by Craig Nelson
1: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Lande Collection
3: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection
5: Samuel Goudsmit, AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Goudsmit Collection
6: AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
7: US Department of Energy, ID 2017562
8: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID 326-PV-4(4)
9: US Department of Energy, ID 2017709
10: US Department of Energy, ID C939c10
11: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID unknown
12: US Department of Energy, ID 2020381
13: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID 77-BT-115
14: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID unknown
15: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID 1242
16: US National Archives & Records Administration, ARC ID 6234452
17: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID 434-RF-10(2)
18: US National Archives & Records Administration, ARC ID 6234466
19: Courtesy of the author
20: Ralph Morse, Time & Life Pictures
21: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID 311-D-15(7)
22: Courtesy of the author
23: US National Archives & Records Administration, ID 412-DA-8666
24: AP Photo/Volodymir Repik, April 25, 2007
25: Air Photo Service Co. Ltd., Japan
INDEX
Abelson Philip, 144–45, 162
A-bombs. See atomic bombs
Academic Assistance Council, 80, 81, 92
Academy of Sciences (Académie des Sciences), France, 14, 27, 34, 37, 188, 325
Academy of Sciences, Sweden, 34, 96
Acheson, Dean, 220, 296
Aczel, Amir, 61
Adams, Henry, 33
Adamsky, Victor, 268
Adamson, Keith R., 119
Aeby, Jack, 200, 203
AEC. See Atomic Energy Commission
Agnew, Harold, 132, 225–26
Allen, Michael, 346
Allison, Sam, 165, 199–200
Alvarez, Luis, 376
atomic bomb research and, 215, 261, 262, 221
Lawrence and, 141–42
nuclear fission research of Meitner and Frisch and, 144–45
thermonuclear fusion research of, 212, 228, 229
Amaldi, Edoardo, 59, 62, 64, 185
americium-241, 3, 90, 363, 377
ammonia, 372–73
Anderson, Herbert
injuries suffered by, 167, 226
Los Alamos and, 158
nuclear fission research at Columbia and, 103, 104–05, 133
nuclear reactor (CP-1) installation and testing by, 126–27, 131, 132–33, 136
uranium fission research at Chicago and, 110–11, 113, 119, 124, 225, 233
Anderson, Philip, 221
Andropov, Yuri, 327, 328
“Andy’s Atomic Adventures” (comic book), 375
Appell, Paul, 41, 43, 47, 48
Argonne reactor complex, Chicago, 129–30, 138, 139, 160, 165, 166, 188, 227, 229, 243, 303. See also Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1) nuclear reactor
Arnold, Hap, 221, 281
Arrhenius, Svante, 48
Arzamas-16, Russia (nuclear research site), 233, 237, 255, 275
Association of Los Alamos Scientists, 220
atomic bombs
Bradley’s “psychological” use of, 235, 236–37, 278
Fermi as father of, 266–67
first use of term, 79
understanding more to fear less about, 378–79
Wells’s novel on, 79–80
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
arms control and, 236, 245–46
creation of, 229
image of atomic energy and, 230–31, 341
labs and production facilities of, 282
miners working for, 336
nuclear detection system and, 234–35
Oppenheimer and, 229, 257, 258, 259–61
radiation experiments by, 270, 271
reactor designs and, 304
thermonuclear fusion (Super bomb) and, 235, 247, 251, 252, 254, 258, 259
uranium sources and, 270
weapons testing by, 332
Atoms for Peace, 304, 305, 331, 340, 341, 363
Ayers, Eben, 237
Baca, Rowena, 204
Baggott, Jim, 192
Bainbridge, Kenneth, 199
Barnes, Sidney, 82
