1956), p. 170.
1899. “the conscience . . . very end”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 148.
1900. “Local storms . . . dust”: Libby (1979), p. 167.
1901. “The most . . . guns”: quoted in Groueff (1967), p. 141.
1902. “was a . . . morning”: Libby (1979), p. 167.
1903. “work gangs . . . the year”: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 216ff.
1904. Forty-foot pile building: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 217, give 120 feet; that measurement includes the detached exhaust stack, however. Cf. Libby (1979), p.167, and Hewlett and Anderson (1962), photo following p. 224.
1905. “There was . . . animals”: Badash (1980), p. 91.
1906. “Years later . . . that”: Teller (1962), p. 211.
1907. Soviet research: cf. York (1976), p. 29ff; Alexandrov (1967); Golovin (1967); Szulc (1984).
1908. “The advance . . . safety”: Golovin (1967), p. 14.
1909. “In recent . . . inhabitants”: quoted in York (1976), p. 30.
1910. “no time . . . bomb”: ibid.
1911. “So it . . . places”: Alexandrov (1967), p. 12.
1912. “Even so . . . isotopes”: York (1976), p. 31.
1913. Groves’ anti-Semitism: cf. transcript of Groves interview of March 8, 1946, Szilard Papers: “Only a man with [Szilard’s] brass would have pushed through to the President. Take Wigner or Fermi—they’re not Jewish—they’re quiet, shy, modest, just interested in learning . . . Of course, most of [Szilard’s] ideas are bad, but he has so many . . . . And I’m not prejudiced. I don’t like certain Jews and I don’t like certain well-known characteristics of theirs but I’m not prejudiced.”
1914. “If the . . . bomb”: Smith (1965), p. 27.
1915. “There is . . . obsolete”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 165.
1916. TO REMOVE . . . NOW: AHC to LRG. Oct. 26, 1942. MED 201, Leo Szilard.
1917. SZILARD . . . MYSELF: AHC to LRG, Oct. 28, 1942. MED 201, Leo Szilard.
1918. “enemy alien . . . war”: draft Sec. of War to Atty. Gen., Oct. 28, 1942. MED 201, Leo Szilard.
1919. Compton to Groves mid-November: Nov. 13, 1942. MED 201, Leo Szilard.
1920. “for inventions . . . it”: LS to AHC, Dec. 4, 1942. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1921. Compton to Briggs: cf. AHC to JBC, Jan. 7, 1943. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1922. “the basic . . . inventions”: LS to AHC, Dec. 29, 1942. MED 072, Szilard patents.
1923. $750,000: undated memorandum, “Leo Szilard,” p. 3. MED 12, Intelligence and security.
1924. “Szilard’s case . . . Government”: AHC to JBC, Jan. 7, 1943. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1925. “This is . . . present”: LS to AHC, Jan. 13, 1943. MED 072, Szilard patents.
1926. “It is . . . research”: VB to AHC, Jan. 29, 1943. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1927. “comparable . . . Wigner”: AHC to JBC, Feb. 3, 1943. MED 072. Compton notes at the head of this letter that it was never sent but was communicated orally.
1928. “The investigation . . . person”: LRG to Capt. Calvert, June 12, 1943. MED 201.
1929. “The surveillance . . . to go”: “Memorandum for the officer in charge,” June 24, 1943. MED 201.
1930. “Age, 35 . . . no hat”: ibid.
1931. “(Mr. Wigner . . . the Navy”: ibid.
1932. “failed to . . . pile”: RAL to LRG (n.d.), “copy made for Maj. Peterson 8-2-43.” MED 072.
1933. “You were . . . assurance”: LRG to LS, Oct. 9, 1943. MED 201.
1934. Dec. 3 Chicago meeting: H. E. Metcalfe, “A memorandum of a conference held át the Chicago Area Office, U.S. Engineers, on 3 December 1943.” MED 072.
1935. “not to . . . person”: LRG to LS, Oct. 8, 1943. MED 072.
1936. “who at . . . around me”: LS to VB, Jan. 14, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 13. Reprinted in Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 161ff.
1937. “I feel . . . project”: VB to LS, Jan. 18, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 13.
1938. “the only . . . at present”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 165.
1939. “The attitude . . . initiative”: ibid., p. 177.
1940. “The scientists . . . are out”: ibid., p. 178.
1941. Fermi and poisoning food: cf. JRO to EF, May 25, 1943. JRO Papers, Box 33.
1942. Met Lab worries: cf. A. H. Compton, J. B. Conant, H. Urey, “Radioactive material as a military weapon.” MED 319.1, Literature. Appendix IV, p. 7.
1943. May 1943/before February: May is the month of JRO’s letter to Fermi, which mentions the subcommittee; February is the date of a table of biological effects given in ibid., Appendix I, p. 4ff.
1944. “I therefore . . . than this”: JRO to EF, May 25, 1943. JRO Papers, Box 33.
1945. “the Sanscrit . . . or hurt”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 330.
1946. “Recent reports . . . large companies”: HAB and ET to JRO, July 21, 1943. JRO Papers, Box 20.
1947. Conant subcommittee report: MED 319.1.
1948. Cosmos Club: Irving (1967), p. 166.
1949. Vemork bombing and ferry sinking: cf. ibid., p. 174ff; Haukelid (1954), p. 149ff.
1950. 97.6 to 1.1 percent: Irving (1967), p. 188.
1951. “a one-man . . . another”: Haukelid (1954), p. 156.
1952. “The fact . . . at all”: ibid., p. 160.
1953. “The answer . . . Greetings”: ibid., p. 161.
1954. “We had . . . place”: ibid., p. 163.
1955. “As the . . . enough”: ibid., p. 167ff.
1956. “The timing . . . properly”: ibid., p. 163.
1957. “Rolf . . . at ten”: ibid., p. 165.
1958. “Armed with . . . took time”: ibid., p. 166ff.
1959. “The charge . . . side”: ibid., p. 167.
1960. “Making the . . . disaster”: ibid., p. 168.
1961. “When one . . . war ended”: quoted in Irving (1967), p. 191.
1962. “Europe was . . . stepchild”: quoted in Costello (1981), p. 354.
1963. “very uneasy . . . monkeys”: Hersey (1942), p. 36.
1964. “The other . . . the Japs”: Grew (1942), p. 81.
1965. “The Japanese . . . and nations”: ibid., p. 79.
1966. “united . . . totalitarian”: ibid., p. 80.
1967. “At this . . . to fight”: ibid., p. 80ff.
1968. “ ‘Victory or . . . his country”: ibid., p. 82.
1969. “General . . . hand grenade”: quoted in Manchester (1980), p. 183.
1970. “A legend . . . or dead”: Hersey (1942), p. 36.
1971. “in the . . . cause”: Grew (1942), p. 80.
1972. “At the . . . defeat it”: Manchester (1980), p. 240.
1973. “The general . . . isolated cases”: Tregaskis (1943), p. 79.
1974. “1 know . . . fighting Japan”: Grew (1942), p. 82.
1975. “It seems . . . the enemy”: Wolfe (1943), p. 190.
1976. unconditional surrender: cf. Churchill (1950), p. 695ff.
1977. “We had . . . war effort”: quoted in ibid., p. 687.
Chapter 16: Revelations
1978. “How would . . . night train”: Frisch (1979), p. 145ff.
1979. hearse: Clark (1980), p. 154.
1980. “I wandered . . . laughter”: Frisch (1979), p. 148.
1981. “Welcome . . . you?”: quoted in ibid., p. 150.
1982. Quebec Agreement: for complete text cf. Gowing (1964), p. 439ff.
1983. Bohr’s luggage: cf. Frisch (1979), p. 169.
1984. “It was . . . London”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 77.
1985. “Explosion . . . of pile”: MED 337. Cf. also JRO to LRG, Jan. 1, 1944, same file.
1986. “At that . . . Bohr”: Goudsmit (1947), p. 177.
1987. “Bohr at . . . one”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version), p. 10ff.
1988. “made . . . hopeful”: Oppenheimer (1963), III, p. 11.
1989. “He made . . . misgiving”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version), p. 11.
1990. “Bohr spoke . . . believe”: ibid.
1991. “In Los . . . from him”: quoted in Moore (1966), p. 330.
1992. “They . . . bomb”: quoted in Nielson (1963), p. 29.
1993. “warm . . . relation”: FF memorandum headed “Private,” April 18, 1945. JRO Papers, Box 34.
1994. “We talked . . . Campbell”: ibid.
1995. “On hearing . . . B outlined”: unsigned Bohr memorandum, May 6, 1945. JRO Papers, Box 34.
1996. “B met . . . in history”: ibid.
1997. “On this . . . to X”: FF memorandum, April 18, 1945.
1998. “F also . . . Minister”: NB memorandum, May 6, 1945.
1999. “I wrote . . . government”: FF memorandum, April 18, 1945.
2000. “Halifax . . . immediately”: Rozental (1967), p. 203.
2001. “conservative . . . man”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version), p. 8.
2002. Anderson memorandum, March 21, 1944: cf. Clark (1980), p. 169—where a portion is quoted confusingly after a later memorandum—and Gowing (1964), p. 350ff.
