736. the Gamows’ escape: cf. Gamow (1970), p. 108ff.
737. “I . . . my eyes”: ibid., p. 120.
738. “You see . . . to arrange”: ibid., p. 122.
739. “the voice . . . they were!”: ibid., p. 123.
740. “unable . . . neutron”: quoted in Weart (1979), p. 44.
741. “In the . . . encouragement”: revised from ibid., p. 44, and Biquard (1962), p. 36.
742. “the emission . . . element”: Joliot, quoted in Biquard (1962), p. 36.
743. “I irradiate . . . it continues”: quoted in ibid., p. 32.
744. “The following . . . working order”: ibid., p. 37.
745. “The yield . . . million atoms”: Joliot (1935), p. 370.
746. “never . . . of view”: quoted in Weart (1979), p. 46.
747. “Marie Curie . . . her life”: quoted in Biquard (1962), p. 33.
748. “one of . . . the century”: Segrè (1980), p. 197ff.
749. “These . . . transmutation”: ibid., p. 198, where the letter to Nature is reproduced as Fig. 9.15.
750. “I congratulate . . . any success”: quoted in Biquard (1962), p. 39.
751. “we are . . . necessary precautions”: Joliot (1935), p. 373.
752. “spending much . . . very long”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 36.
753. “became . . . chain reaction”: ibid., p. 17.
754. “a little . . . a job”: ibid.
755. “I remember . . . memoranda”: ibid., p. 19ff.
756. a patent application: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 622ff.
757. March 12, 1934: LS completed the application on Saturday, March 10. He had to wait until Monday to file.
758. books on microfilm: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 722.
759. “In accordance . . . substances”: ibid., p. 622. The balance of the application seems to concern a rough early conception of a thermonuclear fusion reactor of the Shiva type with a blanket for breeding heavy-element transmutations!
760. “that the . . . the other”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 18.
761. “None of . . . England”: ibid.
762. Fermi was prepared: cf. Holton (1974), for evidence and a discussion.
763. “I remember . . . effective”: Frisch (1976b), p. 46.
764. Both Fermi’s biographers: L. Fermi (1954) and Segrè (1970).
765. “Fermi must . . . handwriting”: Segrè (1970), p. 8.
766. “I studied . . . physics”: quoted in ibid., p. 10.
767. “a very . . . death”: quoted in ibid., p. 11.
768. “the partial . . . examination”: ibid., p. 12.
769. “In the . . . propagandist”: Fermi to Enrico Persico, Jan. 30, 1920, in ibid., p. 194. Segrè translates the extant Fermi-Persico correspondence in an appendix, p. 189ff.
770. “shy . . . solitude”: ibid., p. 33.
771. “could not . . . nebulous”: ibid., p. 23.
772. “he . . . in Rome”: ibid., p. 33.
773. “Fermi remembered . . . recognize him”: interview with Emilio Segrè, Lafayette, Calif., June 29, 1983.
774. “toward . . . experiment”: Segrè (1970), p. 23.
775. “disliked . . . possible”: quoted in ibid., p. 55.
776. “enlightening simplicity”: ibid.
777. “quantum engineer”: quoted by Weisskopf in Weiner (1972), p. 188.
778. “Not a . . . pretty active”: quoted in Davis (1968), p. 266.
779. “cold . . . nature”: quoted in ibid., p. 265.
780. “Fermi’s thumb . . . flying”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 7ff.
781. “was . . . sex appeal”: ibid., p. 10.
782. “perhaps . . . than against”: ibid., p. 15. LF’s emphasis.
783. the time was ripe: sources for this discussion include Holton (1974) and Amaldi (1977) as well as L. Fermi (1954) and Segrè (1970).
784. “A fantastic . . . intuition”: quoted in Holton (1974), p. 172.
785. too remote: according to Segrè (1970), p. 72.
786. Fermi found amusing: Segrè interview, June 29, 1983.
787. Fermi skiing: L. Fermi in Badash (1980), p. 89.
788. “We had . . . radioactivity”: quoted in Holton (1974), p. 173, n. 81.
789. “Since the . . . interesting”: Rabi (1970), p. 16.
790. “The location . . . of study”: Segrè (1970), p. 53.
791. crude Geiger counters: cf. Amaldi (1977), p. 301, Fig. 3, and Libby (1979), p. 41.
792. 100,000 neutrons: cf. Fermi paper (hereafter FP) 84b, Fermi (1962), p. 674.
793. “Small cylindrical . . . seconds”: ibid.
