Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer

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Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer Page 110

by Ray Monk


  Fergusson, Erna 42, 43, 50, 67

  Our South West 43, 48

  Fergusson, Frances (née Keeley) 98

  Fergusson, Francis:

  family background 41–3

  friendship with RO 40–41, 43

  and Herbert Smith 43–4

  at Harvard 44, 62–3

  in ‘troika’ with RO and Horgan 46–8, 59, 67

  and RO’s other friends at Harvard 60–61, 62

  sets up club 61

  receives Rhodes Scholarship for Oxford 62, 63–4

  critical of RO’s literary efforts 65, 66

  summers in New Mexico 70, 71

  encourages Wyman to befriend RO 78–9

  leaves for Oxford 77

  advised by Smith to help RO 84

  moves in elevated social circles 90, 91

  on walking holiday with RO 89, 90

  his ‘Account of the Adventures of RO in Europe’ 92–3, 94, 97, 98

  nearly strangled by RO 98, 106

  visits him at Cambridge 106, and at Perro Caliente 150

  invited to Institute by RO 525

  writes The Idea of a Theatre 525

  and Eliot 526

  last meeting with RO 668

  RO’s letters to 56, 60 and n, 65–6, 70, 71–3, 77, 78, 83, 84, 88, 91, 92, 94, 98–9, 100, 106–7, 126–7, 128

  Fergusson, Harvey 42, 43, 65, 67

  Fergusson, Harvey Butler 41, 42, 49–50

  Fergusson Act (1898) 41

  Fermi, Enrico:

  works with Bloch 214, and Segré 264, 268

  creates radioactive materials 215

  theory of beta decay 228, 229, 230

  proposes name ‘neutrino’ for Pauli’s neutron 186

  entertains Bohr in New York 255

  tries to warn government of dangers of chain reactions 261–2

  awarded Nobel Prize (1938) 267

  and work on nuclear reactor 266, 293, 304, 309

  relocates to Chicago ‘Met Lab’ 309

  opposed to secrecy 314

  builds reactor 317 and n, 396

  speaks to Teller of fusion bomb 318, 319

  and Groves’ visit 324

  creates first chain reaction 331

  visits Los Alamos 403

  as member of Scientific Advisory Panel 430

  attitude to use of bomb 434–5

  and ‘Trinity’ 440

  in favour of May–Johnson Bill 466, 472

  at Shelter Island Conference 501

  and Italian scientists 502

  opposes crash programme for H-bomb 545, 547, 548, 549

  recommends US negotiates with USSR 551, 554, 581–2

  arrives at Los Alamos 566

  at RO hearing 614

  and posthumous award of Fermi Prize 655

  Fermi, Laura 440

  Feynman, Richard 348, 496

  contemptuous of security at Los Alamos 347–8

  as member of board 354

  on work at Los Alamos 355–6, 461

  presents ‘Feynman diagram’ 501 and n, 527, 528

  and Schwinger 509, 510, 513, 514

  reformulates QED theory 208, 283, 501, 514, 518, 519, 527–30

  and Dyson 514, 517, 518, 519, 523

  and RO 520, 521

  and Dirac 521

  theory praised by Bethe 522

  awarded Nobel prize (1965) 530

  at 12th Solvay Congress 643

  Finkelstein, Robert 507

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

  Finletter, Thomas 565, 572, 574, 575, 577, 578, 591

  Fischer, Louis 667–8

  fission, nuclear/fission bomb 251ff., 319, 355, 356, 395–6, 405ff.

  Flanigan, Al 374–5, 378

  Flexner, Abraham 197–9

  Foldy, Leslie 507

  Folkoff, Isaac 237, 281, 301, 302, 310

  Foreign Affairs 593

  Fortune magazine 592, 593

  ‘The Hidden Struggle for the H-bomb’ (Murphy) 590–91

  Forum magazine: ‘Race Prejudice at Summer Resorts’ 15–16

  Fowler, Ralph 102, 103, 105, 106, 132, 139, 148, 151

  report on RO 205–6

  Fowler, Willie 257–8, 260, 287, 564, 658

  RO’s letters to 257, 270, 281, 303

  France-observateur 629

  Franck, James 95, 103, 126, 133, 214, 324, 325, 433, 433, 436

  Franck Report 433–4

  Franco, General Francisco 232, 273

  Franfurter, Felix 399, 400, 401

  Frankel, Stanley 312, 316, 319, 320

  Friedman, Cecilia (née Eger) 18, 19, 22, 26, 29

  Friedman, Louis 18, 19

  Friedman, Max (Ken Manfred) 312, 358, 366, 378, 379, 383, 532

  Friendly, Fred 633, 634

  Frisch, Otto 253

  works with Meitner on fission 253–5, 318, 391, 457, 461

  collaborates with Peierls on memorandum on Super-bomb 291–3, 316, 352, 395, 409

  Frost, Robert 651

  Fry, Roger 90

  Transformations 154

  Fuchs, Klaus 342, 390–92, 406, 421–2, 423–4, 443, 556–7, 597

  Furry, Wendell 204, 211, 214–15, 221, 222, 422

  ‘On the Theory of the Electron and the Positive’ (with RO) 208–9

  fusion/fusion bombs 246, 317, 318–19, 320, 322, 543, 544, 545–6, 559, 560–61, 566–8, 585, 594

