Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer

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Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer Page 109

by Ray Monk


  ‘What is Communism?’ 243–4

  Brown, Frederick W. 211

  Brownell, Herbert, Attorney General 598

  Bruner, Jerome: A Study of Thinking 644

  Buchta, J. W. 536

  Buck, Pearl 651

  Buckley, Oliver 547, 550

  Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 489, 557–8, 559–60, 562–3, 589n, 593, 606–7, 621

  Burchett, Wilfred 463

  Burden, William 577

  Burgess, Guy 300, 390

  Bush, Lieutenant H. C. 427

  Bush, Vannevar:

  heads NDRC 293

  appoints reviewing committee 295

  and MAUD findings 295, 301, 306

  meets Oliphant 299

  recommends centrifuge plant to Roosevelt 311

  and S-1 report 322

  recommends Parsons for Los Alamos 354

  meeting with RO 458, 459

  and May–Johnson Bill 474

  on Acheson’s committee 479

  unconcerned about FBI file on RO 499

  publishes ‘Trends in American Science’ 516

  on Disarmament Panel 581–2

  tells Strauss of RO’s clearance suspension 604

  at RO’s hearing 614

  Byrnes, James, Secretary of State 433, 442, 449, 455–6, 459, 479, 482, 483, 488

  Cairncross, John 300, 390

  Caltech (California Institute of Technology) 132, 143, 145–9, 166, 171, 172, 174, 180, 182, 191, 197, 204, 206, 225, 236, 245, 258, 264, 281, 461, 478, 495, 516, 564, 565

  ‘Calutrons’ 267, 312, 316, 324, 406, 414

  Calvert, Captain 387

  Cambridge University:

  Christ’s 81, 83, 85, 89, 91–2

  King’s 91–2

  St John’s 91, 92, 101, 108, 129, 143

  Kapitza Club 100–1, 102, 103, 105, 114, 116, 121

  2V Club (‘Del Squared V Club’) 102, 106

  see also Cavendish Laboratory

  ‘Cambridge Five’ 300, 308, 390

  Cambridge Philosophical Society 112

  Proceedings 112, 114, 291, 491

  Camp Koenig, Lake Ontario 35, 37

  Campbell, 623

  Cario, Dr 124, 129

  Carlson, J. Franklin (Frank) 175, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 186, 203, 204, 228–9

  death and RO’s memorial lecture 635–7

  Carnegie Institution, Washington 207

  Caron, Robert 445

  Carstairs, Morris 656

  Case, Kenneth 528, 658

  Cassidy, David C. J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century xi, 175, 230

  Cather, Willa 67, 68–9

  Death Comes for the Archbishop 68

  A Lost Lady 69–70

  ‘Scandal’ 67–8

  Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 94, 99, 100, 187, 189, 192, 194–5, 219, 293

  Cayley, Arthur 106

  Chadwick, James 203

  discovers neutrons 99, 184–5

  at Royal Society meeting 189, 190

  sceptical about Lawrence’s results 207

  wins Nobel Prize (1935) 196

  and possibility of atomic bomb 293

  disgusted by US scientists’ lack of secrecy 305, 458–9

  urges Bohr to leave Denmark for England 394–5, 397, 399

  joins Manhattan Project 391, 406

  and Rotblat 402, 403

  chain reactions 190, 261–2

  first 331

  Chambers, Whittaker 524

  Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan 247

  Chaplin, Charles 197

  Chaves, Amado 49–50, 71

  Chaves, Kate Nichols (née Foster) 50

  Chaves, Manuel 49

  Cherniss, Harold F. 169, 199, 525

  Cherwell, Lord (Frederick Lindemann) 294, 401, 418

  Chevalier, Barbara 238, 239–40, 281–2, 335

  Chevalier, Haakon 238

  meets RO 238

  joins CP unit with him 239–40, 270

  and Schneiderman 280, 281

  and FBI surveillance 280, 301

  invited to Pasadena by Oppenheimers 281–2

  under suspicion 310, 362

  approached by Eltenton 334, 335–6, 357

  farewell dinner with RO 336

  and RO’s statements 367, 376, 382–3, 384

  sends ‘SOS call’ to RO 385

  continues to be under FBI surveillance 386

  writes to RO after Hiroshima 452, 460

  visits Oppenheimers 486

  interviewed by FBI 486–7, 493–4

  visited in Paris by RO 601

  and RO’s hearing 611–12, 613, 614, 615, 620

  and Nichols’ letter 622–3, 625

  asks RO for explanation 625–9

  his The Man Who Would Be God flops 645–6

  warns RO he is going to write the true story (Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship) 662–3

  on RO 109–10, 269–70, 272, 325, 494, 505–6

  Chicago, University 126, 230, 301, 309

  ‘Met Lab’ 309, 314, 317, 319, 324, 326, 331, 349, 354, 356, 358, 410, 432, 435–6, 473

