by Craig Nelson
Rittenmeyer, Nicole, 91
Robb, Roger, 261, 262
Rockwell, Theodore, 162
Rocky Flats, Colorado, plant, 323
Rodin, Auguste, 34
Ronnenberg, Joachim, 178
Röntgen, Anna Bertha, 10
Röntgen, Wilhelm, 9, 85, 97
public enthusiasm for work of, 11–12, 34
X-ray discovery by, 10–13, 14
Röntgen rays, 11–12, 13, 15, 16, 35, 126
Röntgen Society, 13
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 68, 115, 189
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 68, 369
Bohr’s letter to, about nuclear arms race, 192
letters between Einstein and, 115, 116–18, 119, 153, 176, 220, 369
Manhattan Project and, 147, 161, 303
Nazi development of nuclear weapons and, 176
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and, 161
Oppenheimer and, 192, 194–95
uranium fission research and, 121, 125, 146
Rosbaud, Paul, 95
Rosenberg, Ethel, 171, 238, 240, 241–43, 251
Rosenberg, Julius, 171, 238, 240–43, 251
Rosenbluth, Marshall, 273
Rosenfeld, Léon, 101–02
Rossi, Bruno, 69
Rostow, Elspeth, 376
Rotblat, Joseph¸ 222
Roy, Susan, 286
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 34, 69, 96
Rubens, Heinrich, 85
Rupp, Arthur, 163
Rusk, Dean, 293, 297
Rutherford, Ernest, 29–30, 38, 59, 81, 82, 86–87, 112
SAC. See Strategic Air Command
Sachs, Alexander, 115, 116, 118, 176
Saffer, Tom, 271
Sagan, Carl, 55–56, 266
St. Joachimsthal, Czechoslovakia, mine, 36, 195, 231
Sakharov, Andrei, 211, 237, 250, 254–55, 268, 317
Saletan, William, 361
Savannah submarine, 305
Sawachika, Hiroshi, 214
Schell, Jonathan, 299, 328
Scherrer, Paul, 93, 361
Schlesinger, James, 289–90
Schrödinger, Erwin, 88, 91, 168
Scranton, William III, 307
Seaborg, Glenn, 145, 146, 161, 207, 228, 377
Segawa, Kikuno, 214
Segrè, Emilio, 90, 140, 205
atomic bomb testing and, 200, 205
on Bohr, 175
early career of, 59, 60, 62, 64
Fermi and, 55, 58, 68, 104, 265
Hanford reactor output and, 168
Manhattan Project and, 148, 154
medical imaging research of, 377
Los Alamos and, 152, 153, 159–60, 175
nuclear reactor (CP-1) installation and, 132, 138
Oak Ridge reactor and, 163–64
on Oppenheimer, 142–43
plutonium discovery by, 146
postwar research of, 225, 228
thermonuclear weapons development and, 236
Sengier, Edgar, 153–54
Serber, Robert (Bob), 144, 147, 155, 165–66, 200–201, 264
Shevardnadze, Eduard, 323
Shoup, David, 288
Shultz, George P., 330, 333, 335
Siegbahn, Manne, 95, 96, 98, 189
Silard, Bela, 74, 80, 82, 113
Sime, Ruth Lewin, 103
Simon, Walter, 164–65
Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP-62), 288–89, 292
Skardon, William, 239
Skłodowska, Bronisława (Bronya), 16, 18, 19, 20, 29, 38, 39, 42, 48, 51, 53
Skłodowska, Marja (Manya). See Curie, Marie
Smith, Francis, 176
Smyth, Henry D., 194
Snow, C. P., 299
Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, 80
Socolow, Robert, 6, 343
Soddy, Frederick, 29–30, 34, 80
Solvay, Ernest, 46
Somervell, Brehon, 147
Sorbonne, 15, 16, 20, 21, 34, 37, 43, 44, 47, 48, 50
Sorensen, Ted, 295
South Korea, 327, 338, 360
Speer, Albert, 183
Spinoza, Baruch, 78
Sputnik, 256, 261, 282, 285, 286
Stalin, Joseph, 172
arms race concerns about, 208, 230, 267
atomic weapons program and, 194, 221, 232–33, 235, 245
death of, 245, 254
mass murders of, 362, 373
North Korea and, 243
nuclear bomb threat under, 6, 373
Truman and, 232
US relations with, 193, 235
Stallings, Richard, 374
Stark, Johannes, 67, 92, 176
START and START II treaties, 333
Star Wars (Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI), 5, 330, 331–32, 333, 335, 364
Steen, Charles, 270
Stern, Mark Joseph, 361–62
Stevenson, Adlai, 252
