Making of the Atomic Bomb

  nuclear chain reaction experiments of, 280–81, 288, 291, 298–301, 333–34, 394–97, 399

  nuclear fission and, 269–70, 273

  pile studies and, 395–97, 399, 428–30, 433–40

  Trinity and, 652–53, 655, 677

  Anderson, Sir John, 512–13, 527–28, 538, 624

  Anschluss (1938), 235, 237, 241–42

  Anscombe, G. E. M., 698

  anti-Semitism, 177, 235

  in France, 179–80

  in Germany, 17–18, 25–26, 116, 168–70, 174, 182, 183–85, 188, 192, 194, 249, 445, 475, 630

  of Hitler, 174–76, 181, 184, 475, 482

  in Hungary, 106–7, 109, 111–12, 185

  in Italy, 240–42, 249

  in literature, 17–18, 181–84

  Oppenheimer and, 445

  in Russia, 178–79, 180–81, 183

  Antonov, Alexei E., 691

  Applied Radiochemistry (Hahn), 352

  Archies, 702–3

  Ardenne, Baron Manfred von, 370–71

  area bombing, precision bombing vs., 469–71, 476, 586, 591, 650

  Arendt, Hannah, 173–74, 183–84, 243, 732–33

  argon gas, 43

  Aristotle, 29, 55

  Arkiv für Elektrotechnik, 145

  armor penetration, theory of, 415, 544

  Arms, H. S., 340

  arms race, 325

  Bohr and, 528–38, 621, 624, 637

  Conant’s argument for, 406–7

  Lawrence and, 643–64

  secrecy as risking, 534–35

  Soviet Union and, 527–31, 534, 536–38

  Szilard on, 635–36, 637

  United States and, 535–36, 637

  Army Air Forces, U.S., 554, 583

  Army Corps of Engineers, U.S., 412, 424, 451, 486

  Army Institute of Pathology, U.S., 734

  Army Medical Corps, U.S., 733

  Arneson, R. Gordon, 634, 644

  Arnold, Henry H. (Hap), 583–84, 587, 591, 641, 650

  atomic warfare and, 736

  LeMay and, 597, 599, 687

  Truman and, 745

  Arnold, William A., 263

  Arsenic and Old Lace (Kesselring), 566

  artillery shells, 101

  Asano family, 712, 726

  Asano Sentei Park, 726–27

  Ashworth, Frederick L., 739–40

  Asquith, Herbert, 89

  Association for Scientific Collaboration, 292

  Aston, Francis W., 231, 260, 314

  isotopes identified by, 84, 138–39, 340

  mass-spectrograph and, 139–41, 215–16, 285, 487

  Rutherford and, 138, 141

  on sub-atomic energy, 140–41

  Thompson and, 138–40

  Atkinson, Robert, 370

  atomic bomb:

  assembly mechanism of, 324, 362

  autocatalytic, 464, 466

  as barbarous weapon, 698, 746

  complementarity of, 525, 528, 534, 538, 562, 572, 643

  delivery and ballistics of, 478, 480–81, 582–86

  design of, 415–20, 422, 447–49, 460–64, 466, 480, 540, 578, 689

  destructive potential of, 315, 323, 324–25, 369, 377, 386–87, 405, 420–21, 508–11, 561, 563, 576, 643, 647

  detonation and, 462–64, 466–67, 478–80, 540, 541–42, 544–45, 561, 631

  efficiency as problem of, 461–62

  engineering for, 382–83, 476

  firebombings compared to, 648

  gun, see Little Boy

  humanitarian concerns and, 639–40, 647–49

  implosion, see Fat Man

  international control of, 562, 572, 624, 637, 644–47

  moral implications of, 335–36

  ordnance work on, 466–68, 476–81

  political implications of, 500, 508–9, 523, 525–38, 561–62, 572, 620–21, 624–26, 628–31, 633–38, 641–44, 649–50

  release mechanism for, 582

  scientists’ opposition to, 312, 452–53, 697, 749–50

  secrecy of, 279–82, 290, 293–95, 345, 350

  Target Committee for, 626–28, 630–33, 638–39

  see also specific individuals and topics

  atomic energy, 24

  Bohr on, 227–28

  on industrial scale, 27–28, 38, 239

  radioactive decay and, 43–44

  Szilard on, 25, 27–28, 213–14, 223, 268

  “Atomic energy from U238” (Turner), 346–47

  atomic number, 83

  atomic structure, Bohr’s explanation of, 114–15, 128–33

  atomic theory, 30–31

  atomic transformation, Rutherford and, 27–28, 38

  atomic weight, 139–40, 154

  atoms:

