44. H. von Halban, F. Joliot-Curie, and L. Kowarski published “Liberation of Neutrons in the Nuclear Explosion of Uranium,” in Nature, pp. 470–71. The issue was dated March 18, 1939, but was available in England a few days earlier. IGCC #1, p. 45. “Uranium Atoms Split by Neutrons . . .” Science Service, March 16, 1939.
Had Joliot ignored Szilard’s February plea to withhold publication? Szilard thought so, but in Paris the publication had a different meaning, at least to the three authors. “Joliot disregarded Szilard’s letter for a very simple reason,” coauthor Lew Kowarski recalled years later. “Szilard, being a Hungarian, wrote with this exquisite courtesy,” saying: “The only purpose of this letter is to prepare you for the remote possibility of a cable, which we might send you in some weeks. We hope that this letter is an unnecessary precaution.” A cable was to follow if neutrons were released when uranium fissioned. “There was no cable, and Joliot disregarded the letter. It’s that simple.” Lew Kowarski oral-history interview, p. 79 (AIP).
45. When Szilard returned to Columbia and discovered that Fermi had argued the case for suppressing publication effectively, he was impressed with his fairness and sense of honor—an impression that carried much weight whenever the two later disagreed. Szilard “Book” ms “Apology (in lieu of a foreword),” p. 5 (LSP 40/4).
46. Quote recounted in Ralph Lapp interview, April 6, 1987. For background on the self-censorship debate, see Spencer Weart, “Scientists with a Secret,” Physics Today, No. 29, February 1976, pp. 23–30.
47. Newsweek, March 27, 1939, p. 32.
48. See, e.g., Wigner to Dirac, March 30, 1939. MIT Vol. II, pp. 71–72.
49. Szilard memorandum to Weisskopf, March 31, 1939 (LSP 20/25).
50. Lew Kowarski oral-history interview, p. 80 (AIP). The Nazis did note the halt in publication. See “Farm Hall” transcript FH 4 for August 6–7, 1945, pp. 16–17 (MED, RG 77, Box 163).
51. Cables in MIT Vol. II, pp. 73–74 (LSP 10/23).
52. Tekla Szilard to Leo Szilard, April 1, 1939, Bela Silard translation (BSP).
53. Sherwin, p. 25. For details of Szilard’s continued efforts to suppress neutron research, see Blackett to Weisskopf, April 8, 1939, MIT Vol. II, p. 74; Goldhaber to Szilard, April 12, 1939 (LSP 8/35); Tuve to Breit, April 12, 1939, DTM. See also IGCC #1, pp. 25–26 and 48. Isidor I. Rabi interview, August 19, 1985.
54. Physical Review, April 15, 1939, pp. 797–98 and 799–800, respectively. IGCC #1, pp. 45–46.
55. Wigner to Szilard, April 17, 1939 (LSP 21/4).
56. The article by von Halban, Joliot-Curie, and Kowarski appeared in Nature on April 22. See also Szilard to Joliot, July 5, 1939. MIT Vol. II, p. 80.
57. For the following description of worldwide reaction to Joliot’s publications I am indebted to Badash, Hodes, and Tiddens, whose study “Nuclear Fission: Reaction to the Discovery in 1939” (IGCC #1) documents scientific activities and publications comprehensively.
58. IGCC #1, p. 28.
59. Wyden, p. 32.
60. IGCC #1, p. 27.
61. Herbert York, p. 29. IGCC #1, p. 28.
62. Lew Kowarski oral-history interview, p. 87 (AIP).
63. The New York Times, April 20, 1939, p. 39. Washington Post, April 29, 1939, p. 30.
64. The New York Times, May 5, 1939, p. 25. IGCC #1, p. 29.
CHAPTER 14
1. Today’s nuclear power plants use the system that Szilard, Fermi, and Anderson tried—with water as both a moderator and a coolant. But now the water’s absorption of neutrons is compensated by enriching the fissionable uranium235 isotope in the fuel from 0.7 to 3 percent.
