17. Milton Friedman’s introduction to The Midnight Economist by William R. Allen (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1981), p. xiv. Interview with Milton Friedman, August 10, 1986. Friedman to the author, January 9, 1987.
18. Marschak essay for MIT Vol. III ms.
19. The Voice of the Dolphins, p. 78.
20. Aaron Novick interview, August 11, 1986.
21. Walter Volbach to the author, June 26, 1983.
22. The Voice of the Dolphins, pp. 115–22.
23. Ibid., pp. 105–14.
24. “Nicolai Machiavellnikow,” July 1949 (LSP). This line is no doubt a reference to Szilard’s own firing from the project in 1946.
25. Bernard Weissbourd interview with Alice K. Smith, February 10, 1960.
26. Szilard to Trude, August 16 and September 5, 1949 (EWP).
27. Szilard to Trude, September 9, 1949 (EWP).
28. Marschak to Edward Shils, October 4, 1964 (LSP).
29. Szilard to Trude, August 14 and 18, 1949 (EWP).
30. Szilard to Trude, September 5, 1949 (EWP). Gertrude Hausmann interview, October 1, 1986. “Kathy and the Bear” manuscript (LSP 27/2).
31. “Notes to Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War” (September 20, 1949), in MIT Vol. III, pp. 41–42.
32. Hans Zeisel interview, February 25, 1987.
33. Szilard to Peter Odegard, January 10, 1949. “Draft Memorandum of Proposals to Ford Foundation,” January 26, 1949. Szilard to Ford Foundation, February 9, 1951. (LSP 7/14).
34. James Arnold interview, February 11, 1987.
35. Draft about “Atoms for Peace,” MIT Vol. III, p. 144.
36. James Arnold interview, February 11, 1987. Lynn A. Williams, University of Chicago vice-president, to Szilard, June 6, 1951 (LSP). Rough draft of “Where will your children spend the war?” (LSP 34/16).
37. Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., interview, March 20, 1986.
38. Lerner to Szilard, January 9, 1952 (LSP 12/1).
39. See Szilard to Walter Blum, September 27, 1951 (LSP 4/33).
40. See Civil Service Commission Investigation of July 6–9, 1959, p. 3; “Atomic Scientist Named Professor at Brandeis U.,” The New York Times, October 4, 1953; and Brandeis news release, October 4, 1953.
41. “On Education,” October 23, 1953 (LSP 42/20).
42. “Talk on Education, June 15, 1954” (LSP 42/23).
43. Max Lerner interview, January 23, 1986.
44. Itinerary based on Szilard’s October 1953 tally of earnings (LSP). Built in 1832 by New Jersey governor Charles S. Olden, the neocolonial white clapboard mansion called Drumthwacket has six Ionic columns at its front entry. The mansion was expanded in 1905 and remodeled after Spanel bought it in 1940. In 1967, Drumthwacket was sold to the state of New Jersey and designated again as the governor’s mansion, although the first executive to return, James Florio, did not move in until 1990.
45. Egon and Renée Weiss interviews, March 4, 1986.
46. Frances Racker interview, November 22, 1985.
47. Nella Fermi Weiner interviews, March 17, 1987, and October 4, 1989.
48. At the University of Chicago, Szilard was reassigned to the Institute of Radiobiology and Biophysics at a salary of $10,500 a year. Civil Service Commission Investigation of July 6–9, 1959, p. 3. Grodzins to Szilard, July 12, 1954 (LSP 9/8). Comptroller John J. Kirkpatrick to Szilard, August 12, 1954 (LSP).
49. Theodore Puck to Szilard, August 23, 1954, and October 12, 1955 (LSP 15/25).
50. Szilard memo, October 12, 1955. His six sponsors were the University of Chicago, Rockefeller University, the National Institutes of Health, California Institute of Technology, New York University, and the University of Colorado.