  Christian Century, The (magazine) 650–61

  Christy, Robert 259, 264, 289, 290, 419, 658

  Church, Peggy Pond 338

  Churchill, Winston 282, 293, 294, 315, 390, 400–2, 415, 432, 442, 443, 451, 481–2, 500, 531

  Clark, Tom C., Attorney General 373, 482, 494

  Cleveland, Grover, President 16

  Cockcroft, John 101, 187–90, 191, 193, 195, 196, 252, 293

  Cohn, Roy 591–2

  Columbia, University of (NYC) 18, 20, 204, 259, 261, 285, 309, 324, 391, 406, 415–16, 497, 504, 640–41, 652

  Jewish students 52, 53

  Communist Party, US 221, 223, 232, 233, 234, 235–6, 237, 238, 239–44, 259, 268–9, 270–71, 274–5, 277, 279, 280, 281, 300–1, 302, 308, 345

  Como: International Physics Congress (1927) 137, 138, 140

  Comptes rendus (journal) 184, 215

  Compton, Arthur 102, 125–6

  meets RO 126

  at Como conference 138

  at Solvay Congress (1927) 138

  disputes cosmic rays with Millikan 180

  heads Bush’s committee on atomic bomb 295, 302

  meetings with scientists 301, 302, 304, 306

  disappointed in engineers 306

  reports on possibility of atom bomb 306, 315

  as member of S-1 307

  oversees construction of first nuclear reactor 307, 309

  at Chicago ‘Met Lab’ 309

  and Breit 313, 314

  impressed by RO 314

  his recommendations approved by Roosevelt 315

  meeting with RO to discuss dangers of atomic bomb 320–21

  and Groves’s visit 324

  not told about Los Alamos 327

  watches first chain reaction 331

  discusses plutonium production with RO 349–50

  and Segré’s results 410

  as member of Scientific Advisory Panel 430

  attitude to use of bomb 434–5, 436

  and May–Johnson Bill 474

  thinks Russian possession of bomb ‘problematical’ 589

  Compton, Elias 125

  Compton, Karl T. 124, 125, 126, 128, 129

  Compton, William 125

  Conant, James:

  heads NDRC 293, 295

  and discussions on atomic bomb production 294, 295, 299, 301

  reprimands Lawrence for telling RO of bomb 301

  as chairman of S-1 302, 306–7

  puts Lansdale in charge of security at Berkeley 310–11, 341

  and RO 310, 311–12, 329, 333–4

  told by Compton of first chain reaction 331

  and implosion method 352, 413–14

  and Lewis committee 353

  and Trinity 438

  and May–Johnson Bill 474

  on Acheson’s committee 479, 480

  on GAC 495

  unconcerned by FBI file
on RO 499

  opposed to ‘Super’ 545–6, 547, 549, 550–51, 569, 570, 575

  gives up serving on GAC 577

  at RO’s hearing 614, 615

  Condon, Edward 125, 131, 141

  at Berkeley 165–6, 167

  at Göttingen 124–5, 127, 128, 165, 167

  and RO 125, 126

  leaves to work under Sommerfeld 129

  inspires Melba Phillips 174–5

  publishes article on ‘quantum tunnelling’ 187

  as associate director of Los Alamos 330, 331, 349–50, 353, 356, 357

  opposes May–Johnson Bill 466, 472–3

  appalled by RO’s article on Peters 535

  influences RO 620

  and RO’s 60th birthday tribute 658

  Condon, Emilie 125

  Congress for Cultural Freedom 110, 646, 647–8, 656

  Encounter 652, 653n

  Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences: Transactions 75

  Consodine, Major William 383

  Conversi, Marcello 502–3, 509

  Copenhagen: Bohr’s institute 103, 185, 206, 214, 253

  Corben, Herbert 289

  Corbin, Austin 12–13

  Cornell University 14, 28, 214, 317, 483, 496, 512, 517, 527

  cosmic rays 180–81, 182, 184, 185, 192–6, 205, 224—30, 245, 288–9, 292, 491, 492, 502, 516–17, 535, 646