2003. “communicating . . . account”: quoted in Clark (1980), p. 169.
2004. “I do . . . informed”: quoted in Gowing (1964), p. 352.
2005. “to let . . . work”: PK to NB, Oct. 23, 1943. JRO Papers, Box 34.
2006. “The Counsellor . . . the occupation”: “Conversation between B and Counsellor Zinchenko at the Soviet Embassy in London on April 20th, 1944, at 5 p.m.” JRO Papers, Box 34.
2007. “We came . . . new prospects”: Rozental (1967), p. 203.
2008. “One of . . . the war”: Snow (1981), p. 112.
2009. R. V. Jones: cf. Jones (1966), p. 88ff.
2010. “When I . . . Roosevelt”: ibid., p. 88.
2011. “As he . . . politics!”: Rozental (1967), p. 204.
2012. “We . . . language”: quoted in Gowing (1964), p. 355.
2013. “downcast”: Rozental (1967), p. 204.
2014. “It was . . . nuclear energy”: quoted in Nielson (1963), p. 29.
2015. “I did . . . Street”: quoted in Clark (1980), p. 177.
2016. “In all . . . present time”: quoted in Sherwin (1975), p. 108.
2017. “He had . . . sad story”: Snow (1981), p. 116.
2018. “that the . . . their decisions”: NB to WC, May 22, 1944. JRO Papers, Box 34.
2019. “The way . . . Berlin”: Chandler (1970), III, p. 1865.
2020. “About a . . . memorandum”: NB memorandum, May 6, 1945.
2021. “It was . . . manual skill”: Rozental (1967), p. 205ff.
2022. Bohr FDR memorandum: July 3, 1944. JRO Papers, Box 21. Relevant portions of the text of this unpublished document are quoted in NB’s “Open Letter to the United Nations” reprinted in Rozental (1967), p. 341.
2023. “We are . . . by war”: quoted in Nielson (1963), p. 29ff. My italics.
2024. “First of . . . of war”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version) p. 8.
2025. “a far . . . warfare”: NB memorandum, July 3, 1944.
2026. “It appeared . . . divergencies”: Rozental (1967), p. 341. My italics.
2027. “Much thought . . . confidence”: NB memorandum, July 3, 1944.
2028. “The prevention . . . acuteness”: ibid.
2029. “[Bohr] . . . the world”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version) p. 9.
2030. “What it . . . enlarged upon”: quoted in ibid.
2031. “Within any . . . openness”: Rozental (1967), p. 350.
2032. “An open . . . else”: ibid.
2033. “The very . . . crisis”: ibid., p. 351.
2034. “The present . . . the others”: NB memorandum, July 3, 1944.
2035. “I have . . . purpose”: NB to FF, July 6, 1944. JRO Papers, Box 34.
2036. “on August . . . manner”: NB memorandum, May 6, 1945.
2037. “was very . . . spirits”: Rozental (1967), p. 205.
2038. “most kindly . . . entertained”: NB memorandum, May 6, 1945.
2039. “Roosevelt . . . afterwards”: Rozental (1967), p. 206ff.
2040. “left with . . . Union”: unsigned memorandum “Notes on Bohr” dated May 20, 1948, on the stationery of the office of the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study. JRO Papers, Box 21.
2041. “It is . . . expectation”: Rozental (1967), p. 207.
2042. “This was . . . of Bohr”: Snow (1981), p. 116.
2043. “The suggestion . . . Russians”: quoted in Gowing (1964), p. 447.
2044. “The President . . . at all”: quoted in Clark (1981), p. 177.
2045. “youthful . . . physicists”: Ulam (1976), p. 151.
2046. “It was . . . major voice”: Bethe (1982). Communicated in manuscript; Ms. p. 2.
2047. thermonuclear research: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 24.
2048. “That I . . . inevitable”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 81.
2049. “Bethe was . . . organization”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 129ff.
2050. “Throughout the . . . led it”: Teller (1983), p. 190ff.
2051. “I believe . . . Oppenheimer”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 129ff.
2052. “When Los . . . objectives”: Teller (1955), p. 269.
2053. the laboratory history confirms: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 96.
2054. “At this . . . dream of”: Segrè (1970), p. 137.
2055. “The first . . . out there”: Badash (1980), p. 17.
2056. bullet passing through: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 131.
2057. “the first . . . illusions”: ibid., p. 77.
2058. “Absolutely . . . results”: quoted in Bernstein (1980), p. 85.
2059. “Everything in . . . everybody”: Badash (1980), p. 49.
2060. “by 1943 . . . ordnance”: ibid.
2061. GK won JvN to his view: interview with George Kistiakowsky, Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 15, 1982.
2062. “I began . . . at times”: Badash (1980), p. 49ff.
2063. “After a . . . interfering”: quoted a Goodchild (1980), p. 112ff.
2064. “It seemed . . . effort”: Ulam (1976), p. 141.
2065. “The sun . . . Madison”: ibid., p. 145.
2066. “talked to . . . bomb”: ibid., p. 148ff.
2067. “However . . . to do”: Bethe (1982), Ms. p. 2.
2068. “[Bethe] . . . novel subjects”: quoted in Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 131.
2069. “Both . . . main program”: Hawkins (1947), p. 97.
2070. “the hydrodynamical . . . magnitude”: Ulam (1976), p. 154.
2071. “all the . . . work”: ibid., p. 154ff.
2072. “You have . . . the charge”: Kistiakowsky interview, Jan. 15, 1982.
2073. 5 percent variation: Hawkins (1947), p. 91.
2074. “With the . . . bomb”: Bethe (1982), Ms. p. 3.
2075. “These calculations . . . urgency”: JRO to LRG, May 1, 1944. MED 201, Peierls, R.
2076. “Oppenheimer . . . was feasible”: Teller (1955), p. 269.
2077. “But there . . . Teller”: quoted in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 273.
2078. Kistiakowsky memorandum: GBK to JRO, June 3, 1944. JRO Papers, Box 43.
2079. “I am . . . accept it”: quoted in Kunetka (1979), p. 88.
2080. 2000+ experiments: 2,500; cf. Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 282.
2081. “It appears . . . implosion”: JRO to LRG, July 18, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 3.
2082. “The implosion . . . one”: Hawkins (1947), p. 82.
2083. “The Laboratory . . . at it’ ”: ibid.
2084. “[Oppenheimer] . . . of me”: quoted in Goodchild (1980), p. 118.
2085. 1,207 employees: “Personnel employed at ‘Y’ technical area, May 1, 1944.” MED 201, Personnel.
2086. “it had . . . a barn”: interview with Philip Abelson, Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 1982.
2087. the dollar: ibid.
2088. thermal diffusion experiments: cf. Abelson (1943).
2089. “The apparatus . . . device”: ibid., p. 5.
2090. “Information . . . future plants”: ibid., p. 20.
2091. “They were . . . steam”: Abelson interview, Sept. 17, 1982.
2092. Abelson knew Manhattan Project: ibid.
2093. “I wanted . . . dagger stuff”: telephone interview with Philip Abelson, Oct. 16, 1984.
2094. BuOrd man: Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 168, cite a visit by Deke Parsons to the Navy Yard as the origin of this contact. Abelson remembers no such visit. The official AEC historians apparently found the Parsons version in JRO’s memorandum to LRG. Groves was concerned after the war to discredit a Szilard recounting of this story similar to Abelson’s version. Abelson remembers quite clearly that he initiated the contact; asked if he deliberately breached compartmentalization, he answers, “I sure as hell did!” Telephone interview, Oct. 16, 1984.
2095. “Dr. Oppenheimer . . . a whole”: USAEC (1954), p. 164ff.
2096. “I at . . . investigating”: Groves (1962), p. 120.
2097. Lewis/Murphree/Tolman conclusions: cf. “Possible utilization of Navy pilot thermal diffusion plant,” dated June 3, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 3.
2098. “Chinese copies”: Groves (1962), p. 120.
2099. “We are . . . Marines”: quoted in Costello (1981), p. 476.
2100. “Nowhere have . . . was dead”: Sherrod (1944), p. 32.
2101. Tinian: cf. esp. Hough (1947).
2102. “The view . . . cold”: Libby (1979), p. 177.
2103. “Enrico and . . . reaction”: ibid., p. 178ff.
2104. “We arrived . . . cooling tubes”: ibid., p. 179ff.
2105. “Something was . . . and down”: ibid., p. 180ff.
2106. Fermi open-minded: cf. ibid., p. 181.
2107. “concerned for . . . even stable”: Wheeler (1962), p. 34.
2108. “If this . . . was needed”: ibid., p. 34ff.
2109. “a fundamentally . . . matter”: quoted in Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 307.
2110. Groves’ report to Marshall: cf. J. B. Conant handwritten “Notes on history of S-1” dated Jan. 6, 1945. Bush-Conant File, f. 19.
2111. “Looks like . . . September”: ibid.
Chapter 17: The Evils of This Time
2112. Conant to Bush: “Report on visit to Los Alamos—October 18, 1944.” Bush-Conant File, f. 3.
2113. “what the . . . over”: Conant (1970), p. 300.