Barnet, Richard, 239–40
Baruch, Bernard, 230
Baudino, John, 155
Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuba, 286, 293–94
Becquerel, Alexandre-Edmond, 14
Becquerel, Antoine César, 14
Becquerel, Antoine Henri, 14–15, 22, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, 37
Belarus, 314, 334
Chernobyl disaster’s effect on, 312–13, 321, 322, 323, 324, 364, 369
nuclear arsenal in, 292, 337
Bell, Daniel W., 162
Berg, Moe, 185–86, 190
Bergeron, Ken, 345–46, 347
Beria, Lavrenti, 193, 194, 232, 233–34, 237, 254, 269
beryllium, 53, 62, 81, 82, 104, 126–27, 167, 197, 253
Bethe, Hans, 228
atomic bomb testing and, 168, 169, 196–97, 199, 203, 204
concern about German progress by, 184
energy production in stars and, 363
on Fermi, 60–61, 62–63, 64
Heisenberg’s involvement in German bomb project and, 182–83
Los Alamos and, 150, 151, 152, 157, 227
nuclear explosives research of, 147
Oppenheimer and, 142, 262
Szilard and, 73
Teller and, 157, 158, 169, 236, 264
thermonuclear weapons and, 236, 249, 250, 252, 255
Beveridge, Sir William, 80
Bhabha, Homi Jehangir, 339
Bikini, tests on, 272–73, 274, 275, 340, 356
Bitter, Gustav, 209–10
black holes, 265, 266
Blair, Bruce G., 280, 292
Blandy, W. H. P., 272
Blayais nuclear power plant, France, 351
Bloch, Felix, 65
Bloomfield, Louis, 344
Bohr, Aage, 174, 175
Bohr, Harald, 173
Bohr, Margrethe, 94, 95, 120, 173, 175, 180, 181, 190
Bohr, Niels, 59, 66, 210
Cold War fears of, 194
death of, 269
Einstein on, 94
emigration to United States by, 83, 174, 191–92
evacuation from Denmark of, 120–21, 173–74
Fermi’s Nobel Prize and, 69, 71
German surveillance of, 179
Hahn’s research and, 96, 97, 103
Heisenberg’s involvement in German bomb project and, 178, 179–82, 188
Los Alamos research of, 175–76, 191–92, 225
Manhattan Project and, 148
Meitner’s support from, 93, 94–96
nuclear arms race concerns of, 192, 194
Oppenheimer and, 191–92, 257
personality of, 174–75
Planck’s research and, 88
research on nucleus by, 99, 100–101, 102
research secrecy and, 113, 254
Szilard’s research and, 82
Teller and, 94, 175
uranium fission research and, 103, 105, 112, 113, 120, 144, 146
Boltzmann, Ludwig, 85
Borden, William, 260
Borel, Marguerite, 43, 47, 48
Borisevich, Valentin, 312–13
Born, Max, 58, 257
Bosch, Carl, 93, 94, 95
Bothe, Walther, 113, 183
Bourgeois, Henri, 45, 47
Bradbury, Norris, 227, 231, 251
Bradley, Omar, 235, 236–37, 278
Bravo thermonuclear tests, 272–73, 275
breeder reactors, 362–63
Brenner, David, 377–78
/> Bretscher, Egon, 146
Briggs, Lyman, 118, 119, 121, 147
Briggs Advisory Committee on Uranium, 118–19, 121–22
Brighter than a Thousand Suns (Jungk), 178, 180, 181
Brixner, Berlyn, 200, 203
Brodie, Bernard, 278, 282–83, 372
Brooks, Linton, 371
Brun, Jomar, 177
Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 293
Bundy, McGeorge, 294, 297
Bunn, Matthew, 335
Burchett, Wilfred Graham, 214
Bush, George H. W., 333, 334
Bush, Vannevar
arms race and, 188, 230, 252
atomic bomb research and, 147, 149, 206
German atomic bomb research and, 176
Office of Scientific Research and Development and, 122
Oppenheimer’s support by, 262
Roosevelt and, 121, 146
test-ban agreement of, 255
thermonuclear research and, 125–26, 128
Byers, Eben, 38
Byrnes, James, 206, 207, 222, 230, 232, 334
Caldicott, Helen, 369
Campbell, Charles, 155
Canada, 34, 74, 117, 172, 235, 303, 306
cancer
iodine causing, 308, 336, 350, 365
nuclear medicine for treatment of, 5, 6, 13, 82, 363, 377, 379
radiation exposure and risks for, 3, 4, 5, 6, 215, 266, 268, 271, 272, 291, 320, 337, 358, 365, 366, 369, 378