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 36
Stimson, Henry, 148, 150, 206, 207–08, 210–11, 221, 228, 370
storage facilities, for nuclear waste, 374–75
Strategic Air Command (SAC)
aerial reconnaissance by, 279–80
civilian oversight of, 279, 280
headquarters of, 281
LeMay as chief of, 279, 287–88
power of, 287–88
secret missile launch codes and, 280–81
Strauss, Lewis, 267
arms race and, 255, 258–59
image of atomic energy promoted by, 230–31
nuclear detection system and, 234
Oppenheimer and, 257–61, 263, 264
support for Szilard from, 82
test-ban agreement and, 267
Strassmann, Fritz, 83–84, 90, 92, 96–97, 98, 100, 102–03, 186, 190
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI; Star Wars), 5, 330, 331–32, 333, 335, 364
Sunday Punch defense strategy, 279–79, 283, 288, 292, 372
Super thermonuclear bombs. See hydrogen (Super) bombs
Suzuki, Tomohiko, 352
Swedish Academy of Sciences, 34, 69, 96
Sweeney, Chuck, 216, 217
System for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP), 306
Szilard, Trude (Gertrude), 82, 268
Szilard, Leo, 54, 222, 379
arms control and, 267–68
assistance to exiles in London by, 80–81, 92
atomic bomb petition from, 207–08
on atomic bombs, 127–28
childhood of, 73–74
cobalt experimentation by, 83, 153, 257, 267
Cold War fears of, 194, 206
concern about German use of nuclear arms and, 139, 153, 184
Cuban Missile Crisis and, 268
death of, 268, 269
education of, 74–75
Einstein and, 77, 78, 127, 220
Fermi’s work with, 83, 149
Groves’s suspicions about, 149–50, 207, 208
Hungarian background of, 75, 76, 77
Institute for Biological Studies work of, 268
inventions of, 77–78
Met Lab research in Chicago by, 149–50
morality of atomic bomb use and, 211
move to New York by, 82–83
need for atomic bomb research advocated by, 114–16, 118, 119
neutron-triggered chain reaction research of, 81–82, 105
nuclear fission research and, 105
nuclear reactor design and, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, 149, 188
nuclear research oversight and, 251
Oak Ridge reactor and, 163
political campaigns and power of, 251
postwar research by, 229
research secrecy and, 112–13, 208, 254
Teller’s radiation concepts and, 331
US military research and, 122–23
uranium fission research of, 106, 109–13, 126, 127–28, 129, 177
Wells’s concept of atomic bomb and, 79–80, 105
Wigner on, 76
/>
Szilard, Louis, 73
Szilard, Tekla, 73
Taniguchi, Sumiteru, 219
Tanimoto, Kiyoshi¸ 216
Tatlock, Jean, 133, 171, 198
technetium, 140, 377
Teflon, 161
Telegdi, Valentine, 66, 225, 226, 261
Teller, Edward, 225, 268, 291, 379
arms race with Soviets and, 258–59
atomic bomb design and, 168, 169, 199
atomic bomb use in Japan and, 207
Bohr and, 94, 175
concern about German progress by, 184, 185
concerns about Soviet power by, 230, 231
exile visas for family of, 267
FBI’s suspicions about spying by, 240
on Fermi’s research, 90, 170
fusion-bomb usage proposals of, 305
Hungarian background of, 75, 77, 231
hydrogen bomb research of, 125
Livermore lab and, 252, 330, 331
Los Alamos and, 151, 157, 158, 227, 228, 231, 252
need for atomic bomb research advocated by, 114, 116, 118, 119
nuclear defense strategy and, 234, 288
nuclear explosives research of, 147
nuclear power reactor safety and, 310
on Oppenheimer, 220, 258, 259, 262–64
personality of, 157–58, 248–49, 250, 251
political campaigns and power of, 251
professional relationships of, 262, 265
Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative and, 330, 331–32, 333, 364
research at Chicago by, 229, 242
test-ban agreement and, 267
