Making of the Atomic Bomb

by Richard Rhodes

  286. “asking questions of Nature”: Rosenfeld (1963), p. 51.

  287. “I try . . . I think”: Oppenheimer (1963), I, p. 7.

  288. “He points . . . their validity”: Rosenfeld (1979), p. 318.

  289. “the fairyland of the imagination”: quoted in Thompson (1973), p. 176.

  290. “It is . . . about nature”: Petersen (1963), p. 12.

  291. “It was . . . so seriously”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 13.

  Chapter 4: The Long Grave Already Dug

  292. October 23, 1912: Hahn (1966), p. 70. Hahn (1970), p. 102, says Oct. 12. The official program confirms the later date.

  293. a wet day, etc.: cf. photo “The dedication of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry” in Hahn (1966), following p. 72.

  294. the Kaiser Wilhelm Society: details from Haber (1971), pp. 49-50.

  295. an embarrassment: cf. Hahn (1966), p. 50.

  296. Hahn admired women: cf. Hahn (1970), passim.

  297. For details of Meitner’s early life: cf. Frisch (1979), p. 3.

  298. “There was . . . close friends”: Hahn (1970), p. 88.

  299. “an emanating . . . screen”: Hahn (1966), p. 71.

  300. “If I . . . in prison”: Hahn (1970), p. 110.

  301. “worthy of . . . noble brows”: quoted in ibid., p. 102.

  302. Moseley: this discussion relies on Heilbron (1974).

  303. “so reserved . . . like him”: quoted in ibid., p. 57.

  304. “Hindoos, Burmese . . . ‘scented dirtiness’ ”: Moseley to his mother, ibid., p. 176.

  305. “Some Germans . . . photographing them”: ibid., p. 193.

  306. “We find . . . the atom”: ibid., p. 205.

  307. “unbearably hot . . . start measurements”: ibid., p. 206.

  308. “I want . . . a thousand”: ibid., pp. 207-208.

  309. a billiard table: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 7.

  310. “And that . . . were away”: ibid.

  311. “the only . . . of success”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 58.

  312. “a definite . . . chemical properties”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 224.

  313. “shy . . . and noble”: ibid., p. 223.

  314. “great developments . . . on mankind”: quoted in ibid., p. 224.

  315. “do not . . . and ‘fantastic’ ”: Bohr (1972), p. 567.

  316. “Speaking with . . . saying so”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 226.

  317. “During the . . . on Physics”: Heilbron (1974), pp. 211-213.

  318. “Because you . . . from Moseley”: Bohr OHI, AIP, p. 4.

  319. Bayer Dye Works: cf. Haber (1971), p. 128.

  320. “In the . . . thermos vessels”: Hahn (1970), p. 107.

  321. “It is . . . whole valley”: quoted in Rozental (1967), p. 64.

  322. “The eleven- . . . of Palestine”: quoted in Weisgal and Carmichael (1963), p. 20.

  323. “a deliberate . . . ‘eternal students’ ”: Weizmann (1949), p. 93.

  324. “inviting every . . . remuneration”: ibid., p. 171.

  325. “In the . . . thrown away”: ibid., p. 134.

  326. January 1915: Stein (1961), p. 140.

  327. “Really messianic . . . upon us”: quoted in ibid., p. 137n.

  328. “You know . . . your hands”: quoted in Weizmann (1949), p. 171.

  329. “So it . . . British Admiralty”: ibid., p. 172. Weizmann writes 1916, but this is clearly a slip of memory. Cf. Stein (1961), p. 118. Churchill was no longer First Lord in 1916.

  330. “brisk, fascinating . . . two years”: Weizmann (1949), p. 173.

  331. “Horse-chestnuts . . . for maize”: Lloyd George (1933), pp. 49-50.

  332. “When our . . . in Palestine”: ibid., p. 50. Vera Weizmann affirmed the authenticity of this conversation; cf. Stein (1961), p. 120n.

  333. “view with . . . this object”: cf. frontispiece facsimile, Stein (1961).

  334. “outstanding war . . . National Home”: quoted in ibid., p. 120n.

  335. “it being . . . in Palestine”: ibid., frontispiece facsimile.

  336. a German rocket signal, etc.: these details at Lefebure (1923), pp. 36-37; Goran (1967), p. 68; and Hahn (1970), pp. 119-120.

  337. “to abstain . . . deleterious gases”: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1915), p. 1.

  338. 300,000 pads: Pound (1964), p. 131.

  339. Otto Hahn helped: cf. Hahn (1970), p. 118ff.

  340. 5,730 of them: Prentiss (1937), p. 148.

  341. “Haber informed . . . gas-warfare”: Hahn (1970), p. 118.