  G-2 341, 342, 345, 362

  see also Pash, Lt-Colonel Boris

  GAC see General Advisory Committee

  Gad-Fly, The (Harvard journal) 58

  gamma radiation 180, 184, 205, 352, 420

  Gamow, George 187, 188, 253, 255

  Garrison, Lloyd 603, 605–6, 608, 609, 610, 613, 614, 619, 621, 623, 628, 634, 663

  Gavin, General James M. 563

  Gell-Mann, Murray 632

  General Advisory Committee (to AEC) (GAC) 495, 498, 508, 542–5

  1949 meeting 546–9

  reports and recommendations 549–51, 552–3, 554, 555–6, 570

  and Strauss 552–4

  visits Los Alamos 566

  backs Ulam–Teller design 568–9

  and idea of second laboratory 571, 572, 574

  and campaign to oust RO from 574, 575, 577–8, see security hearing under Oppenheimer, Robert

  General Strike (1926) 112

  Gercke, Achim 123

  Gerjuoy, Edward x, 284, 288, 290

  Giauque, William 167

  Gibbs, Josiah Willard: ‘On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances’ 75, 76

  Gibney, Bob 650

  Gibney, Nancy 650

  Gide, André 90

  Goethe, Johann von: ‘Den Vereinigten Staaten’ 5–6

  Gogh, Vincent van 22

  Gold, Harry 391–2, 421–2, 424, 556

  Goldblatt, Lou 239, 240

  Goldman Sachs 40

  Goldmans, the 9, 15, 41

  Göppert, Maria 128

  Gottheil, Gustav 15

  Göttingen University 117, 121, 122–5, 151–2, 167, 198

  Goudsmit, Samuel 113, 141, 149, 158, 381, 388, 402, 497

  Graham, Captain Frank 449

  Graham, Loren R.: Moscow Stories 221

  Grant, General Ulysses 10–11, 12, 531

  Gray, Gordon 608, 610, 617, 618–19, 620, 626

  Green, Harold 606–8

  Greene, Priscilla 471

  Greenglass, David 421–2, 424, 556

  Greenglass, Ruth 421, 422

  ‘Greenhouse’ tests 566–8

  Griffiths, Gordon 240, 241, 242, 270

  Griffiths, Mary 240

  Griggs, David 572, 573–4, 575–6, 577, 578, 579, 580–81, 588, 590, 591, 606, 616, 626

  Groves, Colonel Leslie 322–3

  appointed to run Manhattan Project 322, 323, 341

  visits major sites 323–4

  unimpressed by Lawrence 324

  won over by RO 324–6

  and choice of Los Alamos 326, 327, 328, 332r />
  appoints RO as director 328–9, 333–4

