Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-08-07

estimated comparison between
of Britain'S 11-ton grand slam
bomb.
atomic bomb could be ready for
use by 1945.
Nevertheless, the potentialities
of the project were so great that his
majesty's government thought it
right that research should be car
ried on in spite of the many COM
peting claims on our scientific man.
power. At this stage the research
was carried out mainly in our uni
versities, principally oxford, Cam
bridge, London Imperial College, ,
Liverpool and Birmingham.
AT the time of the formation of
the coalition government RESPONSE
bility for co-ordinating the work
and pressing it forward lay in the
Ministry of Aircraft Production, ad-
vised by a committee of leading
scientists presided over by Sir
George Thomson.
'At the same time, under the gen.
eral arrangements then in force for
the pooling of scientific information,
there was a full interchange of
ideas between the scientists carry
ing out this work in the United
Kingdom and those in the United
States.
Progress Reported.
Such progress was made that by
the summer of 1941 Sir George
Thomson's committee was able to
report that in their view there was
reasonable chance that an atomic
bomb could be produced before the
end of the war.
"At the end of August. 194l, Lord
Cherwell. whose duty it was to keep
me informed on all these and other
technical developments, reported
that substantial progress was
being made. The general RESPONSE
bility for the scientific research car
ried on under the various technical
committees lay with the then lord
president of the council, Sir John
Anderson.
I'm these circumstances (having
in mind also the effect of ordinary
high explosive which we had re-
Gently experiencedD I referred the
matter on August 80, 1941, to the
Chiefs of Staff Committee in the
following minutes:
"'Gen. Ismay for Chiefs of Stan
Committee.
Although personally I am quite
content with the existing explosives,
/ feel We must not stand in the path
of improvement and I therefore
think that action should be taken
in the sense proposed by Lord
Cherwell and that the cabinet min
lister responsible should be Sir John
Anderson.
II shall be glad to know what the
Chiefs of staff Committee think.
Action Recommended.
1.-THE chiefs of the stan recon-
mended immediate action, with the
maximum priority.
TT was then decided to set ur
within the department of scientific
and industrial research a specia
division to direct the work, anc
Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd.
agreed to release Mr.. w. A. Aker.
to take charge of this directorate
which we called, for purposes of sc.
crecy, the directorate Of Crude AL.
logs After Sir John Anderson hat
ceased to be lord president and be.
came Chancellor of the Exchequer,
asked him to continue to supervis,
this work, for which he has specia
qualifications.
ITO advise him there were set up
under his Craftsmanship, a consul.
tatiye council composed of the pres.
ident of the Royal Society, thu
chairman Of the Scientific Advisor,
Committee of the cabinet, the secre
tary Of of the department of scien
tif1c and industrial research ant
Lord Cherwell.
THE Minister Of Aircraft Pro.
duction at that time, Lord Braba.
ION, also served on this committe,
under the craftsmanship of Mr.
Akers.
i Committee Set Up.
There was also a technical com.
mittee on which sat the scientist.
who were directing the different
sections Of the work and som,
others. This committee was orig.
inally composed of Sir James Chad.
wick, Prof. Peierls and Drs. Hal
ban, Simon and Slade. Later Il
was joined by Sir Charles Darwin
and Profs. Cockcroft, Oliphant anc
Feather.
Full use was also made of uni.
versity and industrial laboratories
i ION October IL, 1911, President
Roosevelt sent me letter suggest.
ling that any extended efforts or
this important matter might use.
fully be co-ordinated or even joint
lly conducted. Accordingly all Brit.
ish and American efforts were
Joined, and q number Of British
scientists concerned proceeded tx
the United States. Apart from thess
contacts complete secrecy guarded
lall these activities, and no single
person was informed whose work
was not indispensable to progress.
Decision ON Production.
j by the summer Of 1942 this ex.
banded program Of research haS
confirmed with surer and broader
!. foundations the promising forecast,
which had been made q year earlier
. and the time had cnYne when = de,