  342. James Franck: according to ibid., p. 119ff.

  343. I. G. Farben: cf. Lefebure (1923), p. 86; Haber (1971), pp. 279-280.

  344. mid-June 1915: as Hahn remembers it in Hahn (1970), p. 120. Prentiss (1937) says phosgene was first used by the Germans in a cloud-gas attack against the British at Nieltje on Dec. 19, 1915. Hahn may have meant 1916.

  345. “the wind . . . success”: Hahn (1970), p. 120.

  346. buying German dyestuffs: cf. Haber (1971), p. 189.

  347. phosgene: cf. Prentiss (1937), p. 154ff.

  348. chlorpicrin: cf. ibid., p. 161ff.

  349. mustard gas: cf. ibid., p. 177.

  350. a typical artillery barrage: estimated from the figures given at Lefebure (1923), pp. 77-80.

  351. “She began . . . of life”: Goran (1967), p. 71.

  352. a scientist belongs: according to ibid.

  353. “Our destination . . . in doubt”: Heilbron (1974), p. 271.

  354. “to be . . . or systematizing”: ibid., p. 271ff.

  355. “full of . . . and Australians”: ibid., p. 272.

  356. “The one . . . food”: ibid., p. 274.

  357. “over ghastly . . . slippery inclines”: G. E. Chadwick, quoted in ibid., p. 122.

  358. “They came . . . The Farm”: Masefield (1916), p. 206.

  359. “one of . . . in history”: quoted in Kevles (1979), p. 113.

  360. Folkestone: this section relies primarily on Fredette (1976).

  361. “I saw . . . the sight”: quoted in ibid., pp. 20-21.

  362. “You must . . . in war”: quoted in ibid., p. 30.

  363. “a basis . . . to fight”: ibid., p. 39.

  364. “The day . . . and subordinate”: quoted in ibid., p. 111.

  365. research contracts: Prentiss (1937), p. 84.

  366. “the great . . . of warfare”: Lefebure (1923), p. 173.

  367. a vast war-gas arsenal: cf. Prentiss (1937), p. 85, for these details and statistics.

  368. “Had the . . . war”: Lefebure (1923), p. 176.

  369. 500,000 . . . 300,000: cf. Ellis (1976), p. 62.

  370. 170 million rounds: ibid.

  371. “Concentrated essence of infantry”: J. F. C. Fuller, quoted in Keegan (1976), p. 228.

  372. “I go . . . others”: Edmund Blunden, quoted in Ellis (1975), pp. 137-138.

  373. 21,000 men: cf. Keegan (1976), p. 255.

  374. “It bears . . . common needle”: quoted in Ellis (1975), p. 16.

  375. “For the . . . working shift”: Keegan (1976), pp. 229-230.

  376. a software package: this discussion benefits from Elliot (1972), p. 20ff.

  377. “The basic . . . trenches”: ibid., p. 20.

  378. “The War . . . of victims”: Sassoon (1937), II, p. 143.

  379. the long grave already dug: Masefield (1916), p. 104.

  380. “The war . . . human variation”: Elliot (1972), p. 23.

  381. Elliot stresses: ibid., p. 25.

  Chapter 5: Men from Mars

  382. “Horse-drawn . . . social currents”: von Kármán (1967), p. 14.

  383. “the fountain . . . to oppression”: Paul Ignotus, quoted in Fermi (1971), pp. 38-39.

  384. 33 percent . . . illiterate: Jászi (1924), p. 7.

  385. 37.5 percent of . . . arable land: McCagg (1970), p. 186.

  386. 1910 statistics: cf. Nagy-Talavera (1970), p. 41n.

  387. S. V. Schossberger
: cf. McCagg (1970), p. 132. My discussion of this phenomenon generally follows McCagg.

  388. “one day . . . almost unpronounceable”: von Kármán (1967), p. 17.

  389. Jewish family ennoblements: cf. McCagg (1970), p. 63.

  390. “galaxy of . . . lived elsewhere”: Frisch (1979), pp. 173-174.

  391. Von Kármán at six: von Kármán (1967), pp. 15-16.

  392. Von Neumann at six: cf. Goldstine (1972), pp. 166-167.

  393. Edward Teller . . . late . . . to talk: cf. Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 6.

  394. “Johnny used . . . improved”: Ulam (1976), p. 111.

  395. “As a . . . were good”: Teller (1962), p. 81.

  396. “addiction to . . . of Man”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 4.

  397. “the most . . . 19th century”: E. F. Kunz, quoted in Madach (1956), p. 7.

  398. “In [Madach’s] . . . is pessimistic”: New York Post, Nov. 24, 1945, quoted in Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 3n.

  399. “a society . . . achievement”: Smith (1960), p. 78.

  400. “My father . . . them ourselves”: von Kármán (1967), p. 21.

