Edited by Gerald Boerner
Commentary
Our quest today takes us to a look back at the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear power. On this day, under those forgotten stadium seat in Chicago, the Italian Enrico Fermi and his team the first controlled nuclear chain reaction. This led to the realization, via the Manhattan Project, of the atomic bomb that ended the war with Japan in the Pacific, plunged us into the Cold War for 50+ years, and allowed us to develop peaceful uses on nuclear power.
This whole process would not have happened if that brilliant Jewish German scientist living in Princeton, New Jersey — Albert Einstein — had not written his now-famous letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt. When beseeched by his fellow scientists with the warning of the threat by the Nazi’s development an atomic bomb first, the United States would not have mobilized its engineering, Technical, & scientific resources as effectively. This was on a scale equal to that which transformed America’s manufacturing sector for the production of war materiel.
You can read more about this Einstein letter in my posting: The Einstein–Szilárd Letter about Atomic Bomb… At the time, only Einstein had the status to get Roosevelt’s ear. The Manhattan Project required as much scientific brainpower, technical know-how, vision on how to venture into the unknown, and financial backing of the federal government to realize Fermi’s harnessing of nuclear power. This was as large a task as that which would later be required to put a man on the moon.
Join me now for this exploration into the Manhattan Project… GLB
These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2010 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved[ 4242 Words ]
Quotations Related to ENRICO FERMI
“If I could remember the names of all these particles, I’d be a botanist.”
— Enrico Fermi
“Ignorance is never better than knowledge.”
— Enrico Fermi
“It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.”
— Enrico Fermi