Evening star., 1954-05-12
Roosevelt inflicted
Atomic Study in '30
Set Up Secret Committee
As Hitler Attacked PoIund
By Thomos R. Henry

By Thomos R. Henry
A few weeks after Hitler's armored
divisions smashed across the Polish
border in the fall Of 1899. President
Roosevelt called to the White House
DR.. Lyman j. Briggs. director Of the
National Bureau Of Standards, and en-
trusted him with project Of the ut
most secrecy.
This was to organize and direct re-
searches on the possibility Of utilizing
the energy from the fission of an iso-
tope of uranium-a phenomenon first
observed only six months before. The
subject still was buried in the utmost
confusion.
The conference between the great
physicist and the President was the
first chapter in the development of the
atomic bomb. revealed for the first time
last Friday on the 8Oth birthday of DR..
Briggs, now retired.
The result was that when the Presi-
dent finally was confronted with the
decision Of whether to 60 ahead with
the very expensive and very question:
able bomb project he already had on
hand a great body Of fundamental in
formation and some of the most diff
ficult steps already had been taken.
This first chapter still is obscure. The
work produced little correspondence.
classified or otherwise. There are no
archives. A great deal Of the necessary
communications were by word OF
mouth, of which no records were kept.
Whatever letters and memoranda were
written still are buried in the Man
haitian District files, which still await
declassification.
Results Obvious Now.
The story of the Presidents secret
committee is revealed by DR.. Wallace
r. Brode, associate director Of the
Bureau of Standards, who was closely
associated with DR.. Briggs at the time.
ITO those Of us who now live in the
atomic age" says DR.. Brode In pub
lication issued by the American As
sociation for the Advancement Of
Science here, "the ultimate discoveries
and conclusion of the Presidents secret
committee of 1889 seem quite simple
and obvious. At the start Of the prof.
ects supported by this committee it
was uncertain which isotopes Of ura-
mum were subject to the fission process
when bombarded by slow neutrons. The
number of neutrons emitted in the
fission process and the possibility OF a
chain reaction also remained to be
demonstrated.
Much Of the early work on methods
for the publication of uranium. estab-
lishment of specific properties and the
separation of isotopes was done at the
Bureau of Standards with the assist
ance of distinguished guest workers.
The critical world condition of 1899
more or less dictated the direction OF
the work toward atomic weapons rather
than toward peaceful uses. although
much of the atomic warfare informa-
ton has guided peacetime application.
Early in 1910 funds Of about $780,
600 were provided through the Naval
Research Laboratory. These funds made
possible the expansion and accelera-
ton of the program. Methods were
studied for the possible separation Of
uranium isotopes. P. H. Abelson OF the
Carnegie Institution Of Washington
demonstrated in laboratory work at the
Bureau that such separation Is possible
by a thermal diffusion process This
process eventually reached full-scale
application.
Simultaneous with this early work at
the bureau, experimental work was con-
Quoted at Columbia on gaseous diffusion
through membranes and at the Univer-
sity of Virginia under j. w. Beams on
atVif ~
Both these methods were also effective"
Set Up Defense Study Unit.
In June, 1910, DR.. Brode revealed. the
President, who was greatly worried by
the growing threat Of war, organized
the National Defense Research Com
mittee under DR.. Vannevar Bush. presi-
dent of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington, under which DR.. Briggs
continued as head of the uranium re-
search committee.
President Roosevelt often has been
lauded for the boldness with which he
authorized expenditure Of an enormous
amount of money on project, the out
come of which was extremely doubtful.
When confronted with the same deci-
sion Hitler quailed at the titanic ex-
pense involved and asked German scien-
lists to provide him with more specific
information before he made up his
mind. This was normal, common
sense decision-but 1t may well have
cost him the war and his life.
President Roosevelt, with the aid Of
DR.. Briggs, already had fortified himself
with the basic information before the
time came for making a necessary deci-
sion. It was not entirely a decision of
bold recklessness inspired by an active
imagination-as sometimes has been
charged.
Shortly after the war DR.. Briggs re-
tired as director of the Bureau Of
Standards, but ever since has remained
very active in working on problems Of
basic physics at his Washington home.