radium treatments for, 35, 50
radon causing, 188
X-rays and, 13
carbon-14, 377, 378
Carter, Jimmy, 292, 293, 309, 327
Castle series of thermonuclear tests, 273, 274
Castro, Fidel, 298, 373
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 270, 272, 336, 337
cesium, 271, 274, 322, 346, 350, 356, 357–58
Chadwick, James, 36, 52, 61, 152, 159, 173, 174, 225
Chalmers, Thomas, 82
Chernobyl, Ukraine, 314, 325
Chernobyl Forum, 323, 364, 365
Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, Ukraine, 5, 314–26
containment attempts in, 321–22
deaths after, 317–18, 320, 323, 361, 364, 365, 369
emergency state after, 318–20
evacuation after, 321, 322, 324
fear of, 324
financial cost of, 323
fire with toxic fallout after, 317–18
health effects of, 323–24, 349, 350, 364–65
as laboratory for scientists, 215, 325–26
local belief in Biblical prophecy about, 314
location of, 314
political effects of, 324, 359, 361–62, 369
radiation released in, 336, 356, 357, 365
ranking of, among other accidents, 322, 365
residents who stayed after, 322
safety test precipitating, 315–17
tourism to site of, 325
wildlife sanctuary in years after, 7, 325
workers (liquidators) at, 320, 347
Chesser, Ron¸ 326
Chevalier, Haakon, 142, 261, 262
Chicago Daily Tribune, 34–35
Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1) nuclear reactor, 129–38, 160, 173, 233, 266–67
Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2) nuclear reactor, 160, 163
Chicago reactor, Argonne, 129–30, 138, 139, 160, 165, 166, 188, 227, 229, 243, 303
China, 221, 231, 236, 243, 244, 245, 287, 288, 332, 334, 337, 361, 362, 365, 373
China Syndrome, The (movie), 309–10
Churchill, Winston, 71, 211, 232, 276, 279, 372
CIA, 148, 270, 282, 285, 287, 293, 294, 327, 340
Civil Defense Administration, 287
Coatesworth, Janet, 116
cobalt, 82, 153, 257, 267, 271, 326, 377
Cohen, Bernard, 365
Cohen, Lona (Helen), 171
comics, radiation theme in, 275, 367, 375
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 336
Compton, Arthur
atomic bomb development and, 206, 207, 225, 228
Chicago Met Lab under, 126, 128, 147, 148, 149
CP-1 nuclear reactor and, 133, 137, 138
Fermi’s work with, 129, 165
Oppenheimer’s work with, 147, 148
postwar research and, 225, 228
Compton, Betty, 129
Comte, Auguste, 16
Conant, James Bryant, 138
arms race and, 230
atomic bomb research and, 147, 199, 202, 206, 207
Briggs Committee and, 121
Chicago nuclear research and, 126, 128, 160
Oppenheimer’s support by, 262
thermonuclear fusion and, 228
Copenhagen (Frayn), 181
Corbino, Orso Mario, 58–59, 64, 193
corium, 319–20, 321–22
Corona surveillance-satellite program, 287
Coster, Dirk, 94, 95
Counter-Intelligence Corps (Creeps), Manhattan Project, 154–55
Cowan, George, 126–27, 273–74
Crocker, William, 141
Cronkite, Walter, 308–09
Crookes, Sir William, 9, 32
Cuba, Bay of Pigs invasion of, 286, 293–94
Cuban Missile Crisis, 267, 268, 294–300
Curie, Dr. Eugène, 25, 31, 41, 43, 53
Curie, Eve, 18, 19, 39, 40, 50, 53
Curie, Irène. See Joliot-Curie, Irène
Curie, Jacques, 22
Curie, Marie (born Marja (Manya) Skłodowska), 5, 7, 341, 378, 379
courtship and marriage to Marie, 23–25
daughter Irène’s marriage and work and, 51–52, 53
death of, 53
effect of death of Pierre on, 41–43
Einstein on, 43
family and childhood of, 16, 18–20
first meeting between Pierre and, 22–23
funding for, 141
health of, 52, 53
as hero in popular culture, 369
Langevin’s affair with, 43–45, 46, 47–48, 49
Meitner’s admiration for, 85
move to Paris by, 20
Nobel Prize to Pierre and, 34, 47–48