51. Szilard to Lewis L. Strauss, March 19, 1956 (LSP 18/21).
52. “Memorandum” on power plants, June 14, 1956 (LSP). Draft letter to the New York Times on fusion, Summer 1956 (LSP).
53. Szilard to von Laue, February 8, 1957 (LSP). My thanks to Helmut Rechenberg of the Max Planck Institute in Munich for a copy of this letter. On October 7, 1957, Szilard spoke on molecular biology to the German Chemical Society (LSP 42/27).
54. Creutz to Szilard, January 10 and March 11, 1957; Szilard to Creutz, February 1, 1957 (LSP 6/37).
55. Szilard to Menke, February 28, 1957 (LSP 13/12). Creutz to Szilard, March 11, 1957; Szilard to Creutz, June 27, 1957; Creutz to Szilard, July 10, 1957 (LSP 6/37).
56. Edward Creutz interview, August 8, 1987.
57. February 11 and March 18 and 21, 1959. “Thermo Electric Generator” patent plans are based on thermionic emission in an alkali vapor atmosphere (LSP 39/10 and 11). Edward Creutz interview, August 8, 1987.
58. Von Neumann to Teller, 1947. Von Neumann Papers (LCM). My thanks to Barton J. Bernstein for this source.
59. Brillouin reprint (LSP 52/23). Darrow to Szilard, February 21, 1952; Szilard to Darrow, February 27, 1952 (LSP 4/10). See also Anatol Rapoport, “The Promise and Pitfalls of Information Theory,” Behavioral Science, Vol. 1, 1956, pp. 13–17.
Szilard and Brillouin met in 1950 after an introduction by Warren Weaver of the Rockefeller Institute. Brillouin was then writing a paper on information and entropy, “Maxwell’s Demon Cannot Operate: Information and Entropy I,” Journal of Applied Physics, 22, pp. 334–37 (1951). See Weaver to Szilard, September 15, 1950. Warren Weaver Diary, RA 1.2 228/2205/200D University of Chicago Genetics Leo Szilard (RAC). See also Brillouin’s Science and Information Theory, pp. xi and 176–83 (New York: Academic Press, 1956).
60. Norman Macrae interview, May 18, 1990. “Maxwell’s Demon” by Werner Ehrenberg and “Demons, Engines and the Second Law” by Charles H. Bennett, Scientific American, vol. 317 [offprint] and vol. 257, no. 5, pp. 108–116 (1987), respectively.
61. MIT Vol. I, p. 726.
62. Szilard to Trude, March 17, 1952 (EWP). Maurice Fox interview, January 13, 1987. Hans Zeisel interview, February 25, 1987. Zeisel to Szilard, April 18, 1952; Szilard to Zeisel, May 21, 1952 (LSP 21/24).
CHAPTER 22
1. Maurice Fox interviews, November 12, 1985, and January 13, 1987. Stan Zahler interview, November 22, 1985. Herbert Anderson interview, October 6, 1986.
