Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-02-23
Scientist XCose to Reopen
|AtWeinberq Trial Tomorrow

The fabulous mystery of "Sci-
enlist X' will get another airing
this week when DR.. Joseph w.
Weinberg, charged with perjury,
goes on trial.
The slim, bespectacled scien-
! fist was accused by a House COM
mittee of slipping atomic secrets
to Russia while he worked on
this country'S A-bomb project in
1943. He has denied the accusa-
ton.
In the current case. he is
charged with lying about former
c ON munist connections and
falsely testifying that he did not
know Steve Nelson, self styled
top Communist" before April of
1949.
Trial Starts Tomorrow.
After more than three years,
DR.. Weinberg goes on s6trial to-
morrow in the Z. 8. District
Court for the District of Column
bia. Assistant United States At
torney William A. Hitz, who will
direct the Governments prosecu-
ton of the case. said he expects
the trial to last about 10 days.
Attorneys for DR.. Weinberg
Joseph A. Finnelli and Harry I.
Rand-Said they are ready to
present the defense and predict
no further delays in the trial.
Specifically, the charge
against DR.. Weinberg are:
That his statement under oath
that he had not been a member
Of the Communist Party was
false.
That he falsely told the House
Un-American Activities Commit
tee that other than one Commu-
mist Party meeting in Oakland,
Calf, during World War II, he
did not believe he had attended
any meeting he thought to be
Communist.
That he lied when he testified
he did not remember knowing
Nelson prior to 1949.'
Withheld Identity.
The strange case of Scientist
K" was revealed by the House
committee in 1949, when the
committee reported on the activ-
tiles Of Steve Nelson in it's report
on espionage activities on the
West Coast. But the committee
waited-because it was not sure
until September 80. 1949, to
identify DR.. Weinberg as the
mystery figure. He appeared
before the committee on May
Is, 1949.
The story, according to the
committee, began in March, 1943.
A scientist at the University
of California went late one night
to the home of Nelson, then a
Communist organizer on the
West Coast.
He identified himself as Joe"
He had made arrangements
earlier with Nelson's wife for the
visit, but when he arrived Nelson
was not at home. Joe" waited
until Nelson walked in at 1880
am.
Nelson greeted "Joe." The
latter told the Communist official
that he had some information
he thought Nelson could use.
"Joe Gave Data on Tests"
"Joe then furnished highly
confidential information regard
ing the experiments conducted
at the radiation laboratories of
the University of California at
Berkeley" the committee re-
ported. "At the time this
occurred, the radiation labora-
tories at Berkeley were engaged
in vital work in the development
Of the atomic bomb"
Shortly after this meeting with
"Joe," Nelson met Peter Ivanov,
Soviet vice consul in San
Francisco, in the middle Of an
open park on the st. Francis
Hospital grounds and turned over
ian envelope or package"
A few days later, VaSsili
Zubilin, third secretary Of the
Russian Embassy in Washington,
visited San Francisco. He went
to Nelson's home and gave the
latter 40 bills Of unknown
denomination"
The committee then recalled
the testimony of James Sterling
Murray, who in 1913 was the
officer IN charge of security and
intelligence for the Manhattan
Project in the San Francisco
area.
Through information which
the confidential informant was
able to supply us on teAback-