The Age of Radiance
Page 52
“My son is dead”: Ibid.
“I enter the room”: Quinn.
“They brought you in and placed”: Curie, Cher Pierre.
“Everybody said Marie Curie is dead”: Borel.
“In science we must be interested”: Ève Curie.
“There is no connection between my scientific work”: Redniss.
“Madame Curie is very intelligent”: Kline.
“The hour when we knew”: Curie, Pierre Curie.
“In his scientific thinking Langevin”: “Tribute to Langevin,” La Pensées, 1946, Correspondance françaises.
“Often, during meals, M. Langevin”: Perrin.
“I spent last evening and night”; “I am trembling with impatience”: L’Oeuvre, November 23, 1911.
“You are going to see quite a scandal”; “great friendship angered Mme. Langevin”; “was astounded to see Mme. Curie run”; “shouted threats for everyone to hear”: Perrin.
“Variegated, virulent, turbulent, literary, inventive”: Tuchman.
“I spent yesterday evening and night”: L’Oeuvre, November 23, 1911.
“very difficult to judge the works of Mme. Curie”: Le Petit Parisien, January 5, 1911.
“under the austere scientist”: Borel.
“consorting with a concubine in the marital dwelling”: Perrin.
“I rediscovered in [Pierre Curie’s] daughter”: American Institute of Physics.
“well-respected but they are industrialists”: Quinn.
“I miss Irène a lot”; “That young man is a ball of fire”; “My mother and my husband often debated”: Ibid.
“What fools”: Segrè, From X-Rays to Quarks.
“An infinitely tiny particle projected”: “Les grandes découvertes de la radioactivité,” La Pensée, 1957.
“began to run and jump around”; “With the neutron we were too late”; “I will never forget the expression”: Republica (Lisbon), January 10, 1955.
“Then began the harrowing struggle”: Ève Curie.
3. Rome: November 10, 1938
“completely self-confident, but wholly without conceit”: Allardice and Trapnell.
“a steamroller that moved slowly”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“There is a Fermi Sea”: Orear.
“a very very common man”: Holton et al.
“They were allowed to use the research”; “Fermi, after much reading of the pertinent literature”: Fermi to Persico, November 29, 1920, Fermi Papers.
“Mechanical proficiency and practical gadgets”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“The location of the building”: Ibid.
“Fermi worked in the Institute”: Orear.
“I want to mention the ‘Fermi Questions’ ”: Ibid.
“if an atom were the size of a bus”: Aczel.
“Fermi organized a group to do this”: Orear.
“Radon plus beryllium sources were”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“The experimenters had to run”: Orear.
“One day, as I came to the laboratory”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“Neutron research led to many surprises”: Orear.
“Physics was comprehensible, as long as”: Ibid.
“For the most part, my father”: Ibid.
“Fermi was completely devoted to physics”: Ibid.
“Fermi had always said he wanted”: Holton et al.
“The next winter was the coldest”: Orear.
“Now they are sending away the Jews”; “Re: Anti-Semitic Campaign”: Laura Fermi.
“I’m going to cut the throat”: Kumar.
“not yet hanged”: P. D. Smith.
“For reasons that you can easily”: Fermi to Pegram, September 4 and October 22, 1938, Fermi Papers.
“I think that my mother”: Orear.
“She would not take notice”: Ibid.
“having transformed the Physics Institute”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
4. The Mysteries of Budapest
“Don’t you think God already”: Orear.
“It is beneath my dignity”: Lanouette with Silard.
“leaving his country, perhaps for good”: Ibid.
“our Madame Curie”: P. D. Smith.
“I only want to know”: Hargittai, Martians.
“a vivid man about five feet”: P. D. Smith.
“They should have arrived here”: Crick.
“Johnny [von Neumann] used to say”: Rhodes, Dark Sun.
“an intellectual bumblebee”; “You didn’t know what he”; “I never met anybody more imaginative”: P. D. Smith.