2114. Niels Bohr: NB’s influence on VB and JBC can be traced by careful reading. The two administrators knew little or nothing of NB’s ideas on Sept. 19, 1944, when they sent their own to HLS: when VB met with Cherwell and FDR on Sept. 22, VB was disturbed that FDR was discussing postwar arrangements without benefit of briefing and gathered, apparently from FDR, that NB wanted the British and the Americans to maintain peace via bilateral postwar monopoly. Between Sept. 22 and 30, however, at least VB must have talked to NB: the memorandum he and JBC sent HLS on that later date contains and endorses all NB’s basic ideas. Since Bohr was in the doghouse with FDR at the time, VB and JBC were probably politic not to credit him as their source. Cf. VB/JBC to HLS, Sept. 19, 1944, MED 76, S-l interim committee scientific panel; VB to JBC, “Memorandum of conference,” Sept. 22, 1944, Bush-Conant File, f. 20a; VB to JBC, Sept. 23, 1944, ibid.; VB/JBC to HLS, Sept. 30, 1944, Bush-Conant File, f. 20a.
2115. “the progress . . . be secure”: VB/JBC to HLS, Sept. 19, 1944.
2116. “to a . . . Russia”: VB to JBC, Sept. 22, 1944.
2117. “In order . . . attempt”: VB/JBC to HLS, Sept. 30, 1944.
2118. “a robot . . . missile”: ibid.
2119. “By various . . . enterprise”: JBC to VB, Oct. 20, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 3.
2120. “I should . . . importance”: USAEC (1954), p. 954ff.
2121. Los Alamos: This discussion draws especially on Badash (1980), Brode (1960), L. Fermi (1954), Jette (1977), Libby (1979), Lyon and Evans (1984) and Segrè (1970).
2122. “I always . . . rebellion”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 231ff.
2123. “I told . . . come again”: quoted in Brode (1960), I, 7.
2124. “Then we . . . slope”: Badash (1980), p. 61.
2125. “Oppie . . . get up”: quoted in L. Fermi (1954), p. 227.
2126. “That young . . . long way”: quoted in ibid., p. 219.
2127. “Parties . . . we worked”: Brode (1960), X, 5.
2128. “Everybody . . . army camp”: Else (1980), p. 9.
2129. “He offered . . . feet”: Brode (1960), VIII, 5.
2130. “The main . . . mesa”: ibid., X, 7.
2131. “I played . . . of view”: Badash (1980), p. 61.
2132. “Of the . . . cloth”: Wilson (1975), p. 160.
2133. “I don’t . . . friendship”: Badash (1980), p. 43.
2134. “The streams . . . shouting”: quoted in Brode (1960), IX, 7.
2135. “but he . . . science”: Segrè (1970), p. 140.
2136. “Oh, I . . . wits”: quoted in Ulam (1976), p. 165.
2137. “sit there . . . made”: Badash (1980), p. 81.
2138. “nothing . . . breath”: Libby (1979), p. 204ff.
2139. “Best for . . . Fuchs”: Brode (1960), IX, 7.
2140. “Remember . . . Park”: quoted in Lyon and Evans (1984), p. 31.
2141. “from . . . cover”: Hans Bethe OHI, AIP, p. 159.
2142. “Jesus . . . fantastic”: Jette (1977), p. 84.
2143. “Oppenheimer . . . exception”: interview with Edward Teller, Stanford, Calif., June 19, 1982.
2144. “He knew . . . us”: Else (1980), p. 10.
2145. “He understood . . . anybody”: interview with Hans Bethe, Ithaca, N.Y., Sept. 12, 1982.
2146. “a very . . . them”: “Seven Springs meeting, 5/63,” p. 5. JRO Papers, Box 66.
2147. volunteered names to protect his own: cf. Stern and Green (1969), p. 48ff.
2148. “On June . . . together”: D. M. Ladd to Director FBI, Dec. 17, 1953, p. 9. JRO FBI file, doc. 65.
2149. “I wanted . . . somehow”: quoted in Goodchild (1980), p. 128.
2150. between March and October: between the beginning of planning and the first mention of Trinity I find in the record, JBC to VB, Oct. 18, 1944.
2151. “I did . . . Resurrection”: JRO to LRG, Oct. 20, 1962. JRO Papers, Box 36.
2152. “Bohr was . . . control”: Hans Bethe OHI, AIP, p. 62.
2153. “That still . . . whatever”: JRO to LRG, Oct. 20, 1962.
2154. Oppenheimer did not doubt: cf. his famous remark to Truman that he had blood on his hands.
2155. healed the split: cf. Dyson (1979), p. 81ff, esp. Kitty Oppenheimer’s choice of George Herbert’s “The Collar” as “a poem . . . that she found particularly appropriate to describe how Robert had appeared to himself.” “The Collar” works complementarities similar to Donne’s.
2156. “Therefore I . . . peace”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 156.
2157. “I was . . . surrounded”: interview with Luis Alvarez, Berkeley, Calif., June 22, 1982.
2158. “very quickly . . . failed”: Bethe interview, Sept. 12, 1982.
2159. “too frequently . . . shortcuts”: Kistiakowsky (1949a), I-1.
2160. “Prior to . . . low”: ibid., I-2.
2161. “So much . . . implosion”: Badash (1980), p. 54.
2162. “the greatest . . . molds”: interview with George Kistiakowsky, Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 15, 1982.
2163. Composition B/Baratol: cf. Kistiakowsky (1949b).
2164. “We learned . . . mold”: Kistiakowsky interview, Jan. 15, 1982.
2165. “We were . . . charges”: Kistiakowsky (1980), p. 19.
2166. initiator: Dr. Louis Brown, DTM, Carnegie Institution of Washington, contributed valuably to this discussion.
2167. “some other . . . satisfactory”: Condon (1943), p. 19.
2168. “I think . . . initiator”: Bethe interview, Sept. 12, 1982.
2169. “This isotope . . . accord”: quoted in Trenn (1980), p. 98.
2170. screwballs: cf. Groueff (1967), p. 327.
2171. Nishina’s private belief: cf. Pacific War Research Society (1972) (hereafter PWRS), p. 23.
2172. first Nishina/Nobuuji meeting: “Uranium project research meeting,” July 2, 1943. Copies of original documents and translations in the private collection of P. Wayne Reagan, Kansas City, Mo.
2173. second Nishina/Nobuuji meeting: “Uranium project research meeting,” Feb. 2, 1944. P. Wayne Reagan collection.
2174. 170 grams: PWRS (1972), p. 48.
2175. “Well, don’t . . . gas”: quoted in ibid., p. 49.
2176. third Nishina/Nobuuji meeting: “Uranium project research meeting,” Nov. 17, 1944. P Wayne Reagan collection.
2177. Nishina’s staff had understood: cf. PWRS (1972), p. 41.
2178. “The doors . . . doors”: Ramsey (1946), p. 126.
2179. “When I . . . right”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 98.
2180. “I’m satisfied”: quoted in Tibbets (1973), p. 51.
2181. “You have . . . war”: ibid.
2182. Air Force chose Wendover: Tibbets has remembered making the choice, but it was determined before his appointment; no doubt he confirmed it. Cf. Capt. Derry to LRG, Aug. 29, 1944. MED 5c, Preparation and movement of personnel and equipment to Tinian.
2183. B-29: cf. Birdsall (1980).
2184. Sept. 1939 proposal: ibid., p. 2.
2185. one Delivery group physicist: David L. Anderson interview, Oberlin, Ohio, 1981.
2186. “safe . . . of two”: Groves (1962), p. 286.
2187. Tibbets: besides previous references cf. also Thomas and Witts (1977).
2188. “It didn’t . . . homeland”: LeMay (1965), p. 322.
2189. “I’ll tell . . . fighting”: quoted in Powers (1984), p. 60.
2190. “I wanted . . . creature”: LeMay (1965), p. 14.
2191. “truancy . . . mania”: ibid., p. 16.
2192. “I had . . . activities”: ibid., p. 17.
2193. “When the . . . penetrate”: ibid., p. 30.
2194. “General Arnold . . . system”: ibid., p. 338.
2195. “The city . . . of it”: Guillain (1981), p. 174.
2196. Hansell target directive: cf. Birdsall (1980), p. 107.
2197. “I did . . . surprise”: quoted in ibid., p. 144.
2198. blockbluster meeting: on Dec. 19, 1944. Cf. Capt. Derry to LRG, Jan. 9, 1945. MED 4, Trinity test.
2199. Parsons memorandum: WSP to LRG, Dec. 26, 1944. MED 51, Memos from Parsons (misc).
2200. “Suddenly there . . . blossom”: Guillain (1981), p. 176.
2201. “urgent . . . future planning”: quoted in Birdsall (1980), p. 131, whose argument I follow here.
2202. “LeMay is . . . it”: quoted in ibid., p. 143.
2203. “General Arnold . . . lives”: LeMay (1965), p. 347.
2204. “another month . . . this”: ibid., p. 345.
2205. Churchill instigated: cf. Irving (1963), p. 90ff.
2206. “I did . . . done”: quoted in ibid., p. 92.
2207. “The first . . . underground”: I was the interviewer. Rhodes et al. (1977), p. 213ff.