relationship with government of, 251
research collaboration with Pierre, 26–37
success and fame of, 35–39, 43, 98, 369
US tour of, 189
Universal Exposition visit of, 33–34
uranium source of, 36, 114, 194
work in Poland of, 16–18
Curie, Pierre, 353, 369
background of, 21–22
courtship and marriage to Marie, 23–25
death of, 40–41
early research of, 22–23, 25
first meeting between Marie and, 22–23
health of, 38, 39
Nobel Prize to Marie and, 34, 47–48
research collaboration with Marie, 26–37
success and fame of, 35–39
Universal Exposition visit of, 33–34
curietherapy, 35, 43
Daiichi power plant, Japan. See Fukushima Daiichi power plant disaster, Japan
Dallet, Joe, 172
Dally, Clarence Madison, 13
David’s Sling, 334
Day After, The (TV movie), 299, 329
Dead Hand defense strategy, 292–93, 372
Debye, Peter, 119, 176
Decapitation defense strategy, 292, 328, 372
de Gaulle, Charles, 337
de Hevesy, George, 54, 376
Department of Energy (DOE), 335, 336, 341, 353, 356, 363, 374–75
Desfosses, Emma Jeanne, 44–46, 47, 48–49
Detinov, Nikolai, 299–300
deuterium, 113, 120, 147, 228, 237, 250, 253, 255
Dirac, Paul, 94
dirty bombs, 335
Dluski, Bronisława (Bronya) Skłodowska, 16, 18, 19, 20, 29, 38, 39, 42, 48, 51, 53
Dluski, Casimir, 18, 20, 29
Dobrynin, Anatoly, 297–98
Dr.
Strangelove (movie), 6, 267, 291–92, 293
Donne, John, 189
Doolittle, James, 227, 255
Doomsday Machine, 291–92
Döpel, Robert, 183–84
Douple, Evan, 366
downwinders, 271–72, 336
Dubovsky, B. G., 233
DuBridge, Lee, 247
Dulles, John Foster, 283
Dunning, John R., 104–05, 133
DuPont, Robert, 369–70
DuPont and Company, 131, 149, 164, 282
Dyson, Freeman, 225, 231, 262, 265, 267, 305
earthquakes, in Japan, 5, 7, 342–45, 352–53
Ebermayer, Erich, 93
Edison, Thomas, 13
Edmundson, James, 245
Eifler, Carl, 185
Einstein, Albert, 5, 34, 46, 244, 341
on atomic bomb use, 220–21
on Bohr, 94
Brownian motion explanation of, 34
childhood interest in science of, 84–85
Emergency Committee of Concerned Scientists of, 190
emigration to the United States by, 68, 80, 115
Fermi on, 66
German denunciations of, 67–68, 92, 176
on Haber, 373
as hero in popular culture, 369
on Langevin, 44
letters between Roosevelt and, 116–18, 119, 153, 176, 220, 369
Los Alamos consultations by, 153
Manhattan Project and, 83, 122
on Marie Curie, 43, 48
on Meitner, 75, 89
need for atomic bomb research advocated by, 114–15
nuclear energy and, 112, 369
nuclear warfare and 299
Oppenheimer and, 261
Planck’s research and, 87–88
on scientists and war efforts, 89
Szilard and, 77, 78, 127, 163
theory of general relativity of, 67
unified field theory of, 83
US military research and, 122
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 340, 370
arms control (Open Skies) plan of, 284, 287
arms race and, 277, 282, 286, 304
Atomic Energy Commission and, 260, 267
Atoms for Peace and, 304, 305, 331, 363
ballistic missile tracking and, 330
concern about nuclear arms use and, 255, 370
defense policy of, 283
first US nuclear power plant and, 304
military-industrial complex of, 252
missile defense shield concept and, 330
nuclear merchant ship commissioned by, 304–05
Oppenheimer and, 259–60
presidency of, 246, 252, 283
Rosenbergs’ execution and, 242
Soviet threat and, 245, 255, 256, 259
test-ban agreement and, 267
use of atomic bomb in Japan and, 208, 222
Eltenton, George¸ 261
Elugelab atoll, Mike thermonuclear tests on, 250, 251, 252–53
Emergency Committee of Concerned Scientists, 190
ENIAC computer, 248, 249
Eniwetok Island, Mike thermonuclear tests on, 250, 251, 252–53