“When I worked in the patent office”; “Spinoza’s God who reveals himself”; “work in which I myself”; “He tends to overestimate”: Lanouette with Silard.
“Hitler and his Nazis are”: Segrè, From X-Rays to Quarks.
“practically everybody who came”: P. D. Smith.
“I’m spending much money”: Hargittai, Martians.
“as I was waiting for the light”: P. D. Smith.
“I don’t remember him ever”: Lanouette with Silard.
“We are all agreed that”: Dael Lee Wolfle, Symposium on Basic Research (New York: National Academy of Sciences, 1959).
“something deeply hidden had to be”: Isaacson.
“how a puddle with a bit of oil”: Rife.
“the most beautiful and stimulating”: Sime.
“bordering on fear of people”: Ibid.
“For many years I never had”: Hahn.
“My strongest and dearest remembrances”: Rife.
“a nose for discovering new elements”: Ibid.
“But I thought you were a man”: Hahn.
“it was as if the ground”: Kumar.
“As soon as we were in”: American Institute of Physics.
“It was the passport to scientific”: Meitner, “Status.”
“Late”: Sime.
“like an axe in the hands”: Segrè, From X-Rays to Quarks.
“she had committed a gross error”: Rife.
“Fermi was a very careful experimenter”: Teller.
“mystics, magicians and religious fanatics”: Rittenmeyer and Skundrick.
“I have nothing against the Jews”: Max Planck, “Mein Besuch bei Adolf Hitler”: Physikalische Blätter 3 (1947).
“I built it from its very”: Letter to Gerta von Ubisch, July 1, 1947, Meitner Collection.
“After these three laws were read”: Rittenmeyer and Skundrick.
“The Jewess endangers the institute”; “nothing more could be done”; “The great misfortune has happened”: Sime.
“It is considered undesirable”: Rife.
“is like a sensitive child”: Letter to Ehrenfest, May 4, 1920, in Albrecht Fölsing, Albert Einstein: A Biography (London: Viking, 1997).
“appeared to me like a miracle”: Paul A. Schilpp, ed., Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (New York: MJF Books, 1969).
“Bohr loved paradoxes”: Teller.
“I wanted her to be provided for”; “The danger consisted in the SS’s”: Hahn.
“You have made yourself as famous”: Rife.
“No, but I was told”: Segrè, From X-Rays to Quarks.
“Perhaps you cannot fully appreciate”: Meitner to Hahn, September 25, October 15, and December 5, 1938, in Krafft.
“Help us. The Nazis are killing”: Rittenmeyer and Skundrick.
“One always thinks life in this world”: Sime.
“One day, while strolling in the”: Orear.
“Monday evening, in the lab”; “How beautiful and exciting it”: Sime.
“Miss Meitner—Professor Meitner”: “Discovery of Fission.”
“Was it a mistake?”; “Perhaps a drop could divide”; “The charge of a uranium nucleus”: Frisch.
“These results, I realized”: Sparberg.
“What is the possibility that uranium 239”: Rife.
“Dear Otto! I am now almost certain”: Sime.
“When I came back to Copen
hagen”: “Discovery of Fission.”
“Dear Tante, I was able to speak”: Sime.
“When we met on the boat”; I rigged up a pulse amplifier”: “Discovery of Fission.”
“We had bad weather through”: Stefan Rozenthal.
“Your results present a wonderful”; “Unfortunately I did everything wrong”; “The uranium work is for me”: Sime.
“We’ve been such dumb assholes!”: Aczel.
“Fermi wasn’t in his office”: Herbert Anderson.
“ ‘a scientist not discovering fission’ ”: Allison.
“If Fermi had published”: Orear.
“I went up to the thirteenth floor”: “Discovery of Fission.”
“God!” he said. “This looks like”: Kinkead.
“All the things which H. G. Wells”: Weart and Szilard.
“It takes one neutron to split”: Laura Fermi.
“We turned the switch”; “That night, there was very little doubt”: P. D. Smith.
5. The Birth of Radiance
“his willingness to accept facts”: Hargittai, Martians.