2. MIT Vol. II, p. 81.
3. Fermi to Szilard, June 26, 1939 (LSP 8/6). See also “Neutron Production and Absorption in Uranium” by Anderson, Fermi, and Szilard, Physical Review, Vol. 56 (August 1, 1939), pp. 284–86.
4. Fermi to Szilard, July 1, 1939 (LSP 8/6).
5. Szilard to Fermi, July 3, 1939. MIT Vol. I, pp. 193–94.
6. Szilard to Strauss, July 3, 1939. MIT Vol. II, p. 88–89.
7. Szilard to Fermi, July 5, 1939. MIT Vol. I, pp. 194–95.
8. C. P. Brower to Szilard, July 6, 1939 (LSP 14/4).
9. Szilard to Fermi, July 8, 1939. MIT Vol. I, pp. 195–96.
10. MIT Vol. II, p. 82.
11. Fermi to Anderson, July 18, 1939 (LSP 8/6).
12. Szilard to Richards, July 9, 1939 (LSP 16/14).
13. G. J. Gardner to Szilard, July 21, 1939 (LSP 14/4).
14. Szilard to Trude, July 10, 1939 (EWP).
15. MIT Vol. II, pp. 82 and 89–90. Hewlett and Anderson, p. 16.
16. Szilard to Wigner, February 1, 1956. MIT Vol. I, pp. 190–92.
17. Szilard to Trude, July 14, 1939 (EWP).
18. IGCC #1, pp. 27 and 48–49.
19. Szilard to Trude, July 10, 1939 (EWP).
20. Jungk, pp. 83–84.
21. Clark, 1972, pp. 668–72.
22. Szilard notes for interview, April 18, 1955. MIT Vol. II, p. 83.
23. Sources for this account are many and varied, but the version here represents the latest assessment of the evidence.
For the date, which has long been in dispute, I find a proposed visit mentioned in a newly discovered July 10, 1939, letter by Szilard to Trude Weiss.
For accounts and details of the drive and the visit I rely on these sources:
1. Szilard’s April 18, 1955, notes for a radio interview the day Einstein died (AEP 39 488 1–3).
2. Various drafts of Szilard’s recollections, including a “Memorandum about the Einstein Letter,” August 19, 1955 (LSP).
3. Szilard’s printed recollections (MIT Vol. II) with notes by Gertrud Weiss Szilard on the handwritten drafts then in her possession.
4. Jungk’s Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, which Szilard later praised for its accuracy.
5. Ralph Lapp’s August 2, 1964, article for the New York Times Magazine, and my interview with Lapp on April 6, 1987.
6. Mrs. Elwood Martz’s October 12, 1964, letter to Lapp about the Einstein cottage, where she then lived.
7. Eugene Wigner interviews, October 12, 1984, and March 5, 1986.
8. Interview with Robert McAll, the cottage’s current owner, August 10, 1992.
24. MIT Vol. II, p. 84.
25. The meeting date is estimated from Szilard’s reference to “a new ‘Strauss’ ” in a July 14, 1939, letter to Trude Weiss (EWP).
26. Sachs said in 1959 that he had drafted a version of the Einstein letter, although he did not take credit when testifying about the initiative in 1945. See his testimony on S.R. 179 in 1945 and his September 29, 1959, letter to AEC historians Hewlett and Anderson. See also Sachs to Szilard, July 26, 1939, Sachs Papers, Container 79 Szilard, Dr. Leo (FDR).
27. Szilard to Einstein, July 19, 1939. MIT Vol. II, pp. 90–91.
28. Einstein to Sam Marx at M-G-M, July 19, 1946 (AEP 57 162).
29. MIT Vol. II, p. 84.
30. Janet Coatesworth to Gertrud Szilard, August 29, 1964 (LSP 85/5).
31. Szilard to Einstein, August 2, 1939. MIT Vol. II, pp. 92–93.
32. Szilard to Trude, August 3, 1939 (EWP).
33. Bela Silard translation of Ten Commandments draft, marked on the back “Hist. Box Hist.-I bbs-49,” included with an October 30, 1940, version, which is mimeographed (LSP 34/20).
