Week 10 Readings

HISTORY 60

Department of History
University of California, Irvine
Instructor: Dr. Barbara J. Becker

Since I wrote the last lines, 15 years ago, great and formidable events have happened. The dance of atoms, electrons, and nuclei, which in all its fury is subject to God's eternal laws, has been entangled with another restless universe which may well be the Devil's: the human struggle for power and domination, which eventually becomes history. My optimistic enthusiasm about the disinterested search for truth has been severely shaken....

When the question of a new edition of this book arose I felt a considerable embarrassment. To bring it up-to-date I had to write an account of the scientific development since 1935. But although this period is as full of fascinating discoveries, ideas, theories, as any previous epoch, I could not possibly describe them in the same tone in which the book was written; namely, in the belief that a deep insight of the workshop of nature was the first step towards a rational philosophy and to worldly wisdom. It seems to me that the scientists who led the way to the atomic bomb were extremely skillful and ingenious, but not wise men. They delivered the fruits of their discoveries unconditionally into the hands of politicians and soldiers; thus they lost their moral innocence and their intellectual freedom....

The satisfaction of the noble curiosity of the scholar is only one aspect of research. Science is also--and many say predominantly--a collective effort to obtain power over the forces of nature in the interest of human life. That is the root of the trouble....

It [became] clear that ordinary matter is unstable, explosive, that we are sitting on a powder barrel. Still danger seemed remote as ordinary sparks would not work; temperatures of million degrees, as in the centre of stars, are needed for ignition. Fission on the other hand would need no ignition through high temperatures, because a neutron is not repelled by the nuclear charge. All depends on whether a chain of fission could be established.

Nobody can say how this problem which was in the mind of many physicists would have developed if the war had not interfered. Very likely the progress would have been much slower, possibly slow enough for a contemplation of the consequences, economic and political. As it was, a kind of panic developed. The refugee scholars spread not only knowledge, but also the conviction that the Hitler Government would do its utmost to obtain a nuclear explosive and would not hesitate to use it ruthlessly. British and American physicists were soon persuaded that the possibilities of fission had to be investigated, and many laboratories, many teams of theoreticians began to work....

The methods developed for this purpose are secret and of no great interest from the standpoint of science. They were completely successful. On July 16, 1945, the first experimental bomb was exploded near Los Alamos, New Mexico. This was certainly one of the greatest triumphs of theoretical physics if measured not by the subtlety of ideas but by the effort made in money, scientific collaboration and industrial organisation. No preliminary experiment was possible, the tremendous risk was taken in the confidence that the theoretical calculations based on laboratory experiments were accurate. Therefore it is no wonder that the physicists who watched the terrific phenomenon of the first nuclear explosion felt proud and relieved form a heavy responsibility. They had done a great service to their country and to the community of allied nations.

But, when a few weeks later, two "atomic bombs" were dropped over Japan and destroyed the crowded cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they discovered that a more fundamental responsibility was on their shoulders....

The motives of those who took part in the development of nuclear explosives were certainly above reproach: Many of them were just drafted to this work as their war service, others joined it, driven by the apprehension that the Germans might produce the bomb first. Yet there was no organisation of scientists which could form a general opinion. Single men became little cog-wheels in the tremendous machine, which was directed by political and military authorities. The leading physicists became scientific advisors of these authorities and experienced the new sensation of power and influence. They enjoyed their work and its tremendous success, and forgot for the time being to think hard about its consequences. It is true that a group of scientists warned the U.S. Government not to use the bomb against cities, but to demonstrate its existence and power in a less murderous way, for instance on the top of Fujiyama mountain. They predicted very accurately the disastrous political consequences which an attack on a city would have. But their advice was neglected.

The principal discrepancy between public opinion in the United States and the conviction of the scientists is concerned with secrecy. The scientists are convinced that there is no secret in science. There may be technical tricks which can be kept secret for a limited period. But the laws of nature are open to anybody who is trained in using the scientific method of research.

Therefore it was futile to keep the atomic bomb project from being known to the Russian allies, and the maintenance of this secret has with necessity transformed them from friends into enemies....

The release of nuclear energy is an event comparable to the first fire kindled by prehistoric man--though there is no modern Prometheus but teams of clever yet less heroic fellows, useless as inspiration for epic poetry....