794. “We organized . . . our stuff”: Segrè (1955), p. 258ff.
795. The next letter: FP 85b, Fermi (1962), p. 676.
796. “Amaldi . . . good loser”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 89.
797. 800 millicuries: cf. FP 99, Fermi (1962), p. 748.
798. “a very . . . determined”: FP 86b, ibid., p. 678.
799. “This negative . . . than 92”: FP 99, ibid., p. 750.
800. “a new element”: cf. partial text of Corbino’s address in Segrè (1970), p. 76.
801. “The discoveries . . . wars”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 37.
802. “Of course . . . the point”: ibid., p. 39.
803. “the liberation . . . the chain”: Szilard (1972), p. 639.
804. critical mass: cf. ibid., p. 642.
805. “some cheap . . . an explosion”: ibid.
806. “Marie Curie . . . not corrupted”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 388.
807. “which was . . . experiments”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 20.
808. Szilard applied to Rutherford: cf. LS to Ernest Rutherford, June 7, 1934, Szilard Papers.
809. “These experiments . . . confirmed”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 20.
810. the problem with helium: cf. Brown (n.d.), p. 53ff.
811. early in July: Amaldi (1977), p. 305. 216. “going on . . . laboratory”: ibid.
812. an unanswered question: cf. Amaldi (1977), p. 310, and FP 98 (p. 744), FP 103 (p. 755) and p. 641 of Fermi (1962).
813. “We also . . . 3 minutes”: Amaldi (1977), p. 310.
814. radiative-capture problem: cf. FP 103, Fermi (1962), p. 754ff.
815. “and those . . . important”: ibid., p. 756.
816. “Shortly afterwards . . . results”: ibid., p. 641.
817. “In particular . . . same room”: Amaldi (1977), p. 311ff.
818. “I will . . . have been”: quoted in Segrè (1970), p. 80. The colleague was Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
819. “About noon . . . radioactivity”: ibid.
820. “the halls . . . magic!”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 98.
821. water worked: cf. FP 105b, Fermi (1962), p. 761ff.
822. “Fermi dictated . . . time”: Segrè (1970), p. 81.
823. “They shouted . . . drunk”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 100.
824. “Influence of . . . neutrons—I”: FP 105b, Fermi (1962).
825. “The case . . . same element”: ibid., p. 761.
826. “might never . . . found out”: Hans Bethe OHI, AIP, p. 30.
827. Physical Review paper: A. von Grosse, Phys. Rev. 46:241 (1934).
828. “It was . . . characteristics”: Hahn (1966), p. 141.
829. “I began . . . chamber”: Amaldi (1977), p. 317.
830. “The experiments . . . results”: ibid.
831. “Through these . . . weight 239”: FP 107, Fermi (1962), p. 791.
832. “Other examples . . . bromine”: Szilard (1972), p. 646.
833. “So I . . . a chemist”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 18.
834. “understood . . . done”: ibid., p. 19.
835. Frederick Alexander Lindemann: cf. especially Mendelssohn (1973), p. 168ff.
836. “If your . . . physicist”: quoted in ibid., p. 168.
837. “he became . . . for arrogance”: ibid., p. 169.
838. “unbending . . . gentlemen”: ibid., p. 168.
> 839. “gracious living . . . friendship”: ibid., p. 171.
840. “saw a . . . modern war”: Churchill (1948), p. 79ff.
841. “the question . . . as possible”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 41.
842. “there is . . . taking patents”: ibid., p. 40.
843. “Early in . . . proper use”: ibid., p. 42.
844. “from private . . . at Oxford”: ibid.
845. “there appears . . . concerned”: quoted in ibid., p. 18, n. 28.
846. “I daresay . . . Government anything”: quoted in Szilard (1972), p. 733.
847. “contains . . . this country”: ibid., p. 734.
848. “Bohr in . . . that game”: Rozental (1967), p. 138.
849. “The lid . . . past year”: ibid., p. 153.
850. “was drowned . . . for him”: Oppenheimer (1963), II, p. 30.
851. “On that . . . understand it”: Frisch (1979), p. 102.
852. “Neutron capture and nuclear constitution”: Bohr (1936).
853. “For still . . . to become”: ibid., p. 348.
854. “the consequences . . . developed”: ibid.
855. “This 1937 . . . cleared up”: Wheeler (1963b), p. 40.
856. Rutherford’s death: cf. Eve (1939), p. 424ff, and Oliphant (1972), p. 153ff.
857. “seedy”: quoted in Oliphant (1972), p. 154.
