Evening star., 1954-06-06

IitieoI implications hove reploeed the
old feeling Of IsisufeIy experiment
totion.
to the growing store of atomic
weapons knowledge he did so
much to create. But DR.. Open
heimer, "Oppy" to his friends,
was looking beyond the tight
Ivory Tower walls by the time
war came.
Until 1886. he says, he never
read newspapers or magazines,
was almost wholly divorced
from the contemporary scene in
this country"
Nazis and Depression.
Then Nazi treatment of Jews,
the effects of depression on his
students. impressed him and IT
began to feel the need to partici-
pate more fully lin the life of the
community. But I had no frame
work Of political conviction or
experience to give me perspec-
tive in these matters"
Another atom scientist admits
before the war I never paid any
attention to politics. In fact It
was Oppy who once told me I
was naive politically"
This call to war duty. using
their scientific knowledge to de-
fend the country, was one reason
for a change in many scientists.
Almost overnight, most of
them found that work they had
learned to do leisurely took on
great urgency. The old time lag
was shortened. A discovery of
a basic fact or truth quickly be-
came a practicality. important
to national or internationl poll
cieS.
Many who had long discussed
their work openly-even with the
limited number of others who
could understand-found them.
selves behind a curtain of se-
crecy.
Vignettes from the memories
OF some men important in the
atomic energy project give some
of the flavor of this change
which overlook the SCIENTIFIC
world. whether or not housed in
Ivory Towers. These men talked
freely, with the understanding
they would not be quoted by
name. "t
Life at Los Alamos.
Los Alamos, birthplace of the
workable A-bomb, was a strange
place, created from nothing-it
gave me funny feeling" said a
physicist who was stationed
there.
DR.. Oppenheimer directed it
and "it took on his personality,
Enthusiasm was enormous, opti-
mism was high, and 1t was all
Oppy's doing"
HE felt strongly about the
war, and the threat from the
Germans. I don't know whether
he had a clear view of the Rus
slams, or the future threat from
the Russians. But I think Oppy
is able to see a whole picture,
just as he does in physics.
Il think, he had strong moral
scruples about making the bomb
Many scientists there developed
a strong sense of sin about the
bomb.
Others took the view that If
we hadn't made it, someone else
would. Very few had in mind
then the Russians some day
might be our enemies, for the
Russians were our allies"
A physicist thoughtfully
brought up this aspect of how
people may be looking at scien-
lists:
"In wartime, we scientists real
ize our work has to be done to
defend our country. If real peace
were established, think there
would come an unbelievable re-
action against scientists. People
might feel. I'VE escaped destruc-
ton by the skin of our teeth, and
it was the scientists who got us
into it. We don't need or want
scientists anymore. They brought
US to the brink of destruction !"
1t was scientists. not military
men, who saw the possibility of
an atom bomb. or atomic energy
to run factories or do useful
things. They saw this as early
as 1899, when uranium atoms
were split with tremendous re-
lease of energy in laboratory ex-
periments.
Einstein Started 1t.
1t was a letter to President
Roosevelt. signed by one of the
most Ivory Tower Of all scien-
fists, Albert Einstein, which be-
gan our atomic project. carried
on with great help from British
scientists.
There were, some maddening
delays at first. although brilliant
mathematical ca1culatio n S