Evening star., 1945-08-06

over Japan, which was today made
known by the President Is the culmina-
ton of years of herculean effort on the
part of science and industry working in
cooperation with the military authors
ties. This development which was car
ried forward by the many thousand par
ticipants with the utmost energy and the
very highest sense of national duty, with
the greatest secrecy and the most i'm
perative of time schedules, probably rep
resents the greatest achievement OF the
combined efforts of science, industry,
labor and the military in all history.
The military weapon which has been
forged from the products Of this vast
undertaking has an explosive force such
as to stagger the imagination. Improve
ments will be forthcoming shortly which
will increase by several fold the present
effectiveness. But more important for
the long-range implications of this new
weapon. is the possibility that another
scale of magnitude will be evolved after
considerable research and development.
The scientists are confident that over
period of many years atomic bombs may
we'll be developed which will be very
much more powerful than the atomic
bombs now at hand. 1t is abundantly
clear that the possession of this weapon
by the United States even in its present
form should prove tremendous aid in
the shortening of the war against Japan
The requirements of security do not
permit of any revelation at this time
of the exact methods by which the
bombs are produced or of the nature Of
their action. However, in accord with
its policy of keeping the people of the
Nation as completely informed as is
consistent with national security, the
War Department wishes to make known
at this time, at least, in broad dimen-
sions, the story behind this tremendous
weapon which has been developed so
effectively to hasten the end Of the war.
other statements will be released which
will give further details concerning the
scientific and production aspects of the
project and will give proper recognition
to the scientists, technicians, and the
men of industry and labor who have
made this weapon possible.
The chain of scientific discoveries
which has led to the atomic bomb began
at the turn of the century when radio
activity was discovered. Until 1899 work
in this field was worldwide, being car
ried on particularly in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, italy and Denmark.
Before the lights went out over Eu-
rope and the advent of war imposed Sc
curity restrictions, the fundamental
scientific knowledge concerning atomic
energy from which has been developed
the atomic bomb now in use by the
United States was widely known in many
countries, both Allied and Axis. The
war, however, ended the exchange OF
scientific information on this subject
and, with the exception of the United
Kingdom and Canada, the status OF work
in this field in other countries is not
fully known, but we are convinced that
Japan will not be in a position to use
an atomic bomb in this war. While it
is known that Germany was working
feverishly in an attempt to develop such
asweapon, her complete defeat and oc-
crpation has now removed that source
of danger. Thus it was evident when
the war began that the development OF
atomic energy for war purposes would
occur in the near future and 1t was
question of which nations would control
the discovery.
A'large number Of American scientists
were pressing forward the boundaries OF
scientific knowledge in this fertile new
field at the time when American science
was mobilized for war. Work on atomic
fission was also in progress in the
United Kingdom when the war began
in Europe A close connection was
maintained between the British investl-
cations and the work here, with pool
ing Of information on this as on other
matters of scientific research OF I'M
portance for military purposes. 1t was
later agreed between President Roose-
welt and Prime Minister Churchill that
the project would be most quickly and
effectively brought to fruition If all
effort were concentrated in the United
States, thus ensuring intimate collab-
oration and also avoiding duplication.
AS a consequence of this decision.
number of British scientists who had
been working on this problem were
transferred here in late 1943, and they
have from that time participated in the
development of the project in the
United States.
Late in 1899 the possibility OF using
atomic energy for military purposes was
brought to the attention of President
Roosevelt He appointed a committee
to survey the problem. Research which
had been conducted on small scale
with Navy funds was put on a full
scale basis as a result of the recommen-
dations of various scientific committees.
At the end of 1941 the decision was
made to 60 all-out on research work,
and the project was put under the dl-
rection of group of eminent American
scientists in the Office of Scientific Re-
search and Development, with all pro-
jects in operation being placed under
contract with the OSRD. DR.. VAN
nevar Bush, director of OSRD, reported
directly to the President on major de-
velopments Meanwhile, President
Roosevelt appointed a general policy
group, which consisted of former Vice
President Henry A. Wallace, Secretary
of War Henry l.. Stimson, Gen. George
c. Marshall, DR.. James B. Conant and
DR.. Bush. In June 1912 this group
recommended a great expansion of the
work and the transfer of the major part
of the program to the War Department.
These recommendations were approved
by President Roosevelt and put into ef-
feet. Mai. Gen. Leslie r. Groves was
appointed by the Secretary of War to
take complete executive charge of the
program and was made directly respon-
sible to him and the Chief of Staff. In
order to secure continuing consideration
to the military aspects of the program,
the Presidents general policy group ap-
pointed Military Policy Committee
copsistino of Tr Rush as chairman with
DR.. Conant as his alternate, 1t. Gen.
Wilhelm D. Styer and Rear Admiral
William r. Purnell. This committee