2208. Iwo Jima: cf. esp. Wheeler (1980).
2209. “We would . . . can”: quoted in ibid., p. 28.
2210. “I am . . . can”: quoted in ibid., p. 29.
2211. “They meant . . . homeland”: Manchester (1980), p. 339.
2212. poison gas: cf. Wheeler (1980), p. 13.
2213. “The invaders . . . flesh”: Manchester (1980), p. 340.
2214. “We shall . . . dying!”: quoted in Costello (1981), p. 546.
2215. “The Japanese . . . fast”: LeMay (1965), p. 346; his italics.
2216. Tokyo raid: cf. United States Strategic Bombing Survey (1976) (hereafter USSBS); Birdsall (1980); Guillain (1981); Kennett (1982); Overy (1980).
2217. “All the . . . kids”: LeMay (1965), p. 349.
2218. 87.4 percent: USSBS #96, p. 105.
2219. “No matter . . . killed”: LeMay (1965), p. 352; his ellipses.
2220. “the entire . . . target”: quoted in Kennett (1982), p. 176.
2221. “outstanding strike”: quoted in Birdsall (1980), p. 180.
2222. Arnold informed: LeMay remembers otherwise, but cf. ibid.
2223. “You’re going . . . seen”: quoted in Costello (1981), p. 548.
2224. “grim . . . grubby”: Brines (1944), p. 292.
2225. “We will . . . possible”: ibid., p. 9.
2226. “American fighting . . . way”: ibid., p. 11.
2227. “The inhabitants . . . everywhere”: Guillain (1981), p. 184.
2228. “The fire . . . spectacle”: ibid., p. 182.
2229. “The chief . . . wind”: USSBS #96, p. 96ff.
2230. “the most . . . known”: quoted in Birdsall (1980), p. 195.
2231. “probably more . . . man”: USSBS #96, p. 95.
2232. CONGRATULATIONS . . . ANYTHING: quoted in Birdsall (1980), p. 196.
2233. “Then . . . Literally”: LeMay (1965), p. 354.
2234. 32 sq. mi.: USSBS #96, p. 39.
2235. “I consider . . . command”: quoted in Overy (1980), p. 100.
2236. “In order . . . mud”: quoted in Johnson and Jackson (1981), p. 19.
2237. 100 gms., etc.: these numbers and dates from M. L. Oliphant to J. Chadwick, Nov. 2, 1944. MED 201, Chadwick, J.
2238. “This loss . . . management”: ibid.
2239. “the output . . . expected”: MLO to LRG, Nov. 13, 1944. MED 201, Oliphant, M. L.
2240. Jan. 1945, data: Brobeck and Reynolds (1945).
2241. Conant notes on Jan. 6: “Notes on history of S-1.” Bush-Conant File, f. 19.
2242. U235 critical mass: Conant cites 13 ± 2 kg in JBC to VB, Oct. 18, 1944; King (1979) cites 15 kg for U235 surrounded by a thick U tamper.
2243. “on the . . . received”: quoted in Hewlett and Anderson (1962), p. 301.
2244. Groves’ U235 farm: toured on a visit to Oak Ridge in 1975, when the bluffside bunker had been converted to an air-pollution sampling station.
2245. 250 ppm: Seaborg (1958), p. 16.
2246. “Originally eight . . . concrete”: Groves (1962), p. 85.
2247. “When the . . . aloft”: Libby (1979), p. 174.
2248. “The yields . . . 1945”: Seaborg (1958), p. 50ff.
2249. “the astonishing . . . date”: Goldschmidt (1964), p. 35.
2250. “the unfortunate . . . [them]”: Groves (1962), p. 186.
2251. “but I . . . it”: ibid., p. 191.
2252. “his thorough . . . me”: ibid., p. 193.
2253. “The ALSOS . . . Paris”: Lt. Col. G. R. Eckman to Chief, Military Intelligence Service, Sept. 1, 1944. MED 371.2, Goudsmit mission.
2254. “It is . . . form”: Goudsmit (1947), p. 70ff.
2255. “Washington wanted . . . Union”: Pash (1969), p. 191.
2256. “We outlined . . . oxide”: JL, “Capture of material,” draft report, July 10, 1946. MED 7, War Dept. special operations (tab E-F).
2257. “Many of . . . started”: ibid. Note that Groves (1962), p. 237, remembers these paper bags as fruit barrels and invents a two-week plant run in the midst of contending armies to manufacture them. Such is memory; JL’s is the eyewitness account, confirmed by his contemporary report JL to LRG, May 5, 1945. MED 7 (tab A-C).
2258. “Haigerloch is . . . pile”: Pash (1969), p. 206ff.
2259. Haigerloch pile: cf. Irving (1967), p. 244ff.
2260. “The fact . . . Alsos”: Pash (1969), p. 157ff.
2261. “By successively . . . reactions”: Hawkins (1947), p. 229.
2262. “At that . . . flicker”: Frisch (1979), p. 161.
2263. “The idea . . . so”: ibid., p. 159.
2264. Feynman named it: cf. ibid.
2265. “It was . . . mid-morning”: ibid., p. 159ff.
2266. “These experiments . . . alone”: Hawkins (1947), p. 230.
2267. “In 1940 . . . war”: LRG to GCM, April 23, 1945. MED 7 (tab E-F).
2268. “Sunday morning . . . ours”: quoted in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 287.
2269. “When, three . . . death”: ibid., p. 288.
2270. “I kept . . . struck!”: quoted in Bishop (1974), p. 598.
Chapter 18: Trinity
2271. “Stimson told . . . details”: Truman (1955), p. 10.
2272. “The chief . . . distrust”: Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 544.
2273. “assistant President”: quoted in Byrnes (1958), p. 155.
2274. “Jimmy Byrnes . . . world”: Truman (1955), p. 11.
2275. “that in . . . war”: ibid., p. 87.
2276. “A small . . . geniality”: Joseph Alsop and Robert Kitner, quoted in Mee (1975), p. 2.
2277. “a vigorous . . . politics”: quoted in ibid.
2278. “Had a . . . sometimes”: Ferrell (1980), p. 39.
2279. “I freely . . . action”: Byrnes (1958), p. 230.
2280. “We proposed . . . in”: “Memorandum of conference,” Dec. 8, 1944. Bush-Conant File, f. 20a.
2281. “I told . . . me”: “Extract from notes made after a conference with the President, December 31, 1944.” MED 24, Memos to file by LRG covering two meetings with the President.
2282. “it would . . . S-l”: quoted in Sherwin (1975), p. 136.
2283. “the fear . . . messages”: Truman (1955), p. 72.
2284. “barbarian invasion . . . affairs”: ibid., p. 71.
2285. “I ended . . . government’ ”: ibid., p. 72.
2286. “go ahead . . . organization”: ibid.
2287. “He felt . . . Hell”: Charles Bohlen, quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 46. Note Truman’s nearly identical language, sans cuss word and imperative, at Truman (1955), p. 77.
2288. “In the . . . promised”: Truman (1955), p. 77.
2289. “He said . . . serious”: ibid., p. 79.
2290. “I replied . . . like that”: ibid., p. 82.
2291. “one of . . . House”: ibid., p. 85.
2292. April 24 message from Stalin: quoted in full in ibid., p. 85ff.
2293. Stimson memorandum: “Memo discussed with the President,” April 25, 1945. MED 60, S-1 White House.
2294. “Mr. Truman . . . all”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 80.
2295. “a great . . . project”: “Report of meeting with the President,” April 25, 1945. MED 24.
2296. “I listened . . . service”: Truman (1955), p. 87.
2297. first Target Committee meeting: Groves (1962), p. 268, dates this occasion May 2, 1945, but cf. “Notes on initial meeting of target committee” dated April 27, 1945, from which all indicated quotations following are extracted. MED 5D, Selection of targets.
2298. “I had . . . bomb”: Groves (1962), p. 267.
2299. May 1 Harrison memorandum: Bush-Conant File, f. 20A.
2300. “The President . . . shut”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 54.
2301. “and late . . . accepted”: ibid.
2302. “were . . . death”: quoted in Sherwin (1975), p. 170.
2303. “when secrecy . . . Commission”: HLS to VB, April 4, 1945. Bush-Conant File, f. 20b.
2304. “I have . . . scene”: Eisenhower (1970), IV, p. 2673ff.
2305. “I tried . . . accomplished”: quoted in ibid., p. 2696.
2306. “The mission . . . 1945”: ibid.
2307. deaths: from Elliot (1972) except for Holocaust victims; that number from Dawidowicz (1975), p. 544.
2308. “We all . . . committee”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 56.
2309. Stimson introducing Byrnes: cf. R. Gordon Arneson, “Memorandum for the files,” May 24, 1946. Bush-Conant File, f. 6.
2310. “A. Height . . . Program”: J. A. Derry and N. F. Ramsey, “Summary of Target Committee meetings on 10 and 11 May 1945.” MED 5D.
2311. “very frank . . . one”: VB to JBC, May 14, 1945. Bush-Conant File, f. 20B.