2. Harrison Brown and Herbert Anderson interviews, October 6, 1986.
3. Walter Blum interview with Alice K. Smith, February 18, 1960, and with the author, February 26, 1987.
4. Edward Teller interview (for NOVA, Tape 1 transcript, p. 1).
5. Szilard to Richard B. Gehman, April 8, 1952 (LSP 8/27).
6. Frances Racker interview, November 22, 1985.
7. See, for example, Szilard to Trude, July 8 and August 8, 1942, and July 1 and 27, 1943 (EWP).
8. Szilard to Trude, July 1, August 16, and September 22, 1943 (EWP).
9. Szilard to Trude, September 11, 1948 (EWP).
10. Szilard to Trude, September 15, 1942, March 19, 1944, and December 9, 1946 (EWP).
11. Szilard to Trude, August 9, 1942; May 2, June 23, and September 4 and 9, 1946; March 18, 20, and 30, 1947 (EWP).
12. Interviews with Frances Racker, November 22, 1985, and with Efraim and Frances Racker, March 4, 1986.
13. Szilard to Trude, August 29 and September 10, 1948 (EWP).
14. Victor Weisskopf interview, December 16, 1985.
15. Roland Detre interviews, October 1 and 2, 1986.
16. Gertrude Hausmann interview, October 1, 1986. Roland Detre interview, October 2, 1986.
17. Leigh Fenly, “The Agony of the Bomb and Ecstasy of Life with Leo Szilard,” San Diego Union, November 19, 1978, pp. D-l and D-8. Gertrude Hausmann interview, October 1, 1986. Frances Racker interview, November 22, 1985.
18. Szilard to Trude, February 23, 1951 (EWP).
19. Szilard to Trude, February 20, 1951 (EWP).
20. Szilard to Trude, October 22, 1951 (EWP).
21. See, for example, Szilard to Trude, February 20 and April 24, 1951 (EWP). At Trude’s urging, Szilard asked psychiatrist Franz Alexander in New York for the name of a Chicago psychiatrist
and was given the name Dr. Block, but did not bother to learn his first name or to make an appointment. Szilard to Trude, October 21 and 22, 1951 (EWP).
22. See, for example, Szilard’s later complaint to Trude, May 24, 1952 (EWP).
23. They were married by city clerk Murray W. Stand, witnessed by Heidi Thwaites; license (LSP 1/4).
24. Gertrude Hausmann interview, October 1, 1986. Helen Weiss interview, March 3, 1986.
25. Szilard to Trude, October 15, 1951 (EWP).
26. Szilard to Trude, October 16, 1951 (EWP).
27. Szilard to Trude, October 21, 1951 (EWP).
28. See, for example, Szilard to Trude, October 24 and 27, 1951 (EWP).
29. Szilard to Trude, October 22, 1951 (EWP).
30. Interview with Theodore Puck, David Hawkins, and Walter Orr Roberts, November 18, 1986. Szilard wrote: “I believe you should hurry to grow up if that is at all possible.” Szilard to Trude, October 30, 1954 (EWP).
31. Szilard to Trude, June 1, 1952 (EWP).
32. Szilard to Trude, February 20, 1951 (EWP). Max Lerner interview, January 23, 1986.
33. Szilard to Trude, May 24, 1952 (EWP).
34. Szilard to Trude, November 9, 1953 (EWP). See also Margaret Spanel, “The Spanels of Drumthwacket,” Princeton History, No. 3 (1982), p. 52.
35. Margaret Spanel to the author, April 22, 1987.
36. Szilard to Trude, September 2, 1952 (EWP).
37. John Marshall, Jr., interview, February 2, 1988. Szilard was in Bolivia from August 26 to September 2, 1952, and in Peru on September 2 and 3, according to passport stamps and letters to Trude.
38. Szilard to Trude, July 3, 1952 (EWP).
39. Szilard to Trude, November 5, 1953 (EWP).
40. Margaret Spanel interview, December 2, 1986.
41. Miki Pavelic to Szilard, Easter 1960 (LSP).
42. Margaret Spanel interview, December 2, 1986.
43. Szilard to Trude, May 24, 1952 (EWP).
44. Szilard to Trude, September 25, 1954 (EWP).
45. Szilard’s will, signed in New York City on January 25, 1955, listed Trude as sole beneficiary, with his sister, Rose, and brother, Bela, as alternate recipients; executors and trustees included Walter Blum, James P. Hume, Edward Levi, Aaron Novick, and Herbert Anderson (LSP 1/7).
46. Szilard to Trude, October 7, 1956 (EWP).
47. US Patent No. 2,708,656. The New York Times, May 19, 1955; reproduced in MIT Vol. I, p. 386.
48. “Draft for Letter” by Szilard for Einstein, October 18, 1954; Nehru letter drafts by Einstein (LSP).