  401. “We had . . . mathematician”: interview with Eugene Wigner, Princeton, N.J., Jan. 21, 1983.

  402. Teller recalls . . . syllogism: cf. Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 137.

  403. At Princeton: cf. Goldstine (1972), p. 176.

  404. even Wigner thought: cf. Heims (1980), p. 43.

  405. the only authentic genius: cf. Fermi (1971), pp. 53-54.

  406. “So you . . . like geniuses”: Blumberg and Owens (1976), pp. 15-16.

  407. “I think . . . impressed me”: ibid., p. 23.

  408. “The Revolution . . . irresistible momentum”: Ferenc Göndör, quoted in Völgyes (1971), p. 31.

  409. “Es ist passiert”: quoted in ibid., p. 12.

  410. “the rousing . . . melodious flood”: Koestler (1952), p. 63.

  411. “So far . . . sadistic excesses”: von Kármán (1967), p. 93.

  412. “because it . . . to come”: Koestler (1952), p. 67.

  413. “We left . . . put down”: USAEC (1954), p. 654.

  414. the group of Hungarian financiers: McCagg (1970), p. 16.

  415. Teller heard of corpses: Blumberg and Owens (1976), p. 18.

  416. The Tellers acquired two soldiers: cf. ibid.

  417. “I shiver . . . terrible revenge”: quoted in ibid., p. 19.

  418. five hundred deaths: I use Koestler’s figure (“under five hundred”), the larger of the two I have found. Koestler (1952), p. 67.

  419. at least five thousand deaths: Heims (1980), p. 47, citing Rudolf L. Tökes, Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic (Praeger, 1967), p. 214.

  420. “no desire . . . all question”: Jászi (1923), p. 160, the atrocities in detail ff.

  421. “that the . . . nationalities”: quoted in ibid., p. 186.

  422. “It will . . . face extinction”: Ulam (1976), p. 111.

  423. “dinned into . . . stay even”: Time, Nov. 19, 1957, p. 22.

  424. “I loved . . . doomed society”: Cough-Ian (1963), p. 89.

  425. “I was . . . is lasting”: von Kármán (1967), p. 95.

  426. “once commented . . . the ‘it’ ”: Pais (1982), p. 39.

  427. “the acquisition . . . hostile world”: Weizmann (1949), p. 18.

  428. “every division . . . a watershed”: ibid., p. 29.

  429. “In the . . . little understanding”: Born (1981), p. 39.

  430. “Only a . . . the maze”: Segrè (1980), p. 124.

  431. “Bohr remembered . . . of Maxwell”: Oppenheimer (1963), I, p. 21.

  432. “His reactions . . . as well”: Rozental (1967), p. 138.

  433. “That . . . of thought”: quoted in Segrè (1980), p. 124.

  434. “a unique . . . unforgettable experience”: Bohr (1963), p. 54.

  435. “I shall . . . highly exciting”: Heisenberg (1971), pp. 37-38.

  436. “At the . . . that afternoon”: ibid., p. 38.

  437. “Suddenly, the . . . of hope”: ibid., p. 42.

  438. “You are . . . small children!”: Gamow (1966), p. 51.

  439. “radiant . . . walking shorts”: quoted in Jungk (1958), p. 26.

  440. “But now . . . very seriously”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 55.

  441. “It saddened . . . such fancies”: ibid., p. 8.

  442. “a few . . . to rise”: ibid., p. 61.

  443. “a coherent . . . atomic physics”: ibid., p. 62.

  444. “This was . . . scholarship”: the interviewer was Thomas Kuhn, in 1963, quoted in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 3.

  445. one of Robert’s friends: Francis Fergusson, cited in ibid., p. 2.

  446. “desperately amiable . . . be agreeable”: Paul Horgan, quoted in ibid.

  447. “an unctuous . . . a bastard”: quoted in Royal (1969), pp. 15-16.

  448. “tortured him”: quoted in ibid., p. 23.

  449. “Still a . . . about him”: Jane Didisheim Kayser, quoted in Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 6.

  450. “came down . . . the time”: ibid., p. 7.

  451. a Goth coming into Rome: Royal (1969), p. 27.

  452. “He intellectually . . . the place”: quoted in ibid. Michelmore (1969), p. 11, however, has Oppenheimer himself saying: “I . . . just raided the place intellectually.”

  453. a typical year: cf. Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 45.

  454. “although I . . . with murder”: ibid., p. 46.

  455. “the most . . . came alive”: Michelmore (1969), p. 11.

  456. “Up to . . . of wrong”: Seven Springs Farm transcript, p. 5, in JRO Papers, Box 66.

  457. “Generously, you . . . dead. Voila”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 54.