2312. Stimson’s agenda: copy (misdated May 12, 1945) with notes in HLS’s hand in Bush-Conant File, f. 100.
2313. “I . . . said . . . September”: VB to JBC, May 14, 1945.
2314. “Mr. Byrnes . . . test”: JBC to VB, May 18, 1945. Bush-Conant File, f. 12.
2315. “Mr. Byrnes . . . one”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 62.
2316. “This question . . . argument”: JBC to VB, May 18, 1945.
2317. “Some of . . . matter”: ibid.
2318. Conant told Byrnes: cf. ibid.
2319. “the feeling . . . back”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 116ff.
2320. “the wisdom . . . bombs”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 182.
2321. “many hours . . . nights”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 115.
2322. “The only . . . President”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 181.
2323. “I am . . . history”: quoted in Clark (1970), p. 685.
2324. “Elated by . . . House”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 182.
2325. “I see . . . City”: ibid., p. 183.
2326. “We did . . . know”: ibid.
2327. “I have . . . judgment”: ibid., p. 205.
2328. Szilard memorandum: although Document 101 in ibid., p. 196ff, is usually cited as the memorandum Byrnes read, his memory of the contents—discussed below—makes it clear that he read the enclosure given as part of Document 102, p. 205ff, which Weart and Szilard describe as an “enclosure to Einstein’s letter.”
2329. “essentially due . . . armaments”: ibid., p. 198.
2330. “Szilard complained . . . me”: Byrnes (1958), p. 284.
2331. “When I . . . Russia”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 183.
2332. “He said . . . already?”: ibid., p. 184.
2333. “Byrnes thought . . . manageable”: ibid.
2334. May 28 Target Committee meeting: minutes at MED 5D.
2335. “for thirty . . . hated”: Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 632.
2336. “I am . . . weapons”: diary, quoted in Steiner (1974), p. 473.
2337. May 30: on the evidence of LRG to Lauris Norstad, May 30, 1945, reporting Stimson’s decision “this AM.” MED 5B.
2338. “I was . . . Kyoto”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 40ff.
2339. “The Joint . . . Japan”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 7.
2340. “with the . . . lives”: quoted in ibid., p. 8.
2341. 31,000 casualties: cf. ibid., p. 8ff.
2342. Groves had doubted: cf. VB to JBC, May 14, 1945.
2343. “I told . . . well”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 185.
2344. May 31 Interim Committee meeting: cf. notes at Bush-Conant File, f. 100.
2345. “S.l . . . World Peace”: handwritten notes “To the Four,” May 31, 1945. Bush-Conant File, f. 100.
2346. “a terrible . . . breached”: Oppenheimer (1961), p. 11.
2347. “As I . . . weapon”: the deleted phrase is “and industrialists.” Byrnes would not meet with the industrialists until the next day and presumably merges the two meetings in memory. The context is the May 31 meeting. Byrnes (1958), p. 283.
2348. “Bush and . . . panel”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version), p. 15.
2349. question mentioned during morning: according to E. O. Lawrence; cf. Sherwin (1975), p. 207.
2350. “[Stimson emphasized] . . . harm”: Oppenheimer (1961), p. 12.
2351. “You ask . . . know”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 104.
2352. “We feared . . . surrender”: Byrnes (1958), p. 261.
2353. “The President . . . knows”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 47.
2354. “number of . . . raids”: quoted in Sherwin (1975), p. 207ff.
2355. 20,000 deaths: Compton (1956), p. 237.
2356. “a city . . . lives”: ibid. AHC locates this discussion A.M. P.M. is likelier; much else in his memory of this meeting is misplaced.
2357. “We were . . . done”: LeMay (1965), p. 384.
2358. “secret intelligence . . . intentionally”: unsigned memorandum dated June 1, 1945, on War Dept. stationery; Top Secret classification authorized by LRG. MED 12.
2359. June 1 Interim Committee meeting: minutes at MED 100.
2360. “I concluded . . . bomb”; quoted in Feis (1966), p. 44.
2361. “sternly questioned”: Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 632.
2362. “I told . . . understood”: Stimson’s diary, quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 36.
2363. “Mr. Byrnes . . . weapon”: quoted in ibid., p. 107.
2364. Byrnes to White House: ibid., p. 109.
2365. “I told . . . recommend”: quoted in ibid., p. 110.
2366. “said that . . . done”: quoted in ibid.
2367. “I was . . . happen”: Oppenheimer (1963) III (Los Alamos version), p. 15.
2368. “Do you . . . No”: MED 19, Bohr, Dr. Niels.
2369. Trinity: cf. esp. Badash (1980), Bainbridge (1945), Else (1980), Lamont (1965), Szasz (1984), and Wilson (1975).
2370. “was one . . . desert”: Hawkins (1947), p. 271.
2371. “followed unmapped . . . winds”: Wilson (1975), p. 210.
2372. “almost to . . . 1945”: Bainbridge (1945), p. 5.
2373. “people were . . . explosion”: Else (1980), p. 16.
2374. Pu critical mass: cf. King (1979), p. 7.
2375. “Most troublesome . . . lot”: Kistiakowsky (1980), p. 20.
2376. June 27 LRG/JRO/WSP meeting: JRO/WSP to LRG, June 29, 1945. MED 50. Preparations and movement of personnel to Tinian.
2377. “on purpose . . . time”: quoted in Sherwin (1975), p. 193.
2378. “What are . . . propagandist?”: quoted in Szasz (1984), p. 65.
2379. ANY . . . DAYS: quoted in Groueff (1967), p. 340.
2380. July 9: Bainbridge (1945), p. 39.
2381. “In some . . . spheres”: Kistiakowsky (1980), p. 20.
2382. “You don’t . . . it”: interview with G. B. Kistiakowsky, Cambridge, Mass., Jan. 15, 1982.
2383. “The castings . . . charge”: Bainbridge (1945), p. 39.
2384. “That last . . . life”: Badash (1980), p. 46.
2385. “Very shortly . . . hysteria”: JRO to ER, May 19, 1950. JRO Papers, Box 62.
2386. nickel: Bill Jack Rodgers, LANL, personal communication.
2387. “beautiful to . . . threatened”: Smith (1954), p. 88.
2388. “Right in . . . this?”: quoted in Szasz (1984), p. 72.
2389. “on the . . . insignificant”: Bainbridge (1945), p. 39.
2390. “when you . . . rabbit”: Libby (1979), p. 171.
2391. “We were . . . way”: quoted in Johnson (1970), p. 11.
2392. “The [high- . . . mistake”: Wilson (1975), p. 185ff.
2393. “So of . . . me”: Badash (1980), p. 59.
2394. “Everybody at . . . work”: Kistiakowsky (1980), p. 21.
2395. “a. 1 box . . . bomb”: J. A. Derry to Adm. W. S. DeLany, July 17, 1945. MED 50.3, Shipment of special materials (bomb).
2396. “We drove . . . dud”: Badash (1980), p. 75ff.
2397. “His was . . . him”: Bush (1970), p. 148.
2398. “Sunday morning . . . society”: Badash (1980), p. 59.
2399. “What about . . . whimsical”: quoted in Lamont (1965), p. 184.
2400. “Gadget complete . . . there?”: Bainbridge (1945), p. 43.
2401. “in less . . . sacrifices”: quoted in Szasz (1984), p. 75.
2402. JRO climbed tower: Lamont puts this visit at 1600, when JRO was in conference with Hubbard. Lamont (1965), p. 190.
2403. “Funny how . . . work”: quoted in ibid., p. 193.
2404. “I had . . . possible”: Groves (1962), p. 296ff.
2405. “thoughtless bravado”: Wilson (1975), p. 225.
2406. “Trying to . . . whiskey”: Teller (1979), p. 147.
2407. “On the . . . Zero”: Wilson (1975), p. 227.
2408. “Soon after . . . tower”: ibid.
2409. “the night . . . seen”: Lawrence (1946), p. 5.
2410. “It was . . . Oppenheimer”: Else (1980).
2411. 0200 weather conference: details from Szasz (1984), p. 76ff., who finds them in Hubbard’s contemporary journal.
2412. “What the . . . weather”: quoted in ibid., p. 76.
2413. “or . . . you”: quoted in ibid., p. 77.
2414. “Sporadic rain . . . tower”: Wilson (1975), p. 228.
2415. “But my . . . water”: Segrè (1970), p. 146.
2416. “Hubbard gave . . . = 0”: Wilson (1975), p. 228.
2417. “I drove . . . S 10,000”: ibid., p. 228ff.
2418. “I unlocked . . . 5:09:45 a.m.”: ibid., p. 229.
2419. “With the . . . unendurable”: Lawrence (1946), p. 6.
2420. “We were . . . eye”: Teller (1962), p. 17.
2421. “I wouldn’t . . . lotion”: Teller (1979), p. 148.
2422. “It was . . . flash”: Lawrence (1946), p. 7.
2423. “personally nervous . . . fault”: MED 319.1, Trinity test reports (misc.).
2424. “only of . . . happened”: Groves (1962), p. 296.
2425. “groups of . . . point”: MED 319.1.
2426. “Lord, these . . . heart”: quoted in Lamont (1965), p. 226.