  Coster-Mullen, John 409–10

  Coudert, Senator F. R. 303

  Council for Assisting Refugee Academics 89

  Courant, Ernest 38

  Courant, Hans 38

  Courant, Richard 136, 652

  Crease, Robert 554, 600, 640, 654, 657

  Critchfield, Charles 355, 413

  Crowther, James: Molecular Physics 75

  Curie, Irène see Joliot-Curie, Irène

  Curie, Marie 139, 147n

  Curtis, Howard J. 472, 474

  cyclotrons 168–9, 186–7, 191, 196, 215–16, 264, 265–7, 296, 305, 307, 311, 312

  Japanese 479

  Daghlian, Henry K. 461–2, 463

  Daily Herald 196

  Daily Mirror 190

  Daily Worker 274, 277

  Dallett, Joe 277–8

  Dancoff, Sidney 259, 260, 264, 283, 284, 287, 288, 511, 512

  Darrow, Karl 503

  Darwin, Charles 92

  David, B. Edmund 21

  Davies, Watson 472

  Davis, Nuel Pharr: Lawrence & Oppenheimer 109, 207, 314, 403–4

  Dean, Gordon 552–3, 566, 568, 571, 574, 575, 577, 578, 594, 614, 630

  de Silva, Captain Peer:

  suspects RO 342, 343, 346, 347, 363, 613–14

  summarises case against him 373–4

  told about Chevalier 382

  reports conversation with RO 387–8, 533, 534

  memo on RO and Bohm 389

  Desjardins, Paul 90

  deuterium 183–4, 207, 213, 215, 319, 320, 322, 396, 545, 566, 568, 585–6

  deuterons 215, 216, 225, 267

  Deutsch, Monroe: RO to 460–61, 478

  Didisheim, Jane (later Kayser) 30, 40, 41, 51, 70

  Diebner, Kurt 402

  Dirac, Margit (née Wigner) 217–18

  Dirac, Paul 101, 108, 129, 203

  and de Broglie’s ideas 103

  and RO 101–2, 106, 129–30

  and Heisenberg’s theory 105

  publishes papers on quantum mechanics 105–6

  and Schrödinger’s theory 107–8

  submits PhD thesis 112, 115

  and RO’s first paper 112–13, 171

  at Göttingen 129, 130, 131

  produces papers on ‘transformation theory’ and QED 130, 156

  as Ehrenfest’s guest in Leiden 136

  at Solvay Congress (1927) 139

  on American physicists 141

  made fellow of St John’s, Cambridge 143

  introduces ‘Dirac equation’ 157, 158

  and Anderson’s discovery of the positron 191–3, 194

  becomes Lucasian Professor of Mathematics 193

  helps Blackett and Occhialini 195

  disillusioned 208

  his theory investigated by Plesset and RO 204–5, 206, 207–8, and reformulated by RO and Furry 209

  and Ehrenfest’s suicide 206

  awarded Nobel Prize (1933) 116, 209–10

  at Institute for Advanced Study 217, 507, 508

  marriage 217–18

  opposed to Schwinger’s theory 521

  articles:

  ‘The Fundamental Equations of Quantum Mechanics’ 105

  The Principles of Quantum Mechanics 217, 285

  ‘Quantum Mechanics’ 112

  ‘Quantum Mechanics and a Preliminary Investigation of the Hydrogen Atom’ 106

  ‘Theory of the Positron’ 207–8

  ‘Dirac equation’ 157, 158, 176–7

  Donne, John 234, 427

  Doyle, Bernadette 366, 375

  Dresden, bombing of (1945) 428

  Du Bos, Charles 90

  DuBridge, Lee 495, 516, 547, 550–51, 563–4, 565, 574, 575, 577, 578, 585, 614

  Dudley, Colonel W. H. 327

  Duffield, Priscilla 425

  Dulles, Allen W. 581, 583, 601

  Dulles, John Foster 583, 587, 649

  ‘A Policy of Boldness’ 583–4

  Dunning, John 324

  Dyson, Freeman:

  impresses RO and Pais 512

  on Schwinger 512–14, 517–18

  on Tomonaga, 515

  obsessed with new QED 517

  at Ann Arbor summer school 517

  and Feynman 517

  publishes ‘The Radiation Theories of Tomonaga, Schwinger and Feynman’ 208, 283, 518–19, 520