“predict what would happen”: “Discovery of Fission.”
“work and dirty my hands”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“with the precision of a prosecuting attorney”: Hargittai, Martians.
“You are reinventing the field”: P. D. Smith.
“We went over to Fermi’s office”: Weart and Szilard.
“Szilard was not willing to do”: Enrico Fermi Papers, 2:11.
“During the summer of 1939”: Teller.
“On matters scientific or technical”: Weart and Szilard.
“It is like shooting birds”: Feld and Szilard.
“Contrary to perhaps what is”: Fermi, “Physics at Columbia University.”
“There’s a wop outside”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“Princeton is a wonderful little spot”: Mehra.
“Let’s give it up”; “How would it be if we”; “Daran habe ich gar nicht gedacht”: Feld and Szilard.
“The one thing most scientists”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“In the United States of those days”: Orear.
“We did not know just how”: Feld and Szilard.
“he really only acted as a mailbox”: Jungk.
“Alex, what you are after”: Mahaffey.
“Szilard came to the conclusion”; “The question of money arose”: Herbert Anderson.
“We have now reached the conclusion”: Frisch and Peierls.
“For the Lord’s sake, don’t”: Buderi.
“consider a future device for”: Bush and Conant.
“undoubtedly a Fascist”: Lt. Col. S. V. Constant report, August 13, 1940, Leo Szilard Papers.
“oscillated between theoretical and experimental”: Orear.
“He frequently said, he was amazed”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“Cartons of carefully wrapped graphite”: Herbert Anderson.
“Physicists on the seventh floor”: Orear.
“within a few years the use”: Bush and Conant.
“My supervisor at the Met Lab”: Cowan.
“a style of machine that dropped”: Kelly.
“These lines are primarily addressed”: Staff, “Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945.”
“We found out how coal miners feel”: Allardice and Trapnell.
“For the construction of the pile”: Herbert Anderson.
“One aspect of Fermi that wasn’t”: Orear.
“The pile, according to plan”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“Graphite was an awful material”: Orear.
“It was a great temptation”: Herbert Anderson.
“just in case an important experiment”: Lanouette with Silard.
“Marched into Russia. Murdered the Jews”: Rittenmeyer and Skundrick.
“The whole atmosphere there was”: “To Fermi—with Love.”
“Well, what do you do”: “Fermi Facts, Fables.”
“The pile is not performing now”: Laura Fermi.
“Pull it to thirteen feet”; “This is not it”; “I’m hungry. Let’s go to lunch”; “This is going to do it”: Allardice and Trapnell.
“Fermi had, the night before”: “To Fermi—with Love.”
“At first you could hear the sounds”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“I couldn’t see the instruments”; “The reaction is self-sustaining”: Allardice and Trapnell.
“Nothing very spectacular had happened”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“Probably for Fermi, however, the real victory”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“The Italian navigator has landed”: Bush and Conant.
“One of the things that I shall”; “There was a crowd there”: “Discovery of Fission.”
6. The Secret of All Secrets
“proton merry-go-round”; “Oh, sugar”: Herken, Brotherhood.
“He was tall, nervous and intent”: Rhodes, “I Am Become Death.”
“He wanted everything and everyone”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“Oppenheimer was Jewish, but wished”: Rhodes, “I Am Become Death.”
“Robert could make people feel”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“Oppenheimer’s prestige and ascendancy were great”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“J. Robert Oppenheimer, 30, associate professor”: Staff, “Prof Takes Girl for a Ride.”
“Hot dog”; “My two great loves are”: Bird and Sherman.
“I remember exactly how I”; “When Alvarez told me the news”: Kelly.
“That’s impossible”: Bird and Sherman.
“prospects for useful nuclear energy”: Herken, Brotherhood.
“Time is very much of the essence”: Bush and Conant.
“The world would be better”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“The Secretary of War has selected”: Baggott.