2427. “The control . . . safe)”: GBK to Richard Hewlett (n.d.), JRO Papers, Box 43.
2428. “I put . . . point”: Teller (1979), p. 148.
2429. “Dr. Oppenheimer . . . ahead”: quoted in Groves (1962), p. 436.
2430. “I watched . . . rise”: MED 319.1.
2431. “but at . . . excited!)”: ibid.
2432. “Now the . . . zero”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 196.
2433. “the very . . . distance”: Bethe (1964), p. 13.
2434. “The shock . . . center”: ibid.
2435. “because higher . . . maximum”: ibid., p. 14ff.
2436. “any further . . . seconds”: ibid., p. 92ff.
2437. “The expansion . . . screw”: Bainbridge (1945), p. 60.
2438. “We were . . . nature”: Rabi (1970), p. 138.
2439. “was like . . . sunlight”: Teller (1962), p. 17.
2440. “We had . . . back”: quoted in Los Alamos: beginning of an era 1943-1945 (n.d.) (hereafter LABE), p. 52.
2441. “Just as . . . surprise”: MED 319.1.
2442. “it looked . . . seconds”: quoted in LABE, p. 53.
2443. “At the . . . breath-taking”: MED 319.1.
2444. “The most . . . possible”: Segrè (1970), p. 147.
2445. “From ten . . . sunrise”: quoted in Terkel (1984), p. 512ff.
2446. “The flash . . . yards”: D. R. Inglis, MED 319.1.
2447. “Most experiences . . . anybody”: quoted in LABE, p. 53.
2448. “the overcast . . . sunrise”: MED 319.1.
2449. “the path . . . clouds”: ibid.
2450. “When the . . . ball”: ibid.
2451. “About 40 . . . T.N.T.”: ibid.
2452. “From the . . . measurement”: Segrè (1970), p. 147ff.
2453. “He was . . . noise”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 239.
2454. “And so . . . worked”: Else (1980).
2455. “No one . . . display”: Wilson (1975), p. 230.
2456. “personally thought . . . it”: Groves (1962), p. 439.
2457. “I slapped . . . dollars”: Badash (1980), p. 60.
2458. “It’s empty . . . wait”: quoted in Lamont (1965), p. 237.
2459. “I finished . . . test”: Wilson (1975), p. 230.
2460. “Our first . . . worried”: quoted in Szasz (1984), p. 91.
2461. “Naturally, we . . . was”: Rabi (1970), p. 138.
2462. “We waited . . . another”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 197.
2463. “When it . . . it”: Oppenheimer (1946), p. 265.
2464. “He was . . . it”: Else (1980).
2465. “When Farrell . . . you”: Groves (1962), p. 298.
2466. “the best . . . philosophy”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 184.
2467. “My faith . . . restored”: quoted in Szasz (1984), p. 89.
2468. 21 KT, 18 KT: cf. telephone notes of 7:55 A.M. LRG to Jean O’Leary, July 16, 1945. MED 319.1.
2469. 18.6 KT: Bainbridge (1945), p. 67.
2470. “For the . . . driven”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 238.
2471. “You could . . . future”: quoted in Szasz (1984), p. 91.
2472. “Partially eviscerated . . . permanently”: SW to LRG, July 21, 1945. MED 4, Trinity test.
2473. Frank Oppenheimer experiment: Bainbridge (1945), p. 48.
2474. “He applied . . . reality”: quoted in Terkel (1984), p. 513.
2475. 0836 PWT: Ethridge (1982), p. 81.
Chapter 19: Tongues of Fire
2476. Kirkpatrick reported to Groves: cf. handwritten reports dated March 31, April 11, and May 10, 1945, at MED 5C, Preparation and movement of personnel and equipment to Tinian.
2477. “Tests showed . . . carburetors”: Tibbets (1946), p. 133.
2478. “The performance . . . theater”: Ramsey (1946), p. 146.
2479. eleven B-29’s: Peer DeSilva to John Lansdale, Jr., June 28, 1945. MED 371.2.
2480. “looked . . . Paradise”: quoted in Craven and Cate (1958), V, p. 707.
2481. “Tinian is . . . landed”: Morrison (1946), p. 177.
2482. “The first . . . Tinian”: Ramsey (1946), p. 147.
2483. “Jimmy . . . Bible”: quoted in Messer (1982), p. 6.
2484. “a warning . . . capitulate”: Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 621.
2485. “from the . . . Department”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 180.
2486. “Secretary Byrnes . . . there?”: quoted in ibid.
2487. “We reviewed . . . knows?”: Ferrell (1980), p. 41.
2488. “Proposed Program for Japan”: cf. Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 620ff.
2489. “the statement . . . Japan”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 185.
2490. “The foreign . . . concerned”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 67.
2491. “It is . . . homeland”: quoted in ibid., p. 68.
2492. “terrible political . . . war?”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 203.
2493. “Operated on . . . posted”: MED 5E, Terminal cables.
2494. “Well . . . Leavenworth”: quoted in Bundy (1957), p. 57.
2495. “The following . . . Emperor”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 203.
2496. “Neither the . . . test”: quoted in ibid.
2497. a year’s supply of ammunition: production, that is, “which is estimated to equal 350 division months of defensive fighting from fixed positions.” Effects of Strategic Bombing (n.d.), cover memorandum dated July 25, 1945, p. 5. MED 319.2, Misc.
2498. “Subject to . . . government”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 81.
2499. “all your . . . city”: MED 5E.
2500. “aware of . . . it”: ibid.
2501. “If any . . . rapidly”: ibid.
2502. “the imminence . . . August”: ibid.
2503. Groves’ narrative: cf. Groves (1962), p. 433ff.
2504. “tremendously pepped . . . confidence”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 85.
2505. October 1: Arnold (1949), p. 564.
2506. “In order . . . cities”: ibid.
2507. fifty-eight cities: Overy (1980), p. 100.
2508. “practically identical . . . out”: quoted in Wölk (1975), p. 60.
2509. “We regarded . . . lives”: quoted in Mosley (1982), p. 337ff.
2510. “We’d had . . . dropped”: quoted in “Ike on Ike,” Newsweek, Nov. 11, 1963, p. 108.
2511. “Doctor has . . . farm”: MED 5E.
2512. “The cable . . . problem”: “Ike on Ike.”
2513. “Believe Japs . . . homeland”: Ferrell (1980), p. 42.
2514. “Operation may . . . 10”: MED 5E.
2515. “always . . . authority”: ibid.
2516. “Hiroshima . . . here”: ibid.
2517. Official Air Force historians: i.e., Craven and Cate (1958), V; cf. p. 710.
2518. “First one . . . sound”: MED 5E.
2519. “As a . . . once”: Feis (1966), p. 101.
2520. Stalin knew of Trinity: according to a secret U.S. intelligence agency history of the Soviet atomic bomb program reported in Szulc (1984), p. 3.
2521. “I casually . . . Japanese”: Truman (1955), p. 416.
2522. “That . . . far”: Oppenheimer (1963), III (Los Alamos version), p. 16.
2523. “We have . . . useful”: Ferrell (1980), p. 42.
2524. the historic directive: WAR 37683, MED 5E.
2525. “in order . . . possible”: ibid.
2526. C-54’s: cf. J. A. Derry to Adm. W.S. DeLany, Aug. 17, 1945. MED 5C.
2527. Potsdam Declaration: cf. Truman (1955), p. 390ff.
2528. “We faced . . . Declaration”: Byrnes (1947), p. 262.
2529. Japanese response: this discussion follows Feis (1966), p. 107ff.
2530. “I believe . . . war”: quoted in ibid., p. 109ff.
2531. “In the . . . weapon”: Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 625.
2532. three B-29’s: J. A. Derry to Adm. W. S. DeLany, Aug. 17, 1945.
2533. Indianapolis: cf. esp. Ethridge (1982).
2534. “I took . . . more”: Hashimoto (1954), p. 224.
2535. “Those who . . . drowned”: quoted in Ethridge (1982), p. 89.
2536. “We . . . men”: quoted in ibid.
2537. “so sweet . . . life”: quoted in ibid., p. 92.
2538. “at length . . . tinned)”: Hashimoto (1954), p. 226.
2539. HIROSHIMA . . . THEM: MED 5B.
2540. “My chief . . . face”: Stimson and Bundy (1948), p. 632.
2541. “our obligation . . . use”: cf. report at MED 76.
2542. “badly . . . equalizer”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 237.
2543. “First of . . . thing”: ET to LS, July 2, 1945. MED 201, Leo Szilard.
2544. “To avert . . . deliverance”: Churchill (1953), p. 639.
2545. “It was . . . end”: Anscombe (1981), p. 64.
2546. “It was . . . people”: Moyers (1984).
2547. “impatience to . . . ordeal”: Feis (1966), p. 120.
2548. A JAP BURNS: Life, Aug. 13, 1945, p. 34. This issue appeared on Aug. 6, postdated as is customary to extend newsstand life. Luis Alvarez suggested to me this exercise in examining the popular mood.
2549. cordite charge: not, as some have written mistakenly, its bullet. Cf. “Check list for loading charge in plane . . . .” MED 5B.
2550. precaution prepared at Los Alamos: cf. Hawkins (1947), p. 225.