858. “a wonderful . . . of hope”: quoted in ibid., p. 155.
859. “I want . . . Nelson College”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 425.
860. “When the . . . life”: Oliphant (1972), p. 155.
861. “Life is . . . encouragement”: Smith and Weiner (1980), p. 204.
862. “to me . . . father”: Bohr (1958), p. 73.
863. “Voltaire . . . atomic physics”: quoted in Eve (1939), p. 430ff.
864. “I have . . . attractive”: ibid., p. 424.
865. “On element 93”: Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie 47: 653. Cf. translation in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 16ff.
866. Segrè remembers: cf. Emilio Segrè OHI, AIP, p. 24, and my Segrè interview.
867. “I think . . . elements”: Otto Frisch OHI, AIP, p. 38.
868. “It is . . . element”: FP 98, Fermi (1962), p. 734.
869. He later told Teller, Segrè, Woods: e.g., the three citations ff.
870. “Fermi refused . . . of nuclei”: Teller (1979), p. 140.
871. “You know . . . to himself”: Segrè interview, June 29, 1983.
872. “Why was . . . allowed”: Libby (1979), p. 43.
Chapter 9: An Extensive Burst
873. “I believe . . . been granted”: Meitner (1964), p. 2.
874. “quite convinced . . . had done”: James Chadwick OHI, AIP, p. 76.
875. “Slight . . . by nature”: Frisch (1968), p. 414.
876. “there . . . X-rays”: Frisch (1978), p. 427.
877. “persuaded . . . collaboration”: Meitner (1962), p. 6.
878. “not only . . . Professor Hahn”: Hahn (1966), p. 66.
879. “she could . . . story-teller”: Frisch (1968), p. 414.
880. “totally . . . vanity”: Frisch (1978), p. 426.
881. “though . . . could play”: Frisch (1968), p. 414.
882. “It . . . alert”: Axelsson (1946), p. 31.
883. “the vision . . . final truth”: Frisch (1978), p. 426.
884. “For Hahn . . . to explain”: ibid., p. 428.
885. Hahn met Joliot: Weart (1979), p. 57.
886. “It seems . . . its interpretation”: quoted in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 37.
887. “Who knows . . . storm”: quoted in Churchill (1948), p. 262.
888. “The years . . . conditions”: Meitner (1959), p. 12.
889. Meitner feared: cf. Frisch (1968), p. 410ff.
890. “I gave . . . an emergency”: an important detail; after the war Meitner bitterly accused Hahn of railroading her out of Germany so that he would not have to share the discovery of fission with her—as if he foresaw it in July. Cf. Hahn (1970), p. 199.
891. “I took . . . Holland colleagues”: Axelsson (1946), p. 31.
892. Physical Institute: such is LM’s address in Meitner and Frisch (1939). In his postwar recollections Frisch consistently places her at the “newlybuilt” Nobel Institute.
893. she photographed him: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 18.
894. “He told . . . the day”: quoted in Leigh Fenly, “The Agony of the Bomb, and Ecstasy of Life with Leo Szilard.” San Diego Union, Nov. 19, 1978, p. D-8.
895. “a very . . . a ‘stranger’ ”: LS to Gertrud Weiss, March 26, 1936. Trans. Edda König. Szilard Papers.
896. “stay in . . . the war?”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 20ff.
897. Lewis L. Strauss: details of his life from Pfau (1984), which Dr. Pfau was kind enough to allow me to read in MS.
898. “My boy . . . you down”: quoted in ibid.
899. “I became . . . hospitals”: Strauss (1962), p. 163.
900. the report to Nature: cf. Szilard (1972), pp. 140, 147ff.
901. “An isotope . . . my parents”: Strauss (1962), p. 164.
902. “August 30 . . . Leo Szilard”: Szilard Papers.
903. owned patent jointly: “Patents which have been taken out by Dr. Brasch and Dr. Szilard were to be brought into this foundation.” File memorandum, Szilard Papers.
904. “asked me . . . ‘surge generator’ ”: Strauss (1962), p. 164.
905. “In the . . . fresh fruit”: Shils (1964), p. 39.
906. debates among lawyers: cf. file memorandum, Szilard Papers.
907. “On April . . . taste unchanged”: M. Lenz to LS, April 15, 1938. Szilard Papers.
908. “I left . . . wife here”: Emilio Segrè OHI, AIP, p. 31.
909. a map of Ethiopia: Segrè (1970), p. 87.
910. “He was . . . to fascism”: ibid., p. 63.
911. “We worked . . . Civil War”: quoted in ibid., p. 90.
