Evening star., 1948-04-11

pOIkAIlCC VI tA1GAA VIVA OA eAAS
uranium atom in the fateful sum-
mer OF 1899, they set about to bring
it to the attention Of the Govern
ment. George B. Pegram, director
of graduate studies at Columbia
university, was selected as the con-
tact man.
Einstein Too Shy
The experience Of this scientist In
trying to interest washington in the
weapon that won the war with Ja-
pan may well have started Walter
Karig writing his book, "Zotz!" In
the book professor who has dis
covered q lethal secret Of antiquity
which could win the war is given q
run-around. DR.. Pegram arrived
here and after some difiiculty man.
aged to confer with group Of tech
nicians at the Navy. They ex-
pressed interest and asked to be
kept advised OF future developments.
Apparently disappointed, he re-
turned to New York. The scientists
decided that the only hope was TO
bring 1t to the attention Of the
President. They got Albert Einstein
to write q letter to Roosevelt. Dated
August 2, 1899, . month before the
outbreak of war, 1t read:
Some recent work by Z. Fermi
and L. Szilard, which has been COM
municated to me in manuscript,
leads me to expect that the ele-
ment uranium may be turned into
a new and important source OF en-
ergy in the immediate future. This
new phenomenon would also lead
to the construction Of bombs >
extremely powerful bombs. A single
bomb Of this type, carried by boat
and exploded in port, might very
we'll destroy the whole port, to-
gether with some Of the surround
ing territory"
Einstein,s shyness ruled him out
as the contact man. The scientists
chose Alexander Sachs, Wall Street
consulting economist, = man OF
great erudition in the physical as
well as the political sciences. When
his name appeared in the Smyth
report, the New Yorker, with its
fine flair for journalism, sent its
Geoffrey Hellman to see him. DR..
Sachs told him the story.
President Roosevelt was so busy
with the impending war and in
amending the Neutrality Act after
the war started that it was not until
October II that DR.. Sachs succeeded
in seeing him. DR.. Sachs, who looks
so much like the comedian Ed Wynn
that he frequently has been mis-
taken for him, overcame the Roose-
welt talkativeness that defeated so
many bearers Of messages.
Characteristic Decision
'T told him." said DR.. Sachs in
recounting the interview to Mr..
Hellman, that I was paying my
own expenses in coming to Wash
ington: that I could not deduct 1t
from my income tax, and asked
him to please pay attention to me" :"
He read the Einstein letter to the
President.
The result was the outstanding
example of Roosevelt's quickness in
comprehending the importance of
things and the way he depended on
the brains of intellectuals. His
Groton- Harvard education had not
given him the knowledge of the
physical sciences demanded by many
high schools today. But Einstein
was the worlds greatest scientist
and Henry Wallace. who knew some
thing about everything, including
nuclear physics, said it was q very
real possibility. President Roose-
welt instructed "Pa" Watson, his
military aide, to see that the sci
entists got together with the heads
of Army and Navy ordnance.
Signs of a Complex
The first step was an Army ap-
preparation OF 5000 to buy pitch
blende, which contains uranium,
from the Belgian Congo. When
Belgium was invaded the next sum-
mer the scientists got Einstein to
write another letter to the President
calling attention to the possible loss
Of access to the raw material In the
Congo territory and to the large
scale experiments on atomic energy
being conducted in the Kaiser Fred
erick Laboratory, Berlin.
Money was appropriated for world
survey for the raw materials. Con-
tracts were made with university
laboratories. One difficulty, DR..
Sachs said, was to get the scientists,
used to university appropriations,
to ask for enough money to do more
than the Immediately next step.
Before Pearl Harbor the top atomic
energy committee-Wallace, Stim-
son, Marshall, DR.. Vannevar Bush
and DR.. James B. Conant-had been
appointed and the Army's Manhat-
tan project had started the vast
expenditures that finally totaled
81 600, ,000,00 Stimsons last con-
ference with President Roosevelt was
taken up in part with disposing OF
misgivings communicated to the
President by distinguished public
servant" This unnamed ofiicial told
Roosevelt he had been sold a lemon
in the atom bomb project. Roose-
welt died before assurance of the
success of the project was reported.
That was communicated to Presi-
dent Truman, two weeks after