  458. Both of Oppenheimer’s . . . friends: they are quoted in this regard in ibid., p. 32.

  459. “It came . . . in physics”: ibid., pp. 45-46.

  460. “a man . . . an apprentice”: ibid., p. 69.

  461. “But Rutherford . . . the center”: ibid., p. 75.

  462. “perfectly prodigious . . . success”: quoted in ibid., p. 77.

  463. “I am . . . Harvard overnight”: ibid., p. 87.

  464. “The business . . . interested in”: ibid, p. 88ff.

  465. “The melancholy . . . been snubbed”: ibid., p. 128.

  466. “How is . . . worth living”: ibid., p. 86.

  467. “making a . . . a career”: ibid., p. 90.

  468. “on the . . . was chronic”: quoted in Royal (1969), p. 35.

  469. “noisy . . . me crazy”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 92.

  470. “doing a . . . and alarm”: John Edsall, quoted in ibid.

  471. “When Rutherford . . . That’s bad”: ibid., p. 96.

  472. “sweetness”: Snow (1981), p. 60.

  473. “At that . . . theoretical physicist”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 96.

  474. “He said . . . probably true”: quoted in ibid., p. 94.

  475. “a great . . . to brigantines”: ibid., p. 95.

  476. “The [Cambridge] . . . but love”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 22.

  477. “a great . . . it”: quoted in ibid., p. 21.

  478. “Although this . . . very much”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 103.

  479. “Not only . . . for generations”: Teller (1980), p. 137.

  480. “a desert”: second AHQP interview, p. 18.

  481. “largeness and . . . fixed up”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 121.

  482. “house and . . . and stream”: ibid., p. 126.

  483. Everyone went . . . except Einstein: Segrè (1980) gives Einstein’s reason at p. 168.

  484. “In other . . . same structure”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 71.

  485. “This hypothesis . . . be true”: ibid., p. 72.

  486. “with . . . liberation”: ibid., p. 71.

  487. “Wilhelm Wien . . . by Schrödinger”: Heisenberg in Rozental (1967), p. 103.

  488. “For though . . . laborious discussions”:
ibid.

  489. “While Mrs. . . . admit that”: Heisenberg (1971), pp. 75-76.

  490. “If one . . . step forward”: quoted in Rozental (1967), pp. 103-104.

  491. “utterly . . . all along”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 77.

  492. “It is . . . can observe”: quoted in ibid.

  493. “On this . . . quantum mechanics”: Heisenberg in Rozental (1967), p. 105.

  494. Bohr ought to have liked: cf. Heisenberg’s discussion in ibid., p. 106.

  495. “the great . . . scientists”: Bohr (1961), p. 52.

  496. “renunciation”: e.g., ibid., pp. 77, 80.

  497. “Two magnitudes . . . the other”: Segrè (1980), p. 167.

  498. “bears a . . . and object”: Bohr (1961), p. 91.

  499. “quantum mechanics . . . play dice”: quoted in Holton (1973), p. 120.

  500. “We all . . . it all”: Heisenberg (1971), p. 79.

  501. “ ‘God does . . . the last”: ibid., p. 80.

  502. “Nor is . . . the world”: quoted in ibid., p. 81.

  Chapter 6: Machines

  503. “I shall . . . world”: Snow (1958), p. 88.

  504. “uncarpeted floor . . . volcano”: Oliphant (1972), p. 19.

  505. “An anomalous effect in nitrogen”: Rutherford (1963), p. 585ff.

  506. “gave rise . . . itself”: ibid., p. 547.

  507. “I occasionally . . . this method”: quoted in Bohr (1963), p. 50.

  508. “appeared to . . . H scintillations”: Rutherford (1963), p. 585.

  509. “must be . . . in air”: ibid., p. 587.

  510. “From the . . . is disintegrated”: ibid., p. 589.

  511. one . . . in 300,000: Rutherford (1965), p. 24.

  512. Francis William Aston: biographical details from de Hevesy (1947).

  513. “In this . . . discharge tube”: ibid., p. 637.

  514. building the precision instrument: cf. Aston (1927, 1933).

  515. “In letters . . . atomic model”: Bohr (1963), p. 52.

  516. “that neon . . . to 1”: Aston (1938), p. 105.

  517. “High packing . . . the reverse”: Aston (1927), p. 958.

  518. “If we . . . full speed”: Aston (1938), p. 106.

  519. “the nuclear . . . door neighbor”: ibid., pp. 113-114.

  520. “Stockholm . . . ever since”: quoted in de Hevesy (1947), p. 645.

  521. “particularly detested . . . barking kind”: quoted in ibid., p. 644.

  522. “What is . . . not answer”: quoted in Kevles (1977), p. 96. Numbers of American physicists given here and ff.