  chooses Lansdale to run security force 341

  and RO’s security clearance 342–3, 344–5

  derided by the scientists 349

  orders ‘compartmentalisation’ security policy 349, 350, 357

  and Condon’s resignation 349–50

  and Parsons’ appointment 354

  and Pash and Lansdale’s views on RO 360, 362

  orders RO’s clearance 363, 364

  advises Truman that Rad Lab should be closed 366

  and RO’s refusal to name contact 376, 377, 378

  believes in RO’s loyalty 379

  gets Pash off RO’s case 380, 381

  RO names Chevalier to 382–3, 384

  promises not to reveal Frank Oppenheimer’s name to FBI 383–4

  and Bohr 397, 398, 406

  shocks Rotblat 403

  appalled by Segré’s results 410

  and implosion programme 412, 413–14, 415, 416, 418, 560

  and Special Engineering Detachment 421

  and ‘Trinity’ 426–7, 438–9, 440, 441–2

  and bombing of Japan 429–30, 431–2, 440, 443, 444, 448, 449–50, 452, 453–4, 455

  and reports of radiation sickness 462

  and May–Johnson Bill 465

  presents RO with Army-Navy Award 467

  on Acheson’s committee 479–80

  and ‘Acheson–Lilienthal Plan’ 481, 482, 484–5

  vouches for RO’s loyalty 500, 533

  sceptical about Russian bomb 589

  testifies at RO’s hearing 608, 613

  Guggenheim, Benjamin 29

  Guggenheim, William 29

  Guggenheims, the 9, 15, 29

  Gurney, Ronald 187

  Hahn, Otto 252–4, 450, 451–2

  Hale, George Ellery 145–6

  Hales, Peter Bacon: Atomic Spaces 332

  Hall, Elmer 166, 168

  RO to 148

  Hall, Harvey 175, 176, 179, 204

  Hall, Mary 175

  Hall, Theodore (‘Ted’) 422–3, 424

  Hampshire, Stuart 656

  Hanford, Washington 328n, 331–2, 341, 349, 353, 408, 495, 537

  Harmon, Colonel J. M. 333

  Harper’s Magazine 630, 643

  Harrison, George 441, 458, 459–50, 464

  Harrison, Richard 276, 278, 279

  Harrison, Wallace K. 656

  Harvard University 40, 44, 52, 61–3, 77, 132–3, 137, 143–4, 148, 205, 215, 221, 229, 505

  Fogg Art Museum 40

  Jews 52–6

  Hound & Horn 144

  Standish Hall 57

  Liberal Club 57, 58

  Harvard Crimson 642

  Harvey, William 384

  Hawking, Stephen 193

  Hawkins, David 56, 359, 360, 405, 418, 419, 535, 658

  Hearst, William Randolph 243, 244

  heavy water 396

  Heilbron, J. L. and Seidel, R. W.: Lawrence and His Laboratory 265–6

  Heisenberg, Werner 103, 104

  and formulation of quantum mechanics 104–6, 115, 116, 171

  and Schrödinger’s theory 107, 108

  describes ‘uncertainty principle’ 131

  visits Berkeley (1920s) 167

  at Leipzig 136, 156, 160, 262

  at Como conference (1927) 138

  at Solvay Congress (1927) 139–40

  works with Pauli on QED 156, 157, 158, 161

  on US lecture tour 158, 159

  and rise of Nazi Party 198

  at Bohr’s institute 206

  sceptical about Lawrence’s results at Solvay Congress (1933) 207

  RO campaigns against his theory 227, 228, 229, 230

  marriage 229

  allowed to travel to Britain and US 230

  has shouting match with RO 230

  stays in Nazi Germany 230, 292, 381, 392

  visits Bohr (1941) 393–4, 395, 396

  and Nazi bomb project 395–6, 397

  and news of Hiroshima 450, 451–2

  articles:

  ‘The Limits of Applicability of the Present Quantum Theory’ 230

  ‘On Quantum Mechanics II’ 106

  ‘On the Intuitive Content of Quantum-theoretical Kinematics and mechanics’ 131

  ‘On the Quantum Dynamics of Wave Fields’ (with Pauli) 158

  ‘Quantum Theoretical Reinterpretation of Kinematic and Mechanical Relations’ 105

  Heitler, Walter 491

  Herken, Gregg: Brotherhood of the Bomb 239, 312, 328

  Hersey, John: article on Hiroshima 446, 447

  Hershberg, James G.: James B. Conant 545n

  Hertz, Gustav 95

  Hertz, Heinrich 157

  Hickenlooper, Senator Bourke B. 538, 539, 552, 598

  Higinbotham, William 463, 466, 476

  Hilbert, David 122

  Hill, Albert G. 579, 580

  Hill, Archibald Vivian 91

  Hilton, Judge Henry 12, 16

  Hirohito, Emperor 456

  Hiroshima, bombing of 292, 319–20, 409–10, 431n, 443, 444–52, 457, 463, 663

  Hiss, Alger 524, 532

  Hitler, Adolf 8, 198, 271, 273, 274, 276, 282, 429

  Hobson, Verna 644

  Holloway, Marshall 570, 585

  Hooper, Admiral Stanford C. 261–2

  Hoover, Herbert, President 219, 493

  Hoover, J. Edgar:

  and Schneiderman 280

  and surveillance on RO 301, 310

  and Jean Tatlock 373

  keeps subordinates in the dark 384

  views on RO 482

  receives information from phone-tapping 482–3, 486, 488

  fails to have RO and Weinberg prosecuted 494

  sends dossier to AEC 499

  and Fuchs 556

  and Teller’s interviews 575

  puts McCarthy off investigating RO 592

  and Strauss 592

  receives Borden’s summary of evidence 597–8

  and ‘Caesar’s wife’ concept 607

  Hopkins, F. Gowland 91

  Horgan, Paul 46–8, 59–60, 61, 67, 68–9, 72–3, 77, 85, 427

  Horgan, Rosemary 49

  House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) 237, 524, 532–5, 536–7, 598