912. “That was . . . Italy”: ibid., p. 91.
913. “America . . . of Europe”: ibid., p. 92.
914. “I have . . . through anything”: quoted in Shirer (1960), p. 343.
915. “Rome of . . . and master”: revised from Segrè (1970), p. 95.
916. Fermi told Segrè: ibid., p. 96.
917. “Jews . . . Italian race”: quoted in L. Fermi (1954), p. 119.
918. “Why should . . . can’t he?”: quoted in Frisch (1979), p. 108.
919. “the dangers . . . other societies”: Bohr (1958), p. 23.
920. “we may . . . and variety”: ibid., p. 30.
921. the German delegates: according to Moore (1966), p. 218.
922. “the . . . prejudices”: Bohr (1958), p. 31.
923. “destroying . . . each other”: Arendt (1951), p. 478.
924. Bohr and Fermi’s Nobel: cf. L. Fermi (1954), p. 120ff.
925. Goldhaber: cf. Szilard (1972), p. 141ff.
926. “the whole . . . be delayed”: Churchill (1948), p. 292.
927. “I just . . . and see”: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 21.
928. “was . . . mood”: quoted in Churchill (1948), p. 301.
929. “The British . . . worse treatment”: ibid., p. 301ff.
930. “conditions . . . security”: quoted in ibid., p. 302.
931. “He told . . . was accepted”: quoted in ibid., p. 306.
932. “that this . . . than Germans”: quoted in ibid., p. 309.
933. “How horrible . . . my soul”: quoted in ibid., p. 315.
934. “regard the . . . another again”: quoted in ibid., p. 318.
935. invasion of British Isles: cf. ibid.
936. “This is . . . our time”: quoted in ibid.
937. Lindemann drove up: this story and Lindemann’s remark appear in Mendelssohn (1973), p. 172.
938. “the complete . . . of force”: Churchill (1948), p. 303.
939. HAVE ON . . . DECISIONS: Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 48.
940. “As my . . . decrea
sed”: Szilard (1972), p. 185.
941. University of Rochester: Goldhaber, Hill and Szilard, Phys. Rev. 55:47, refers to these experiments “to be reported in the following paper.” They are therefore not reported in Phys. Rev. 55:47 as Weart and Szilard (1978) assert (p. 53, n.l). Szilard in Weart and Szilard (1978), p. 53, says to the point: “I went up to Rochester and stayed there for two weeks and made some experiments on indium which finally cleared up the mystery.” Since he wrote the Admiralty on Dec. 21, 1938 (cf. Weart and Szilard, p. 60), the Rochester work probably occurred in late November-early December.
942. “Taken . . . by fractionation”: quoted in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 38.
943. “You can . . . muddled up”: quoted in ibid., p. 39ff.
944. Strassmann speculated: cf. Irving (1967), p. 21. Irving interviewed both Strassmann and Hahn.
945. “must be . . . alpha particles”: quoted in Graetzer and Anderson (1971), p. 42.
946. Meitner wrote in warning: according to Frisch (1979), p. 115. Frisch says elsewhere that this letter has been lost. It is not included among the Hahn-Meitner correspondence in Hahn (1975). All translations from the Hahn-Meitner correspondence by Edda König.
947. “Bohr was . . . elements”: Hahn (1970), p. 150.
948. “Hard . . . be withdrawn”: L. Fermi (1954), p. 123.
949. “especially rich ones”: quoted in Dawidowicz (1975), p. 135.
950. “your discovery . . . slow neutrons”: quoted in Segrè (1970), p. 98.
951. “Most of . . . very interesting”: Hahn (1975), p. 75ff.
952. Meitner’s living conditions: cf. ibid., pp. 91, 93, 103.
953. Eva von Bahr-Bergius: Johansson (n.d.), p. 1, and Hahn (1975), p. 103.
954. “Of course . . . important apparatus”: Hahn (1975), p. 99.
955. “Concerning . . . care of”: ibid., p. 76.
956. “a little . . . somewhat better”: ibid., p. 77.
957. “As much . . . like barium”: ibid., p. 77ff.
958. KWI layout: cf. floor plan, Max Planck Society Library and Archive, Berlin-Dahlem, and illustration accompanying “Die Kernspaltung,” Bild der Wissenschaft, Dec. 1978, pp. 68-69.
959. KWI tables: the composite worktable preserved at the Deutsches Museum in Munich would appear to be the measurement-room table with a paraffin block, flasks and filters added to represent the other work areas.
Making of the Atomic Bomb Page 108