49. Einstein to Nehru, April 6, 1955 (AEP 32–751); Clark, 1972, p. 764.
50. Sayen, p. 151. Transcript in AEP. On a flight from Rome to Paris, Russell heard the pilot announce that Einstein had died and became dejected, thinking he had not signed their manifesto. Only later did Russell learn that Einstein had signed. The manifesto, released on July 9, 1955, laid the groundwork for the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Joseph Rotblat interview, September 21, 1985.
51. Roland Detre interviews, October 1 and 2, 1986.
52. Eva Zeisel interview, August 19, 1985.
53. Inge Feltrinelli to the author, Fall 1987.
54. Puck to Szilard, December 10, 1955 (LSP 15/25).
55. Maurice Fox interview, November 12, 1985. Victor Weisskopf interview for NOVA (NV1625 SR206).
56. Bernard Davis interview, December 17, 1985.
57. Szilard to Trude, November 9, 1957 (EWP).
58. On March 7, 1958, Dr. A. Ravin wrote to Szilard explaining the findings of a February 22 examination. The EKG revealed “evidence of a recent posterior-lateral myocardial infarction,” but Szilard’s condition improved between February 22 and 26. “My feeling is that Dr. Szilard has coronary artery disease.” (LSP)
CHAPTER 23
1. Szilard wrote “Security and Equality” on October 28, 1950 (LSP 31/18). See Roberts correspondence (LSP 16/15).
2. “The AEC Fellowship: Should We Yield or Fight?” was written in June 1949 and published in Grodzins and Rabinowitch, pp. 410–13.
3. See September 13, 1950, CIA memo about Szilard and October 9 FBI memo by J. Edgar Hoover (LSP).
4. Walter Orr Roberts interview, October 7, 1986.
5. Szilard to Bernard Davis, April 2, 1952 (LSP 7/8).
6. John (Benjamin) to Szilard, December 29, 1950 (LSP 4/27). David and Frances Hawkins interview, November 19, 1986.
7. Warren Weaver Diaries, 1955, p. 35. RG 12 (RAC).
8. Executive Order 10450, issued April 27, 1953, required that federal employees and consultants be suspended if information exists that their employment may not be clearly consistent with the interests of national security.
9. See Philip M. Stern’s foreword to US Atomic Energy Commission, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. vi.
10. The piece was written after December 29, 1953, and published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1954. See Szilard telegram to Trude, December 29, 1953 (EWP).
11. “Security Risk,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1954, pp. 384–86 and 398.
12. Perhaps this was intended as an introduction to “Security Risk,” since that story is also in the form of a letter.
13. “Cyclotron,” January 2, 1954 (LSP 23/17).
14. Draft of a Statement, 1954. MIT Vol. Ill, p. 129.
15. FBI report, November 30, 1947, No. WFO 105-9968, p. 2 (LSP).
16. Szilard to Oppenheimer, May 19, 1948 (LSP 14/27).
17. Szilard correspondence about Oppenheimer (LSP).
18. “Urey, Other Scientists Hit Oppenheimer’s Suspension,” Daily Worker, April 16, 1954. See also Szilard’s FBI file 62-59520-26 of August 5, 1954, p. 15 (LSP).
19. Ruth Adams to Szilard, April 30, 1954 (LSP).
20. Hewlett and Holl, p. 86; Rhodes review of Blumberg and Panos, The New York Times Book Review, February 11, 1990, p. 3, with Teller letter, March 21, and Rhodes reply, April 7.
21. See MIT Vol. III, p. xliii.
22. Teller to the author, September 16, 1988.
23. James Arnold interview, February 11, 1987.
24. Also in the group were Edward Levi of the University of Chicago Law School and Louis Wirth of the sociology department (LSP).
25. Teller to Strauss, April 19, 1954 (LLS AEC Teller 1954, January–June Box 111).
26. For example, on September 10, 1953, Teller sent a telegram to Strauss pleading that his name not be used in a forthcoming Time magazine article about the AEC chairman, perhaps fearing that publicity about their collaboration would harm his relatives’ chances for release (LLS AEC Series, Teller, Edward).