thermonuclear fusion (Super bomb) design of, 125, 158, 227–29, 235, 236, 237, 239, 247, 249–50, 255, 258, 259, 262, 264, 275, 372
thermonuclear testing (Mike) at Elugelab and, 250, 251, 252–54, 282–83
Ulam’s relationship with, 231, 250, 265
US military research and, 122
uranium fission research of, 111
Teller, Mici, 157, 159
test-ban agreements, 255, 267, 299, 336, 374
Thatcher, Margaret, 328
thermonuclear (Super) bomb. See hydrogen (Super) bomb
Thompson, Silvanus¸ 27
Thomson, William, 1st Baron Kelvin, 22–23, 39
thorium breeder reactors, 362
Thornburgh, Richard, 308, 309
Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI), Pennsylvania, 5, 306–10, 312, 346, 353, 369
federal officials on, 307–09, 311
mechanism of accident at, 306–07
public reaction to, 309–10
radiation released in, 336
Tibbets, Enola Gay, 212
Tibbets, Paul Warfield, 211–12, 213
Todreas, Neil, 345
Tokyo, 359
firebombing of, 209–10, 221, 222, 371
radiation fallout affecting, 346, 349, 350, 351, 355, 356, 358, 359
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), 341–42, 344, 345, 346, 347, 349, 350, 351, 352–53, 354–55, 357, 359, 366
Trabacchi, G. C., 60, 62
Tracerlab, 234–35
tracers, 5, 54, 188, 377
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), 337, 338
Triad Doctrine, 288
Truman, Harry, 211
advice from scientists on atomic weapon use to, 206–07
aerial reconnaissance and, 279
arms race with Soviet Union and, 235–36, 238, 246
Atomic Energy Commission and, 229
Cold War and, 244
future of nuclear weapons and, 206, 235
MacArthur replaced by, 245
Meitner’s visit to, 189
Stalin and, 232, 235
thermonuclear weapons development and, 236, 237, 247, 252
use of atomic bombs in Japan and, 208, 215, 216, 221, 232, 311
tsunami, in Japan, 342, 344–45, 352–53
Tuchman, Barbara, 33, 46
Turing, Alan, 248
Udall, Stewart, 336
Ukraine, 314, 334
Chernobyl disaster’s effect on, 322, 323, 324–25, 364, 369
nuclear arsenal in, 291, 337
nuclear reactors in, 313, 360
Ulam, Françoise, 188, 249–50
Ulam, Stanislaw, 76, 150, 282, 379
move to Los Alamos by, 150
personality of, 249
Teller’s relationship with, 231, 250, 265
thermonuclear fusion research by, 247, 248–50, 252, 253, 262, 264, 265, 275
Union of Concerned Scientists, 353
United Nations (UN), 79, 189, 207, 220, 230, 267, 297, 304, 364
Atomic Energy Commission, 230
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 305, 338, 356, 364
Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), 364–65
U.S. Radium Corporation, 38
Universal Exposition (Paris, 1900), 33
University of Chicago
Met Lab at, 127–29, 147, 148, 149, 207, 305
nuclear reactor (CP-1) installation in Stagg Field at, 129–34
University of Rome, 57, 58–64, 266
uranium
common uses of, 25–26
Curies’ joint research on, 29–31
emission of rays from, 15, 26, 27
half-life of, 5, 30
Marie Curie’s initial research on, 27
naming of, 25
Pierre Curie’s research on, 26–27
processing of ore for, 28–29
sources of, 4, 6
Uranium Club (Uranverein), 105, 176, 177, 178, 179, 183, 186–87
uranium-235, 4, 120, 122, 123, 161, 166
Urey, Harold, 94, 122, 123, 147, 225
nuclear reactor design by, 185
uranium production and, 160–61, 162, 170, 238
USS Nautilus submarine, 303–04, 305
U-2 aerial surveillance program, 279, 282, 285, 288, 294, 297–98
Velikhov, Yevgeny, 331, 332
Vernadski, Vladimir I., 193
Verne, Jules, 79, 303
Viner, Jacob, 278
viruses, computer, 338
von Bahr-Bergius, Eva, 96, 98
von Braun, Wernher, 79, 186, 291
von Halban, Hans, 120
von Kármán, Theodore, 75, 76, 77
von Laue, Max, 75, 79, 88, 92, 93, 186, 188
Von Laue, Theo, 188