According to his wife, Szilard first began to draft the commandments when he was in Europe and always thought they were not translatable from the German. This is the first date on which all Ten Commandments were typed. On a version dated October 30, 1940, Szilard corrected the grammar of the second commandment to “should be directed toward.”
As late as 1960, when approached by historian Alice K. Smith, Szilard still insisted that his commandments were untranslatable and should be read only in German. Upon his death in 1964, his widow asked Jacob Bronowski, a colleague of Szilard’s at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, to translate the commandments (LSP 89/9). Bronowski’s translat
ion and the German text “Zehn Gebote von Leo Szilard” appear in MIT Vol. II, before the contents page.
34. Undated Einstein note to Szilard, Bela Silard translation (BSP). Reference is made to this note, then in the possession of Gertrud Szilard, in the introductory text to Document 56, MIT Vol. II, p. 96.
35. Bela Silard translation. MIT Vol. II, p. 96.
36. Jungk, p. 86. The long version, which was sent to President Roosevelt, has been on display at the presidential library in Hyde Park, New York, since 1945. The short version, which Szilard retained, passed to his widow, then to her brother, Egon Weiss, who sold it for $50,000. A seller offered the letter at Christie’s in New York for $60,000 to $80,000. The letter was purchased at auction by publisher Malcolm Forbes on December 19, 1986, for $220,000, and was then on display in the lobby of the Forbes Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Also displayed was a handwritten note by Einstein to Szilard transmitting the signed letters. See The New York Times, December 19, 1986, p. C28, and December 20, 1986, p. 15; Washington Post, December 20, 1986, pp. C1 and C11.
37. “Memorandum,” August 15, 1939. MIT Vol. I, pp. 201–3.
38. Rhodes, pp. 311–12.
39. Einstein to Lindbergh, Lindbergh papers, Yale University Library.
40. Szilard to Einstein, September 27, 1939. MIT Vol. II, p. 100.
41. Wigner to Szilard, September 26, 1939. MIT Vol. II, pp. 103–104.
42. See, for example, Szilard to Charles E. Chapin Co., October 3, 1939; Smith Bolton (United States Graphite Co.) to Szilard, November 10, 1939; and Szilard to Bolton, November 15, 1939 (LSP 6/11, 19/21).
43. Moore, p. 268. Hewlett and Anderson, pp. 17–19. Jungk, pp. 109–11. Sachs testimony before Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, November 27, 1945.
44. Rhodes, pp. 313–15.
45. Roosevelt replied to Einstein on October 19, thanking him for the letter and materials and explaining that he had created a special interdepartmental committee. “I am glad to say that Dr. Sachs will cooperate and work with this Committee and I feel this is the most practical and effective method of dealing with the subject.” MIT Vol. II, p. 96. FDR Secretary’s File, Sachs (FDR).
46. R. B. Roberts and J. B. H. Kuper, “Uranium and Atomic Power,” Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 10, No. 9; Hewlett and Anderson, p. 20.
47. Eugene Wigner interview, October 12, 1984. Sachs to Wigner, October 17, 1939, Eugene Wigner Papers. Hewlett and Anderson, p. 20.
48. Teller, Energy from Heaven and Earth, p. 144.
49. Eugene Wigner interview, October 12, 1984.
50. Szilard to Pegram, October 21, 1939. MIT Vol. II, pp. 109–10.
51. Szilard Memorandum to Lyman J. Briggs, “The Possibility of a Large-Scale Experiment in the Immediate Future.” October 26, 1939. MIT Vol. I, pp. 204–206.
52. The dinner was held on November 7, 1939. Szilard to Sachs, November 5, 1939. MIT Vol. II, p. 112–13.
53. Szilard to Benjamin Liebowitz, December 4, 1939. MIT Vol. II, pp. 113–14. According to Liebowitz, Szilard later repaid the loan.
CHAPTER 15
1. MIT Vol. II, p. 115; (LSP 41/1).
2. MIT Vol. II, p. 115.
3. The New York Times, February 1, 1940, p. 1. Cf. H. von Halban, Jr., F. Joliot, L. Kowarski, F. Perrin, Journal de Physique et le Radium, ser. 7, 10: 428–29 (1939). MIT Vol. II, p. 115, note 1.