27. “Introduction” to MIT Vol. III, p. xliii. Barton Bernstein interview, July 30, 1986.
Although this story could be true as told, documents in the Szilard Papers raise doubts about the timing and may refute it. Teller testified before the AEC board on the afternoon of April 28, 1954; according to the transcript, he began after 2:00 P.M., concluding at 5:50 P.M. Airline tickets and a hotel receipt in the Szilard Papers show that he flew from New York to Washington at 1:25 P.M. on that day, stayed the night, and returned to New York by plane at 4:25 P.M. on the twenty-ninth (LSP 32/2 and 79/7).
It is possible that Szilard tried to telephone Teller from New York on the night of April 27. It is also possible that Szilard thought Teller would testify again on the twenty-ninth, as he had ended the session late in the afternoon of the twenty-eighth, and in that case, Szilard could have been searching for Teller that night. A third possibility is that Szilard did not know when Teller would testify but impulsively boarded a plane for Washington to find him. This explanation would account for Trude’s memory that Szilard pursued Teller and is also in accord with Szilard’s mode of behavior.
28. US Atomic Energy Commission, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 710.
29. Ibid., p 1019.
30. Szilard to Oppenheimer, December 23, 1954. Oppenheimer Papers (LCM 70).
&n
bsp; 31. Teller interview with Gabor Pallo, December 6, 1983. My thanks to Dr.Pallo for his translation of this interview.
32. Strauss to Dulles, July 27, 1954 (LLS AEC Series. Teller, Edward).
33. “I believe you owe it to the scientific community to defend your views before your peers. Moreover I think it would be a healthy thing for you to do so. . . .” Szilard to Teller, November 29, 1957, and July 16, 1956 (LSP 18/35).
34. Explained in a copy of Szilard to Warren Johnson, 1957 (LSP 10/22). Teller to Szilard at the Hotel Kempinski in Berlin, December 15, 1957 (LSP 18/35).
35. Teller to Compton, June 26, 1956; Teller to Atoms For Peace nominees, January 27, 1957; Teller to Killian, September 25, 1957 (MIA, MC10, 5/245).
36. Blumberg and Owens, p. 182.
37. Szilard to Rem S. Krassilnikov, June 11 and 23, 1958 (LSP).
38. “Report on the Work of the Academy’s Operating Committee on World Security Problems Raised by Nuclear Weapons for the Year 1958–1959 by Leo Szilard, Chairman,” May 11, 1959, National Academy of Arts and Sciences (LSP 66/12).
39. Gertrud Weiss Szilard interview with Alice K. Smith, May 11, 1962. Harrison Brown to Smith, April 19, 1960. Brown interview, October 6, 1986.
40. Ann Moir, assistant editor, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, to Szilard, October 16, 1958 (ERP 12/30).
41. Lajos Janossy Papers, Budapest (526/958/Sz). My thanks to Gabor Pallo for a copy of this letter.
42. Gertrud Weiss Szilard interview with Alice K. Smith, May 11, 1962.
CHAPTER 24
1. Life, January 31, 1946. Shown is the fourth-floor walk-up office of the Federation of Atomic Scientists at 1621 K Street NW. See Hewlett and Anderson, p. 485.
2. Privately, however, Szilard’s idea may have spread among the Russians. On January 4, 1946, Prof. Jacob Frenkel of the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute wrote to Szilard’s colleague Edward U. Condon, then president of the American Physical Society as well as director of the National Bureau of Standards. Frenkel sent New Year’s greetings and suggested an exchange of Soviet and American scientists working in the nuclear area. Condon replied on February 14 that the society desires “to extend the basis of complete scientific co-operation between your physicists and ours” and added that “secrecy practices which were established during the war represent a perversion of the true spirit of science.” Stephen White, New York Herald Tribune, February 15, 1946.
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