“When Groves saw that the usual”; “He’s a genius”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“The investigation of Szilard should”: Groves to Calvert, June 12, 1943, Manhattan Engineer District Records, National Archives.
“The prospect of coming to Los Alamos”: United States Atomic Energy Commission, In the Matter.
“People I knew well began”: Kelly.
“I went by train to a place”: Bernstein.
“I drove right through the square”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“Here at Los Alamos”: Rhodes, “I Am Become Death.”
“In spite of the difficulties”; “It was an unforgettable experience”: Smith and Weiner.
“At great expense, we have gathered”: Laura Fermi.
“Oppenheimer was very patient”: Feynman.
“The water supply had been built”: Bernstein.
“I would like that very much”: Frisch.
“I will have nothing to do”: Sime.
“ ‘Welcome to Los Alamos’ ”: Zoellner.
“the culmination of three centuries of physics”: Bird and Sherman.
“Behind us lay the Sangre de Cristo”: Kelly.
“The Mesa was indented by”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“They had this notion that we”; “Soon Johnny will know so much”; “It is my fault”: Lang.
“Kitty was a very strange woman”; “The General’s in a stew”; “You know, usually on a military post”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“Though I had an excellent time”: Bernstein.
“The Army routinely leveled every”; “Fermi once told me with hardly”; “wrote an official letter to”: Teller.
“Teller had worked on the bomb project”: Bernstein.
“Throughout the ten years, Oppie”: Rhodes, Atomic Bomb.
“God protect us from the enemy”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“Fermi was simply unable to”: Mahaffey.
“Below her, she had Rudolf”: Orear.
“he told the horse in a firm voice”: Teller.
“I required a special small laboratory”: Segrè, Enrico
Fermi.
“someday will be filled with great”: “Atoms in Appalachia.”
“Mr. President, I agree that”: Kelly.
“trained like soldiers not to reason why”: Nichols.
“If you walked along the wooden”; “It was so darned bleak”; “Fermi was very discreet”: Kelly.
“Enrico, when I was in”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“All science stopped during the war”; “was like tickling the tail”: Feynman.
“The Critical Assemblies Group decided”: Orear.
“Just as a beam of light”: Teller.
“Only he was fully awake”; “Pray, what is the candidate’s tailor”; “an almost primitive lack of ability”: George Dyson.
“At the start I had regarded Teller”: Bethe, “Comments.”
“The first Sunday I was there”: Laura Fermi.
“While Klaus was a mere”; “somewhat plump, greenish pale”: Rhodes, Dark Sun.
“The Mosquito flew at a great height”: Bird and Sherman.
“Both the father and the son”: Kelly.
“You see, I told you”: Teller.
“When Niels and Aage Bohr arrived”: Segrè, Enrico Fermi.
“the Nazis’ work was held”: Lang.
“main theme was that it”: Staff, “Jewish Spirit.”
“Even if my brother steals”: Teller.
“People must learn to prevent”: Baggott.
“With the beginning of the war”: Heisenberg.
“Heisenberg stated that he was”; “stressed how important it was”; “Dear Heisenberg, I have seen”: Niels Bohr Library & Archives.
“He said that his main aim”: Bernstein.
“The big problem was”: Conant, 109 East Palace.
“Recent reports both through the newspapers”: Oppenheimer Papers, H. A. Bethe folder.
“the only way we could lose”: Bird and Sherman.
“deny the enemy his brain”; “We wouldn’t have had the moral”; “I think it was dreadful”: Baggott.
“since there was not even the remotest”: Rhodes, Dark Sun.
“émigré’s passionate hatred of Hitler was”: Max von Laue to Theodor von Laue, August 19, 1945, Laue Papers, Deutsches Museum Archives, Munich.
“As long as Prof Meitner was”: Meitner Collection.
“They are obliged to try”; “Ah, so you’re the little lady”; “was Germany’s anointed postwar scientific icon”: Rife.
“nonsense from the first word”; “After the last 15 years which”; “perhaps one cannot be such”; “It is a difficult problem”: Sime.