4. MIT Vol. II, pp. 115–16.
5. MIT Vol. I, pp. 207–56.
6. MacPherson, pp. 141–43. Rhodes, pp. 331–32.
7. Einstein to Sachs, March 7, 1940 (AEP 39 475 1–3 and 39 476 1–2). Sachs to Roosevelt, March 15, 1940; Roosevelt to Sachs, April 5, 1940. MIT Vol. II, pp. 120–22.
8. Szilard to Sachs, April 22, 1940. MIT Vol. II, pp. 123–25.
9. Szilard to Dr. Bourse, April 19, 1940 (LSP 4/20).
10. Rhodes, p. 327. In April 1940, something was being considered potentially in Japan as Takeo Yashuda, director of the Aviation Technology Research Institute, ordered a subordinate to begin work on a report about nuclear fission for the Imperial Japanese Army.
11. Szilard memorandum to Pegram and Fermi, April 7, 1940 (LSP 15/8).
12. MIT Vol. II, pp. 116–17. Hans Bethe interviews, November 21, 1985, and March 3, 1986.
13. Szilard’s “Book” ms “Apology (in lieu of a foreword),” pp. 4–5 (LSP 40/4).
14. Fermi talk on “Physics at Columbia University,” January 30, 1954. Ms in Fermi file, University of Chicago, News and Information Office. Reprinted in Physics Today, November 1955, pp. 12–16. George Weil interview, April 7, 1983.
15. Time, August 20, 1945, Atomic Age reprints. Reviews of Modern Physics, January 1940, Vol. 12, pp. 1–29.
16. Turner to Szilard, May 27, 1940. MIT Vol. II, pp. 126–27. Clinch River Breeder Reactor Program history in Perspectives, 1968, p. 121.
17. “Creative Intelligence and Society: The Case of Atomic Research, the Background in Fundamental Science,” MIT Vol. I, p. 178ff., Turner quote, p. 188. Herbert Anderson interview, November 4, 1982.
18. Szilard to Turner, May 30, 1940. MIT Vol. II, pp. 127–29; (LSP 19/7); Turner to Szilard, June 1, 1940. MIT Vol. II, pp. 132–33.
19. Breit to Szilard, June 5, 1940. MIT Vol. II, p. 133. Briggs to Szilard, June 7, 1940 (LSP 5/9).
20. Rhodes, p. 338.
21. See Szilard memo to Compton, November 12, 1942 (LSP 6/30). Szilard memo to Harold Urey, MIT Vol. II, pp. 117 and 129–31.
22. The meeting was held on June 15, 1940. See Columbia Alumni News, September 1945, pp. 5–6.
23. Szilard to Fermi, June 19, 1940 (LSP 8/6).
24. Szilard to Fermi, July 4, 1940. Vol. II, pp. 133–35.
25. MIT Vol. II, p. 135, nl7.
26. George Weil interview, April 7, 1983.
27. MIT Vol. II, p. 143. Hans Bethe interview, March 3, 1986.
28. Szilard to Lawrence, July 12 and August 6, 1940 (LSP 11/27).
29. Bertrand Goldschmidt interview, July 9, 1987.
30. Lt. Col. S. V. Constant report, August 13, 1940 (LSP 95/7).
31. FBI Reports, Serial 01042016, in FOIA CO 2.12-C (1001) of January 15, 1981, by Gannett to Gertrud Weiss Szilard (LSP 95/1).
Hoover, who later made a point of reporting about all Szilard’s suspicious actions, now seemed under pressure from the military to produce a favorable account. On October 9 he cabled the New York FBI office: “MR. SZELARD SPECIAL INQUIRY, NATIONAL DEFENSE PROGRAM. COMPLETE INVESTIGATION AT ONCE AND SUBMIT REPORT NO LATER THAN FOURTEENTH INSTANT HOOVER.”
