Evening star., 1955-02-25
Russiu Had First Ideu
Of H-Bomb Years Ago
CIV Professor Had chonce
To Tuke Over Power PIont
By Thomes R. Henry

Russia had the first idea Of an H-
bomb Is years ago.
At that time, the Soviet government
offered to turn over to young physicist,
now a professor at George Washington
University, for few hours each night
the electric power plant of Leningrad.
DR.. George Gamow turned down the
proposal. He considered it highly i'm
practical, which, at the time, 1t was.
But the idea of q practical application
Of what hitherto had been highly OBJ
scure theory remained In his mind when
he left Russia q few years later. As an
American citizen. he had prominent
part in the development Of the atom
bomb.
This story is revealed by DR.. Edward
Teller of the University of California.
long q close associate of DR.. Gamov and
widely credited with being the father
of the H-bomb." in report to the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Science here.
Started In 1927.
It all started in 1927, DR.. Teller re-
veals, when DR.. Gamow reported to the
Soviet Academy Of Sciences on paper
which had appeared In an obscure phys
ical journal, by two British and Ger
man physicists, Atkinson and Houter-
mans. At that time there was no clearly
acceptable theory as to the mechanism
responsible for the apparently eternal
heat and light of the sun and stars.
The two physicists had suggested
what is now universally accepted-that
the inexhaustible store Of energy was
due to reactions of some sort between
atomic nuclei. These particles. tiny
even when compared with atoms. were
known to contain an energy millions
of times greater than that released in
chemical reactions or explosions. But,
the physicists had pointed out. they are
able to release this energy only when
they come in contact with each other.
Their electrical charges usually prevent
contact between them and thus the
energy they have been carrying for
billions of years is preserved. There
are, however, occasional collisions
which are responsible for all the heat
and light Of the stars.
Atkinson and Houtermans were on
the right track, but without any real
proof of their contention. DR.. Gamow
merely discussed their paper as ex-
pressing an interesting idea. He re-
ported no work of his own.
But says DR.. Teller, no sooner had
he finished his talk than he was ap-
preached by a very high Soviet official.
Nikolai Bukharin, who since has
been executed. He was one OF the "old
Bolsheviks," even then on his way out
and relegated to what was considered
the unimportant job of keeping an eye
on scientific developments.
Sees Atomic Power.
Bukharin's imagination was stirred.
He sensed the possibility of harnessing
this atomic power for some direct ap-
plication on earth and asked DR.. Gamow
to take over the power plant. The young
physicist was able to convince the So
Wet official that his idea was highly
impractical and, in the present state OF
knowledge, impossible.
But the idea stuck in DR.. Gamow's
mind. When he first came to Washing
ton he discussed it with physicist COLI
leagues. He stirred up their interest,
not in hydrogen bomb, but in the ac-
tual mechanism Of solar radiation. Mo-
body suggested any practical applica-
tions. The matter was considered purely
academic.
A few years later DR.. Hans Bethe OF
Cornell evolved the so-called Bethe
cycle-a theory of reactions between
hydrogen and carbon atoms which now
is generally accepted and was neces-
sary starting point for the Hbomb. It
was very much in the minds Of the
physicists when work on. the atomic
bomb started during the war.