2551. orders to bring bomb back: Craven and Cate (1958), V, p. 716.
2552. “With the . . . completed”: Ramsey (1946), p. 149.
2553. Farrell telexed Groves: Feis (1966), p. 114.
2554. August 2: J. A. Derry to Adm. W. S. DeLany, Aug. 7, 1945.
2555. one Fat Man for drop test: cf. Ramsey (1946), p. 150.
2556. “By August . . . busy”: Tibbets (1973), p. 55.
2557. Spitzer diary: quoted in Thomas and Witts (1977).
2558. “At 1400 . . . 6”: Ramsey (1946), p. 151.
2559. bomb-loading procedure: cf. Harold S. Gladwin, Jr., to Boeing Service Dept., Eng. Div., Aug. 20, 1945. MED 5B.
2560. “an elongated . . . fins”: Jacob Beser, quoted in Thomas and Witts (1977), p. 216.
2561. “This radar . . . altitude”: Hawkins (1947), p. 225ff.
2562. “The operation . . . it”: H. S. Gladwin, Jr., to Boeing Service Dept., Aug. 20, 1945.
2563. “Through the . . . paper”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 98ff.
2564. “paint that . . . big”: quoted in Thomas and Witts (1977), p. 232.
2565. “What . . . plane?”; quoted in ibid., p. 233.
2566. “By dinnertime . . . poker”: Tibbets (1946), p. 135.
2567. “Final . . . 6”: Ramsey (1946), p. 151.
2568. “to be . . . enemies”: quoted in Thomas and Witts (1977), p. 237.
2569. “amid . . . premiere)”: Ramsey (1946), p. 151.
2570. “It was . . . ready”: Tibbets (1946), p. 135.
2571. “The B-29 . . . airborne”: ibid.
2572. course, altitude, etc.: cf. navigator’s charts printed as end papers to Marx (1967).
2573. cordite loading: cf. “Check list for loading charge in plane . . . .” MED 5B. For times cf. Parson’s log at Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 522ff.
2574. “At forty- . . . runs”: quoted in Lawrence (1946), p. 220.
2575. “The colonel . . . ‘George’ ”: quoted in variant forms in Marx (1967), p. 78, and Lawrence (1946), p. 220.
2576. “A chemist’s . . . guess”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 106, and Lawrence (1946), p. 220ff.
2577. “Attention! . . . puzzle”: quoted in Talk of the Town (1946), p. 16.
2578. “At 4:30 . . . spell”: quoted in Lawrence (1946), p. 220.
2579. “After leaving . . . Away”: quoted in ibid. and in Marx (1967), p. 135ff.
2580. “The bomb . . . Tinian”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 136.
2581. “Well . . . now”: quoted in Lawrence (1946), p. 221.
2582. “Our primary . . . Hiroshima”: quoted in ibid.
2583. “It’s Hiroshima”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 143.
2584. “As we . . . target”: quoted ibid., p. 157.
2585. “Twelve miles . . . plane”: Tibbets (1946), p. 136.
2586. perfect aiming point: Thomas and Witts (1977), p. 220.
2587. “Ferebee had . . . goes”: Tibbets (1946), p. 136.
2588. “The radio . . . lead”: ibid.
2589. “Fellows . . . history”: according to Jacob Beser, quoted in Marx (1967), p. 173.
2590. “[It was] . . . plane”: quoted in Giovannitti and Freed (1965), p. 250.
2591. “I don’t . . . mountains”: quoted in ibid.
2592. “If you . . . home”: quoted in ibid.
2593. “I kept . . . smoke”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 171 ff.
2594. “That city . . . me”: quoted in ibid., p. 174.
2595. 8:16:02: cf. The Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1981)—hereafter cited as Committee—p. 21. All statistics from this source unless otherwise indicated. The official time according to Hiroshima City is 8:15.
2596. “It . . . impersonal”: Tibbets (1973), p. 55.
2597. “If I . . . mind”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 221.
2598. Hiroshima: cf. in particular Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977); Committee (1981); Hachiya (1955); Liebow et al. (1949); Liebow (1965); Lifton (1967); NHK (1977); Osada (1982); USSBS (1976), X.
2599. Hiroshima history: cf. Kosaki (1980).
2600. “Hiroshima was . . . harbor”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 554.
2601. “The hour . . . garden”: Hachiya (1955), p. 1.
2602. “Just as . . . leaves”: Osada (1982), p. 8.
2603. “Shortly after . . . delirium”: ibid., p. 305.
2604. “Accompanying the . . . explosion”: Liebow (1965), p. 68.
2605. “Because the . . . miles]”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 570.
2606. “The temperature . . . life”: Committee (1977), p. 119.
2607. “severe thermal . . . viscerae”: ibid.
2608. “Doctor . . . he?”: Hachiya (1955), p. 92.
2609. “The inundation . . . fatalities”: Lifton (1967), p. 21.
2610. “There was . . . dead”: quoted in ibid., p. 27.
2611. “I asked . . . impossible”: Hachiya (1955), p. 114.
2612. “Father Kopp . . . hand”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 542.
2613. “Ah, that . . . around”: Osada (1982), p. 352.
2614. “The vicinity . . . arms”: ibid., p. 305.
2615. “That boy . . . that”: ibid., p. 194.
2616. “My body . . . ending’ ”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 22.
2617. “I just . . . world”: quoted in ibid., p. 23.
2618. “Within the . . . sound”: Hachiya (1955), p. 164.
2619. “When I . . . ruins”: Osada (1982), p. 224.
2620. “The shortest . . . hysterically”: Hachiya (1955), p. 2.
2621. “The appearance . . . them”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 27.
2622. “I heard . . . burned”: NHK (1977), p. 12ff.
2623. “On both . . . sleepwalkers”: Osada (1982), p. 313.
2624. “Everything I . . . about”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 29.
2625. “That day . . . rags”: Osada (1982), p. 10.
2626. “The people . . . them”: ibid., p. 258.
2627. “People came . . . sight”: ibid., p. 97.
2628. “The flames . . . looks”: ibid., p. 234.
2629. “Screaming children . . . blood”: ibid., p. 305.
2630. “It was . . . flames”: Liebow et al. (1949), p. 856ff.
2631. “The whole . . . alive”: Osada (1982), p. 8ff.
2632. “I really . . . walking”: ibid., p. 65ff.
2633. “I was . . . her”: ibid., p. 122ff.
2634. “I left . . . her”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 40.
2635. “Beneath the . . . flames”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 544.
2636. “I was . . . thing”: Osada (1982), p. 137ff.
2637. “A woman . . . help”: NHK (1977), p. 49.
2638. “There were . . . up”: Osada (1982), p. 43.
2639. “Nearby . . . trousers”: ibid., p. 364.
2640. “I walked . . . felt”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 50.
2641. “I was . . . striking”: NHK (1977), p. 39.
2642. “a man . . . ankles”: quoted in Mary McGrory, “Hiroshima Horrors Relived,” Kansas City Times, March 24, 1982. p. A13.
2643. “A man . . . up”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 42.
2644. “In front . . . blackness”: quoted in ibid., p. 49ff.
2645. “The corpse . . . hand”: NHK (1977), p. 96.
2646. “There was . . . blindly”: Osada (1982), p. 154.
2647. “I saw . . . be?”: NHK (1977), p. 52.
2648. “A streetcar . . . tremble”: Osada (1982), p. 55.
2649. “The more . . . get”: ibid., p. 77.
2650. “Since just . . . having”: ibid., p. 83.
2651. “I went . . . eyes”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 36.
2652. “I and . . . agonies”: Osada (1982), p. 230.
2653. “At the . . . help”: ibid., p. 352ff.
2654. “Near the . . . Hell”: ibid., p. 79ff.
2655. “We came . . . flame”: ibid., p. 62.
2656. “The fire . . . heads”: ibid., p. 72.
2657. “I had . . . faces”: ibid., p. 237.
2658. “Between the . . . water”: Hachiya (1955), p. 19.
2659. “While taking . . . him”: NHK (1977), p. 48.
2660. “There were . . . me”: Hachiya (1955), p. 101.
2661. “Men whose . . . sea”: Osada (1982), p. 178.
2662. “We . . . around”: ibid., p. 94.
2663. “Bloated corpses . . . earth”: ibid., p. 334.
2664. “I had . . . shore”: quoted in Trumbull (1957), p. 76.
2665. “I got . . . place”: Osada (1982), p. 173.
2666. “The river . . . terrible”: ibid., p. 219.
2667. “There was . . . back”: Hachiya (1955), p. 15.
2668. “Hundreds of . . . drowned”: ibid., p. 77ff.
2669. “Along the . . . walk”: ibid., p. 184.
2670. “Night came . . . heaven”: NHK (1977), p. 44.
2671. “Everybody in . . . legs”: Osada (1982), p. 280.
2672. “If you . . . burns”: ibid., p. 99ff.
2673. “Hiroshima . . . land”: ibid., p. 54.
2674. “The bright . . . collapse”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 546.
2675. “The streets . . . height”: Hachiya (1955), p. 8.
2676. “Nothing . . . view”: ibid., p. 31.