  Houston, William 146, 478

  HUAC see House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities

  Huning, Franz 41–2, 69

  Trader on the Santa Fe Trail 41

  Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow 62, 90

  hydrogen bomb (‘Super’) 320, 321–2, 353, 411, 416, 417, 418, 543–55

  ‘classical Super’ 560, 565–6, 567, 568, 569

  IEB see International Education Board implosion 352–3, 355, 410–21, 424, 426–7, 459, 560

  Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 197–8, 217, 218, 347, 412

  RO offered directorship 495, 506

  Pais and 496, 497–8

  under RO 507–9, 523, 525–7, 631

  Dyson’s fellowship 518–19, 520, 526

  and Strauss 537, 631

  and Yang and Lee 632–3

  RO’s lunches 642

  pettiness and squabbling 654–5

  Kennan joins 656n

  and RO’s retirement 663, 667

  International Education Board (IEB) 148, 149, 150, 155, 156, 159, 162, 347

  isotopes 183n

  artificial 225

  radioactive 537–8

  Isserman, Maurice 243, 274

  Ivanov, Peter 335, 336, 486

  Jackson, C. D. 592

  Jastrow, Robert 566

  Jeans, James

  The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism 73–4

  The Mysterious Universe 74, 422

  Physics and Philosophy 74

  The Universe Around Us 74

  Jensen, J. Hans D. 395, 396, 397

  Jewett, Frank: RO to 505

  Jews 3–10, 14–15, 18, 28, 31

  see al
so anti-Semitism

  Johnson, Lt Lyall 341, 367, 368–9, 370, 375, 382, 611

  Johnson, Senator Edwin 465, 557

  Johnson, Louis 553, 554

  Johnson, Lyndon B., President 657

  Joint Committee on Atomic Energy 538, 544, 552, 557, 584, 597, 598

  Joliot-Curie, Frédéric 184, 215, 262, 263, 266, 402

  Joliot-Curie, Irène (née Curie) 184, 207, 252

  Jordan, Pascual 105–6, 116n, 131

  ‘On Quantum Mechanics II’ 106

  Judaism, Reform 5, 10, 13

  Jungk, Robert: Brighter than a Thousand Suns 393

  Kamen, Martin 303

  Kant, Immanuel 23

  Kapitza, Peter 100, 101

  Kaun, Alexander 310

  Keitel, Wilhelm 276

  Kellogg Radiation Laboratory 213

  Kemble, Edwin C. 74–5, 76, 77, 78, 81, 83, 87, 88, 133, 135, 205, 423

  RO’s letters to 127, 146, 148

  Kennan, George 547, 549, 614, 654, 656, 668, 669

  Kennard, Earle 131

  Kennedy, John F., President 649–50, 651, 655, 657

  Kennedy, Joseph 330

  Keynes, John Maynard 90

  Kheifetz, Gregory 308, 310

  Killian, James R. 585

  King, Admiral Ernest 354

  Kipphardt, Heinar: In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer 660–62

  Kistiakowsky, George 414, 420, 424, 426, 438, 456–7, 656

  Klein, Abraham 604

  Klein, Martin: Paul Ehrenfest 151

  Klock, Augustus 38–9, 44

  Koenig, Fred 35–6, 37

  Koenig, Dr Otto 35

  Kohn, Robert D. 20

  Konopinski, Emil 319

  Korean War 560, 563, 564, 584, 586

  Kramer, Victor 54

  Kramers, Hendrik 154, 159, 211, 497, 501, 502, 504

  krypton 254, 318

  Ku Klux Klan 219, 220

  Kurnakov, Sergei 423

  Kusaka, Shuichi 259, 264, 289

  Ladd, D. M. 592

  Lamb, Willis E. 212, 217, 255, 258–9, 501

  ‘Lamb shift’ 504, 509–10

  Lambert, Rudy 302

  Lamy, Archbishop Jean-Baptiste 68, 69

  Landau, Lev 244, 248

  Langevin, Paul 103

  Lansdale, John:

  checks security at Berkeley 310–11, 315

  and Pash 342

  heads Manhattan Project security force 341

  his views on RO as security risk 344–5, 346, 347, 360–61, 362–3, 373

  on Kitty Oppenheimer 361–2

  on Lawrence and Lomanitz 364

  hopes to use RO’s vulnerability 365

  meeting with RO (1943) 365–8

  second interview with him 375–7

  summarises RO’s train conversation with Groves 377–8

  insists on RO’s continued loyalty 379

  and Pash’s memo on RO’s unidentified contact 381, 382

  reports to FBI RO’s naming of Chevalier 382, 383

 

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