Six days later he cabled his agents to “COMPLETE INVESTIGATION AND SUBMIT REPORT AT ONCE HOOVER” (LSP 95/9).
Another telegram query about the “Szelard” investigation followed a day later. By October 24 the FBI reported from Washington on Szilard’s immigration status and past movements.
FBI report, October 24, 1940; File No. 77-2571 (LSP 95/9).
Four days later, FBI agents reported from New York City about Szilard’s activities in and around Columbia. FBI report, October 28, 1940; File No. 62-6878 VA (LSP 95/9).
And on the day Szilard was appointed to the NDRC at Columbia, FBI agents called on Einstein in Princeton to inquire about Szilard’s loyalty. FBI report, November 8, 1940, p. 3; File No. 77-153 EMR (LSP 95/9).
32. Elizabeth Silard interview, March 15, 1987.
33. “Reminiscences,” p. 122.
34. Undated application due October 15 and marked 1940 but not completed on cover sheet (LSP 81/2). Stephen L. Schlesinger (secretary to the Guggenheim foundation) to the author, March 3, 1988.
35. Feld, pp. 24–25.
36. Ladenburg to Briggs, April 14, 1941 (MED).
37. John Marshall, Jr., interview, February 2, 1988. Szilard wrote “Control of the Chain Reaction” on July 19, 1941 (LSP 23/11).
Szilard thought of cooling with bismuth, a grayish-white metal used to fuse alloys. His design would carry off the heat that fission generated by circulating liquid bismuth or a bismuth-lead solution through the syste
m. Here Szilard’s Berlin work with Einstein proved helpful; the bismuth coolant would be circulated by the kind of electromagnetic pump they had designed a decade earlier for refrigerators. December 9, 1940, patent description, MIT Vol. I, p. 724.
38. PIC, July 22, 1941, pp. 6–8.
39. MIT Vol. II, p. 144. See also “Proposed Conversation with Bush, February 28, 1944,” Part IV, in Vol. II, pp. 176–79.
40. “Suggestions for a Search for Element 94 in Nature.” Report A-45, September 26, 1941. Cited in MIT Vol. I, p. 376.
“Memorandum Raising the Question Whether the Action of Explosive Chain-reacting Bodies Can Be Based on an ‘Expulsion’ Method,” written by Szilard October 21, 1941. Report A-56 (Columbia University). Cited in MIT Vol. I, p. 376.
Draft of “Memorandum on the Contribution of Fast Neutrons to the Chain Reaction in a Uranium-Carbon System,” October 28, 1941 (LSP 41/5).
“Preliminary Report on Fission Caused by Fission Neutrons,” November 14, 1941, by Szilard with John Marshall, Jr. MIT Vol. I, pp. 266–75.
“Preliminary Report on the Capture of Neutrons by Uranium in the Energy Region of Photo Neutrons from Radium-Beryllium Sources,” December 5, 1941, by Szilard and John Marshall, Jr. MIT Vol. I, pp. 276–79.
“The Capture of Neutrons by Uranium in the Energy Region of Photo Neutrons from Radium-Beryllium Sources,” December 6, 1941 (LSP 30/18).
41. Barton J. Bernstein, “Leo Szilard: Giving Peace a Chance in the Nuclear Age,” Physics Today, September 1987, p. 40; based on Alice K. Smith interview with Eugene Wigner, March 15, 1960. My thanks to Alice K. Smith for sharing this information.
In fact, no paper I could find was authored by Feld, Marshall, and Szilard, although to Teller and others this still makes a fine story. For Teller’s account, see Teller, Edward with Judith Shoolery. Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2001, p. 111, n 3.
42. Bush to Roosevelt, November 27, 1941 (MED).
43. Herbert L. Anderson, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, September 1974, p. 42. Hewlett and Anderson, p. 49. Rhodes, pp. 388–89.
44. Roosevelt to Bush, January 19, 1942. Hewlett and Anderson, p. 49.
45. MIT Vol. I, pp. 262–65 and 280–87.
46. See site-selection details in Szilard to Fermi, December 31, 1941 (LSP).
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