  shocked by RO’s change of attitude towards Schwinger’s theory 520, 521

  relations with RO 521–3, 526, 632, 633, 642

  and Eliot 526

  chooses to work with Peierls 523, 526–7

  becoming ‘a Big Shot’ 523

  attends American Physical Society annual meeting with RO 527

  at Pocono conference 529

  on RO 529, 631

  fails to win Nobel Prize 530

  edits special issue of Reviews of Modern Physics for RO’s 60th birthday 657, 658

  and RO’s illness 666–7

  Dyson, George 512

  Eaton, Ralph 62

  Economist, The 489, 599

  Edsall, John 57–8, 78, 81, 91, 97, 100, 107, 108–9, 111–12, 114, 143

  Eger, Clara (née Binswanger) 18

  Eger, David 18

  Ehrenfest, Paul 151–2, 167

  and RO 113, 136, 137, 143, 144, 151, 152–3, 155–6, 159, 161

  Born’s letters to 133, 136–7

  on Bohr 140

  Pauli to 160

  and Faust pastiche 185

  depression and suicide 153, 206–7, 211

  Ehrenfest, Wassik 153

  Einstein, Albert 88

  quantum theory of light (1905) 87, 102, 157

  as star of Solvay Congress (1911) 138

  and Pauli 157, 159

  supports de Broglie 103

  and Schrödinger 107

  and quantum mechanics debate 116, 132, 139–40

  on Ehrenfest 151

  visits Caltech 197, 198

  and RO 197

  and Flexner 197

  at Institute for Advanced Study 198, 214, 261, 507, 634

  angry with Birkhoff 82–3

  ‘completely cuckoo’ 218

  alerts Belgians to importance of uranium 262–3

  his letter to Roosevelt 263, 308, 432, 666

  photographed with RO 508

  at Pais’s seminar 509

  criticised by RO 601, 637, 665–6

  and RO’s security hearing 621, 662

  refuses TV interview 633, 634

  death 635

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., President 565, 582–3, 584, 587, 590, 592, 595–6, 598, 645

  electrodynamics 156–7

 
; electromagnetic radiation 86, 102, 130, 131, 156–7

  electrons 86–7, 102–5, 107–8, 113, 115–16, 131, 134–5, 137, 143–4, 157, 158, 509–10, 511, 513, 521, 528, 541, 646

  Eliot, Charles 52

  Eliot, George 35–6

  Middlemarch 36–7, 38

  Eliot, T. S. 90, 526

  The Criterion 144

  The Cocktail Party 526

  Ellanby, Boyd see Boyd, William

  Elliott, John 32

  Eltenton, George 334–6, 357, 367, 368–9, 370–72, 375, 377, 378, 379, 381–2, 383, 486–7, 494, 611–12

  Engineering and Science Monthly 516

  Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands 568, 584–5

  Epstein, Paul 204

  Epstein, Saul 507

  ‘Note on the Stimulated Decay of Negative Mesons’ (with RO and Finkelstein) 509

  Ethical Culture School 27–8, 29, 30, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 44, 49, 56, 81

  Inklings (journal) 32–3

  The Light (play) 37

  Ethical Culture Society 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20–21, 22–3, 26–7, 29, 31, 32, 34, 57, 70

  Eugene Register-Guard 635

  Evans, Ward 608, 615, 619, 620, 621

  Evening Star 598

  Everett, Cornelius 560, 565

  ‘exclusion principle’ (Pauli) 157–8

  FAECT see Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians

  Faraday, Michael 154

  Farmelo, Graham: The Strangest Man 191, 193

  Farrell, Brigadier General Thomas F. 439–40, 441, 442, 444, 447–8, 462–3

  ‘Fat Man’ 411–15, 420, 423, 427, 444, see ‘Trinity Project’

  FBI:

  and CP members 234, 280–81

  starts investigating RO 281, 300–1, 302, 308, 310

  and Chevalier 310

  and Nelson 335, 336

  ordered to close file on RO 341

  and Serbers 223

  informs Pash of Nelson–Weinberg conversation 343–4, 345

  and relationship with G-2 345, 349

  investigates scientists at Berkeley Rad Lab (‘CINRAD’) 358, 364, 366

  taps Jean Tatlock’s phone 373

  and Lansdale 382, 383

  given Frank Oppenheimer’s name 383–4

  keeps Chevalier under close surveillance 386

  and Rotblat 403

  and Ted Hall 424

  surveillance of RO 175, 457, 482–3, 484, 485–7, 493, 499

  interviews Chevalier 486–7, 493–4

  RO’s dossier sent to AEC 499

  and HUAC hearing 533, 535, 537, 598

  and Teller 573, 575

  and Pitzer and Libby 574, 575, 577

  continues to keep RO under surveillance 599, 619–20

  and RO’s hearing 605

  see also Hoover, J. Edgar

  Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT) 365, 366, 367, 368

  Feld, Bernard 466

  Ferguson, Sampson Noland 42

 

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