  artificial transmutation of, 137–38, 153

  binding energy of, 140–41

  dissection of, 42

  electromagnetism and, 30

  as mechanical, 29–30

  models of, 40–41, 50–51, 62, 66, 69–72, 75–77, 83–85, 113–14, 116–17, 128–29, 139

  quantum principles applied to, 71, 75, 78, 83–84, 113–17, 124, 127–29, 131–33

  second law of thermodynamics and, 30–31

  stationary states in, 71–72, 76

  X-ray spectra of, 81–85

  see also specific parts of atoms

  B-29 Superfortress, 478, 480–81, 554, 631, 679–80

  Arnold’s commitment to, 587

  background and description of, 584–85, 591, 626, 705

  bombing raids flown by, 588–91, 593–94, 595–600, 612, 640, 649, 745

  modifications of, 680–81

  practice bombing runs of, 585–86, 589–90, 667, 699

  reconnaissance missions of, 588

  Bacher, Robert F.:

  implosion studies and, 549

  Los Alamos and, 454, 460, 549, 652

  Oppenheimer and, 549

  Trinity and, 659, 660, 662

  Bagge, Erich, 311

  Bahr-Bergius, Eva von, 250, 257

  Bahr-Bergius, Niklas von, 257

  Bainbridge, Kenneth, 362, 365

  background of, 652

  Fermi and, 664–65

  Trinity and, 652–54, 657, 659, 664–67, 671–72, 675, 687

  Baldwin, A. H., 97

  Balfour, Arthur, 88–90

  Balfour Declaration, 90

  Balmer, Johann, 73–74

  Balmer series, 73–75, 117–18

  Baratol, 577

  Barbarossa, Operation, 367–68

  Bard, Ralph A., 628, 630

  barium, isotopes of, 252–55, 257–58, 260–62

  Bartky, Walter, 636

  Baruch, Bernard, 307

  Bataan Death March, 475

  Battle of Britain, 341–43, 470

  bazooka, 479

  Beams, Jesse, 146, 316

  Becker, Herbert, 159, 161

  Becquerel, Henri, radioactivity discovered by, 41–42

  Beer Hall Putsch (1923), 175

  Bell, Daniel, 490

  Benedetti-Pichler, Anton A., 409

  Berlin, 17–19, 682–83

  Berlin, Isaiah, 87

  Berlin, University of, 14, 16–17, 20, 112, 118, 170, 173, 188, 191, 376

  Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, 168

  Berliner Tageblatt, 170

  Berlin Physical Society, 70

  beryllium, 578–80

  radiation from, 159–64, 215–16, 238

  Berzelius, Jöns J., 283

  Beser, Jacob, 704, 711, 740

  Best, Karl R. W., 482

  beta decay, theory of, 208–9, 230–32, 444

  beta radiation, 42–43, 208–9, 230–32

  betatron, 574

  Bethe, Hans, 165

  atomic bomb design and, 415, 417–20

  background of, 188–89, 197, 415–16

  Bohr and, 572

  Fat Man’s initiator and, 579–80

  Fermi and, 206, 219–20, 568

  Geiger and, 188, 189

  o
n heavy-water piles, 523–24

  implosion experiments and, 542, 543, 545–46, 575

  Los Alamos and, 453, 460, 464, 479, 538–40, 542–43, 545–46, 568–70

  mountain climbing enjoyed by, 568

  Neumann and, 575

  on neutron capture, 226–27

  Oppenheimer and, 415–16, 418, 420, 443–44, 447–48, 449, 453, 479, 511–12, 539–40, 546, 570, 572, 676