von Neumann, Janos (John), 77, 80, 290, 291
atomic bomb design and, 168, 168, 220
background of, 168–69
on computers in the future, 248
Hungarian background of, 75, 76, 231
Manhattan Project and, 148, 155
nuclear defense strategy and, 288
Oppenheimer’s support from, 262
political campaigns and power of, 251
preemptory nuclear strike and, 244
thermonuclear research by, 239, 248–49, 250
von Neumann, Klari, 168–69, 248
von Stauffenberg, Claus, 186
von Weizsäcker, Carl Friedrich, 118, 178, 180–81, 183, 187
Walker, Andrew, 155
Wall Street Journal, 37
Watras, Stanley, 310–11, 312
Wattenberg, Albert, 130–31
Wefelmeier, Wilfrid, 99
Weil, George, 134, 135, 136, 137
Weimar Republic, 74, 77, 79, 91, 225, 251
Weinberger, Caspar, 283
Weisband, Bill, 238
Weiss, Trude, 82, 268
Weisskopf, Victor, 236
Welsome, Eileen, 271
Wells, H. G., 7, 79–80, 81, 105
Wheeler, John, 102, 164, 244, 265
Wiesner, Jerome, 277–78
Wigner, Eugene, 228
early career of, 76, 77, 80, 82
on Fermi, 109
Hanford reactor and, 164
Hungarian background of, 75
need for atomic bomb research advoca
ted by, 114–16, 118, 119
nuclear reactor (CP-1) testing and, 137–38
Oak Ridge reactor and, 163
on Szilard, 76
on Teller, 229
US military research and, 122
uranium fission research of, 109
von Neumann and, 76, 77, 168
Wilson, Anne, 205
Wilson, Jane, 159
Wilson, Richard, 324
Wilson, Robert (Bob), 159, 167, 205, 219, 220
Wilson, Taylor, 363–64
Wilson, Volney, 134–35
Wohlstetter, Albert, 283–84, 288, 290, 376
Woods, Leona, 124, 131, 137, 164
World Set Free, The (Wells), 79–80
World War I (the Great War), 32–33, 36, 74, 89, 91, 193, 372
World War II, 128, 194, 195, 206, 230, 232–33, 239
Wrye, William, 205
X-rays, 3, 5, 11–12, 13–14, 34, 35, 36, 49, 50, 57, 58, 79, 85, 126, 215, 230, 250, 309, 368, 377, 378
X-ray lasers, 332
X-ray satellites, 331
Yates, Sidney, 340
York, Herbert, 236, 250, 252, 281, 290
Yoshida, Masao, 346, 351–52
Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility proposal, 373, 374
Zaitchik, Alexander, 329
Zakaria, Fareed, 339
Zinn, Walter, 233
injuries suffered by, 167
nuclear reactor (CP-1) installation and testing by, 131, 132–33, 135, 137
uranium fission research of, 106, 124, 129
Zorawski, Bronka, 17, 18
Zorawski, Kazimierz (Casimir), 17, 18, 51
Zorawski, Stas, 17–18
Zorawski family, 17–18, 21
SCRIBNER
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2014 by Craig Nelson
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Scribner hardcover edition March 2014
SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Book design by Ellen R. Sasahara
Jacket design by Steve Attardo
Back jacket photograph © Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013042192
ISBN 978-1-4516-6043-2
ISBN 978-1-4516-6045-6 (ebook)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig Nelson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Rocket Men, as well as several previous books, including The First Heroes, Thomas Paine (winner of the Henry Adams Prize), and Let’s Get Lost (short-listed for W. H. Smith’s Book of the Year). His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal, Salon, National Geographic, New England Review, Popular Science, Reader’s Digest, and a host of other publications; he has been profiled in Variety, Interview, Publishers Weekly, and Time Out. Besides working at a zoo and in Hollywood, and being an Eagle Scout and a Fuller Brush man, he was a vice president and executive editor of Harper & Row, Hyperion, and Random House, where he oversaw the publishing of twenty national bestsellers. He lives in Greenwich Village.