2677. “I climbed . . . exist”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 29.
2678. “I reached . . . heart”: quoted in ibid., p. 86.
2679. “It is . . . instantaneously”: Committee (1977), p. 61.
2680. “In Hiroshima . . . destroyed”: ibid., p. 379.
2681. “[She was] . . . child”: NHK (1977), p. 70.
2682. “We gathered . . . out”: interview with Sakae Itoh, Hiroshima, Aug. 5, 1982.
2683. “After a . . . mouths”: Hachiya (1955), p. 164.
2684. “On the . . . mountain”: Osada (1982), p. 72ff.
2685. “Towards evening . . . Hiroshima”: Hachiya (1955), p. 32.
2686. “Survivors began . . . death”: Lifton (1967), p. 57.
2687. “atomic bomb . . . irradiation”: Committee (1977), p. 115.
2688. “Following the . . . recover”: Hachiya (1955), p. 97.
2689. gamma radiation: cf. Hempelmann et al. (1952), p. 286ff.
2690. anti-clotting factor: cf. Liebow et al. (1949), p. 927.
2691. “Hemorrhage was . . . cases”: Hachiya (1955), p. 147ff.
2692. “found . . . autopsied”: ibid., p. 145.
2693. “evidence of . . . eye”: Liebow et al. (1949), p. 923.
2694. “the bodies . . . living”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 66.
2695. “We were . . . cancer”: quoted in ibid., p. 61.
2696. “Mother was . . . cry”: Osada (1982), p. 227.
2697. “in the . . . instant”: Committee (1977), p. 6.
2698. “The whole . . . foundations”: ibid., p. 336.
2699. “Such a . . . nothing”: quoted in Lifton (1967), p. 79.
2700. “the total . . . dead”: quoted in Liebow (1965), p. 82.
2701. “How many . . . explosion”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 549.
2702. Standardized Casualty Rate: cf. Liebow (1965), p. 235.
2703. “Those scientists . . . it?”: Osada (1982), p. 264.
2704. “This is . . . home”: Truman (1955), p. 421.
2705. “Gen G . . . time”: Aug. 6, 1945, transcript, MED 201, Groves, L. R., telephone conversations.
2706. “The greatest . . . earth”: quoted in Truman (1955), p. 422.
2707. “I suppose . . . on”: LS to GW, Aug. 6, 1945. Egon Weiss, personal communication.
2708. “At first . . . asleep”: Hahn (1970), p. 170.
2709. “Then one . . . enemies”: Frisch (1979), p. 176.
2710. “the importance . . . all”: “From the Rubble of Okinawa: A Different View of Hiroshima.” Kansas City Star, Aug. 30, 1981, p. II.
2711. propaganda effort: cf. J. F. Moynahan to L. R. Groves, May 23, 1946. MED 314.7, History.
2712. “What we . . . longer”: quoted in Mosley (1982), p. 340.
2713. “a certain . . . airplane”: J. F. Moynahan to L. R. Groves, May 23, 1946.
2714. “the equivalent . . . weapons”: ibid.
2715. Nagasaki leaflets: ibid.
2716. “was originally . . . schedule”: Ramsey (1946), p. 153.
2717. “With the . . . orders”: O’Keefe (1983), p. 97.
2718. “When I . . . backward”: ibid., p. 98.
2719. “nothing that . . . resolder them”: ibid., p. 99.
2720. “My mind . . . finished”: ibid., p. 100ff.
2721. 0347: Ramsey (1946), p. 154.
2722. “The night . . . us”: Cave Brown and MacDonald (1977), p. 557.
2723. Ashworth changed plugs: cf. his log at Ramsey (1946), p. 154.
2724. “Two . . . seen”: quoted in ibid., p. 155.
2725. “the Japs . . . ocean”: quoted in Marx (1967), p. 202.
2726. “A smell . . . gates”: William C. Bryson, Capt., USN, Sept. 14, 1945. Bul. Atom. Sci. Dec. 82, p. 35.
2727. surrender offer: this discussion relies in part on Bernstein (1977).
2728. “does not . . . Ruler”: quoted in Butow (1954), p. 244.
2729. “taking a . . . hands”: quoted in Bernstein (1977), p. 5.
2730. “I cannot . . . war”: quoted in ibid., p. 6.
2731. “crucifixion . . . President”: quoted in ibid., p. 5.
2732. “willingness to . . . accomplished”: quoted in ibid., p. 6ff.
2733. “From the . . . people”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 134.
2734. “We would . . . bomb”: quoted in Bernstein (1977), p. 9.
2735. “Truman said . . . kids”: quoted in Herken (1980), p. 11.
2736. “Provided there . . . August”: LRG to Chief of Staff, Aug. 10, 1945. MED 5B.
2737. “It was . . . now?”: quoted in Scott-Stokes (1974), p. 109.
2738. “placing . . . officials”: quoted in Bernstein (1977), p. 13.
2739. “I have . . . unusual”: quoted in ibid., p. 15ff.
2740. “a plan . . . attack”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 205.
2741. “evidence of . . . ancestors?”: quoted in ibid., p. 208.
2742. “the . . . placed”: quoted in Bernstein (1977), p. 13.
2743. “Flash! . . . soon”: quoted in Feis (1966), p. 209n.
2744. “Despite the . . . generation”: quoted in ibid., p. 248.
2745. “If it . . . mad”: quoted in Scott-Stokes (1974), p. 109.
2746. “An atomic . . . slaughter”: Committee (1977), p. 335.
2747. “By the . . . identity”: Elliot (1972), p. 138ff.
2748. “The experience . . . mankind”: Committee (1977), p. 340.
2749. “The night . . . pounding”: Hachiya (1955), p. 114ff.
1 Nagaoka indicates indirectly that the visit took place sometime prior to July 1910—after Marsden’s 1909 discovery and before Rutherford’s announcement to Geiger at Christmastime 1910 that he had worked out an explanation.
1 George Gamow had proposed such a model in Copenhagen in 1928. Bohr credited it to Gamow at the October 1933 Solvay conference, as did Heisenberg. Bohr and his student Fritz Kalkar subsequently developed the model and physicists customarily attribute it to him.
1 Fractionation—fractional crystallization—was a technique of chemical analysis pioneered by Marie Curie in the course of purifying polonium and radium. Most substances are more soluble at a high temperature than a low. Make a strong boiling solution of a substance—for rock candy, for example, sugar in water—cool the solution, and at some point the substance will emerge out of solution to form pure crystals. Fractional crystallization further involves separating out of the same solution several different, chemically similar substances by taking advantage of their tendency to crystallize at different temperatures according to differences in their atomic weights, lighter elements crystallizing first.
1 The distinction between U235 and U238 had already fired a debate. “Fermi and a number of others,” says John Dunning, “had considerable doubts about U-235 or even disagreed—they thought it was U-238 [that was responsible for slow-neutron fission].” The disagreement incensed Bohr, who told Lèon Rosenfeld he was “outraged” that Fermi should question the logic of his argument that thorium and U238 stood on one side and U235 on the other.1106 “It was both the strength and the weakness of Fermi,” writes Rosenfeld, “to be so intent on following his own lines of thought that he was impervious to any outside influence. . . . He fancied there could be a different interpretation of the evidence discussed by Bohr, and that only experiment could decide.” Dunning, on the other hand, “immediately accepted Bohr’s argument.”1107 The important outcome was that Dunning began to think of isotope separation, while Fermi continued to pursue the possibility of a chain reaction in natural uranium. With unusual and uncharacteristically Fermian conservatism, so did Szilard.
1 Although Bohr had speculated many years earlier that the transuranic elements, if any, would probably be chemically similar to uranium, researchers still commonly assumed that the transuranics would be chemically similar to the series of metals in the periodic table that begins with rhenium and osmium and includes platinum and gold. “Eka” is an old prefix meaning “beyond.”
1 Compton’s memory errs toward more optimism than Fermi’s calculations warranted. After Compton’s visit Gregory Breit, Briggs’ theoretician on the Uranium Committee, asked Fermi to work his formulae on paper. Fermi was busy with his uranium-graphite experiment and produced, on October 6, a sketchy set of notes. He guessed at the cross sections and came up with 130,000 grams—287 pounds. “One cannot,” he added, “in my opinion, exclude the possibility that [the critical mass] may be as low as 20,000 grams [44 pounds] or as high as one or more tons.”1486
1 The proximity fuse was a miniature radar unit shaped to replace the ballistic nose of anti-aircraft shells. It sensed its proximity to a target—an enemy plane—and exploded the shell it rode at a preset range, often turning a miss into a kill. Its development was another of Bush’s responsibilities and it was one of science’s most important contributions to the war. Merle Tuve, Richard Roberts1108 and most of the physics team at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution had turned from fission research in August 1940 to develop it.1842
1 Spontaneous fission, a relatively rare nuclear event, differs from fission caused by neutron bombardment; it occurs without outside stimulus as a natural consequence of the instability of heavy nuclei.
1 A betatron accelerates electrons to high speeds in a magnetic field; such beta ray-like electrons can then be directed onto a target to produce intense beams of high-energy X rays.
1 “The glory is departed.”