  ordnance and, 467

  Target Committee and, 630–31, 643

  Teller and, 374, 415–19, 453, 524, 538–40, 543, 545–46

  thermonuclear reactions and, 150, 370, 415, 418–19

  Trinity and, 656, 663, 668, 670–71, 673, 676

  Ulam and, 543

  Bethe, Rose Ewald, 416–17

  Beveridge, Sir William, 192–93

  Bhagavad-Gita, 614, 662–63, 676

  biology, 26, 55

  bismuth, as pile coolant, 411

  Blackett, Patrick M. S., 191, 318–19, 329–30, 470

  Black Rain (Ibuse), 711

  Blitzkrieg, 342–43, 402

  Bloch, Felix, 416

  blockades, 103

  blockbuster program, 589–90, 591

  Blumenfeld, Kurt, 173–74

  Bock, Frederick, 739

  Bock’s Car, 739–40

  Boeing, 584–85

  Bohr, Aage, 384–85, 481, 484–85, 523

  on father’s meetings with Churchill, 528–30

  on father’s meetings with Roosevelt, 532, 536–37

  Bohr, Christian (grandfather), 54–57, 60, 62–64, 75

  Bohr, Christian (grandson), 226

  Bohr, Ellen Adler, 55–58, 63

  Bohr, Erik, 262, 264–65

  Bohr, Harald, 54, 55–58, 63–67, 69, 84, 86, 483

  Bohr, Margrethe Nørland, 64, 65, 69, 83, 86, 115, 129, 269, 273, 482–83

  Bohr, Niels, 52, 166, 191–92, 200, 236, 294

  Sir John Anderson and, 527–28, 538

  anxieties of, 58, 59–62, 77

  appearance of, 53–54, 64, 264–65

  arms race and, 528–38, 621, 624, 637

  on atomic energy, 227–28

  atomic model of, 69–72, 75–77, 78, 83–84, 113–14

  atomic structure explained by, 114–15, 128–33

  awards and honors of, 63, 70, 114, 115, 141, 226

  Bethe and, 572

  Chadwick and, 481, 485

  Churchill and, 525, 527–31, 537–38

  on complementarity, 131–32, 243, 525, 528, 534, 538, 572, 643

  Compton and, 364

  Conant and, 538, 562

  education of, 60–64

  Einstein and, 54, 84, 115, 132–33, 170, 173

  electron theory studied by, 63–64, 67–69, 73–76, 83–85, 113–14, 116–17, 128–29

  escape of, 484–85

  favorite novel of, 58–60

  Fermi and, 243–44, 265, 289n, 568

  Frankfurter and, 525–27, 531–32, 536–38, 562

  Frisch and, 54, 114, 152, 190, 194, 225, 261–62, 264–66, 270, 612

  Gamow and, 198, 269–70

  Groves and, 523

  Hahn and, 248

  Heisenberg and, 115–16, 129–31, 383–86, 513, 523–24

  heritage and childhood of, 54–57, 76

  Hevesy and, 67, 69, 72, 81, 84–85, 110, 115, 225–26, 329

  on Hitler, 524, 532

  hobbies enjoyed by, 568

  imagination of, 56

  international control of atomic bomb and, 644–46

  Klein and, 54, 57–58, 131

  Lindemann and, 484, 529–30, 538

  at Los Alamos, 523–25, 532, 568

  George Marshall and, 535

  Moseley and, 82–85

  Nazis’ attempted arrest of, 482–83

  on neutron capture, 227, 286–87

  nuclear fission and, 264–71, 273, 284–88, 297, 311, 319–20, 323, 347, 384–85, 432

  nuclear model of, 227–28, 232, 258, 282, 284, 287

  Oppenheimer and, 114, 125, 127, 226, 229–30, 385, 484–85, 524–25, 532, 534, 537, 572–73, 644–45, 651

  Pauli and, 57, 116–17, 152

  Placzek and, 282–84, 287

  political implications of atomic bomb and, 525–38, 561–62, 572, 620–21, 624, 633–34, 643

  on racism, 243

  radioactivity studied by, 67–69

  refugee rescue missions of, 193, 226, 329, 483–84

  religious conflicts of, 57, 58

  Roosevelt and, 525–28, 531–32, 534–38, 561–62, 620

  Rosenfeld and, 58–59, 61–62, 76–77, 264–65, 267, 282, 284–86, 289n

  Rutherford and, 53, 66–69, 71, 75–77, 81, 86, 136, 139, 229–30

  Scandinavian invasion and, 328–29

  Schrödinger and, 128–29, 131

  Segrè and, 114, 132

  Snow on, 53–54, 57, 125, 529

  Sommerfeld and, 113–14, 115

  speaking manner of, 53–54, 57

  Stimson and, 651

  surface-tension value experiments of, 62–63, 228

  Teller and, 500

  J. J. Thomson and, 64–66

  United Nations and, 535

  uranium and thorium compared by, 284–87, 322

  on U235, 285–89, 294, 297, 311, 319–20, 322, 500

  Wheeler and, 264–65, 311, 319, 323

  Wood and, 526, 528, 538

  writing difficulty of, 57–58

  Bohus’ Fäste, 256

  bomber stream, 471, 475

  Boot, H. A. H., 319

  Booth, Eugene T., gaseous diffusion isotope separation experiments of, 298, 332–33, 368, 380–81, 492

  Borah, William, 322

  Bormann, Martin, 402

  Born, Max, 116–17, 194, 206, 339, 344

  Einstein and, 132, 170, 173

  emigration of, 192

  Oppenheimer and, 126, 127

  Borneo, 699

  Bothe, Walther, 402, 607

  beryllium radiation and, 159, 161

  carbon’s neutron absorption cross section measured by, 344–45

  Segrè and, 159–60

  Bradbury, Norris E.:

  Trinity and, 657–58, 660–61, 663–64, 674

  Bradley, Omar, 608

  Brasch, Arno, 238–39

  Breit, Gregory, 270, 380n, 383, 410

  Breslau University, 95

  Bretscher, Egon, 522

  Bridgman, Percy, 123–24

  Briggs, Lyman J., 314–17, 331–32, 334, 338, 359–68, 372–73, 387, 504

  Brines, Russell, 597

  British Association for the Advancement of Science, 26, 83–84, 138, 157

  British Bomber Command, 469–72, 593

  British Chemical Society, 319, 322

  British Chiefs of Staff, 471

  Brode, Bernice, Los Alamos and, 565–66, 568

  Brode, Robert, 565, 630

  Brownian motion, 19

  Browning, William J., 101

  Bruno, Giordano, 205

  Bucher, George, 650

  Budapest, 104–5, 108–10

  Budapest, University of, 14, 109, 112

  Bukharin, Nikolai, 199

  Bulge, Battle of the (1944), 601

  Bund, Der (Szilard), 21–23

  Bundy, Harvey H., 620, 651

  Interim Committee and, 629, 630, 642

  Bundy, McGeorge, 620

  Bundy, William P., 620

  Bureau of Mines laboratory, U.S., 478–79

  Bush, Vannevar, 290, 358, 538, 652

  atomic bomb project administration and, 378–79, 423–24, 426–28, 449, 477

  Conant and, 561–63

  Einstein criticized by, 635–36

  Groves and, 426–27, 477

  Hopkins and, 337–38

  Interim Committee and, 628, 630, 633–34, 644–46

  international control of atomic bomb and, 644–46

  Lawrence’s conflict with, 361–62, 373, 378, 387

  military aspects of nuclear fission and, 359–60, 361?
??63, 366–67, 369, 376–79, 383, 386–89, 406

  NDRC and, 336–38

  NRL research and, 551

  Oppenheimer and, 663

  OSRD and, 365–66, 369, 377, 605

  political implications of atomic bomb and, 561–62, 620–21, 625, 633–34

  Roosevelt and, 337–38, 365, 377–79, 387–88, 405–6, 412, 551, 605

  status of atomic bomb project and, 421, 561

  Szilard and, 413, 505–6, 508–9

  Trinity and, 661, 667–68, 675

  Byrnes, James F.:

  background of, 618–19

  Hull and, 684–86

  Interim Committee and, 629–30, 633–35, 643, 645–48, 650–51

  international control of atomic bomb and, 646

  Japanese surrender terms and, 686, 689, 692, 742–43

  political implications of atomic bomb and, 634–35, 637–38, 643, 645, 650

  Potsdam Conference and, 682–83, 689–90

  Roosevelt and, 618–20, 646

  Stalin and, 646, 690, 692

  Stimson and, 682–83, 686–87, 742

  surprise atomic attack and, 647–48

  Szilard and, 636–38, 649

  Trinity and, 686–87

  Truman and, 618–20, 625–26, 628–29, 636, 651, 682, 686–87, 689–90, 742

  use of atomic bomb supported by, 698

  Cahn, Albert, 636

  California, University of, at Berkeley, 127, 143–48, 451, 489

  California Institute of Technology, 32, 127, 185–86

  calutrons, see racetracks

  Campbell, Sir Ronald, 526

  carbon, neutron absorption cross section of, 344–46, 379, 395

  Carnegie Institution, 336, 426, 507

  Atomic Physics Observatory of, 271–72

  Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, 270–73, 289–90, 316, 334–35, 432, 477n

  Caron, Robert, 704, 707, 711

  Carpenter, Walter S., 649

  carrier chemistry, 603

  Casablanca Conference (1943), 471, 520–21

  Catherine II, Empress of Russia, 178

  cathode rays, 38–40, 47

  Cavendish Laboratory, at Cambridge University, 23, 30, 36, 37–39, 64–65, 83, 123–24, 134, 153–57, 159–61, 164, 198, 216, 350

  cavity magnetron, 319, 321, 351

  Cecil, Robert, 31

  centrifuge plants, 405

  Cerenkov radiation, 604

  Chadwick, Aileen Stewart-Brown, 158

  Chadwick, James, 216, 351, 355–56

  background and personal life of, 155–56, 158, 160

  Bohr and, 481, 485

  Frisch and, 155, 345, 346, 356, 522

  Geiger and, 156

  at Los Alamos, 546

  MAUD Committee and, 329–31, 340–41

  Meitner and, 159, 233

  neutron research of, 23, 153–58, 160–67, 578, 668

  Oliphant and, 155, 165, 600–601

  Rutherford and, 36, 50, 124, 135, 138, 153–58, 162, 164

  Trinity and, 668

  Chalmers, T. A., 215, 238

  Chamberlain, Neville, 244–46, 320, 338