What are physicists to do if they make a discovery that promises to transform industry but also threatens to revolutionize warfare? Should they investigate the phenomenon within their traditions of free and open inquiry or keep the deadly secret to themselves? This is the dilemma that was faced by several groups of physicists who studied uranium fission in 1939 and 1940. In the spring of 1939 one group, foreseeing the unprecedented power of nuclear weapons, made a concerted attempt to restrict knowledge of chain reactions. But it was not until over a year later that censorship—imposed by the community of physicists on itself—became fairly complete.
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1.
L. Szilard, “Reminiscences,” The Intellectual Migration, Europe and America, 1930–1960 (D. Fleming and B. Bailyn, eds.) Harvard U.P., Cambridge, Mass.
A revised and expanded version will be in The Collected Works of Leo Szilard, volume 2 (G. W. Szilard, H. Hawkins, S. Weart, eds.), MIT Press, to be published.
2.
The Collected Works of Leo Szilard, Volume 1, Scientific Papers (B. T. Feld, G. W. Szilard, eds.), MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. (1972).
3.
Szilard papers, La Jolla, Calif.
4.
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J. D. Bernal, The Social Function of Science, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London (1939), pages 150, 182.
6.
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8.
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The Discovery of Nuclear Fission: A Documentary History (H. Graetzer, L. Anderson, eds.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y. (1971).
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Copies are in ref. 3; the original is in Dirac papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, UK.
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R. Clark, The Birth of the Bomb: The Untold Story of Britain's Part in the Weapon that Changed the World, Horizon, New York (1961);
B. Goldschmidt, Les Rivalités Atomiques 1939–1966, Fayard, Paris (1967) page 27;
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F. Joliot‐Curie, Textes Choisis, Editions sociales, Paris (1959), page 154.
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M. Gowing, Britain and Atomic Energy, 1939–1945, St. Martin's Press, New York (1964), page 34.
21.
D. Irving, The Virus House: Germany's Atomic Research and Allied Counter‐Measures, William Kimber, London (1967), page 32.
22.
I. N. Golovin, I. V. Kurchatov: A Socialist‐Realist Biography of the Soviet Nuclear Scientist (H. Dougherty, transl.), Selbstverlag Press, Bloomington, Ind. (1968), page 31.
23.
R. G. Hewlett, O. E. Anderson Jr, The New World: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, volume 1: 1939–1946, Pennsylvania State U.P., University Park, Pa. (1962), page 16;
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24.
E. Fermi, Collected Papers, volume 2: United States 1939–1954, (E. Segrè et al., eds.) University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1965), page 31.
25.
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26.
W. Bothe, P. Jensen, “Die Absorption thermischer Neutronen in Elektrographit,” 20 Jan. 1941, captured German report G‐71, Technical Information Service.
27.
Bulletin de l'Académie des Sciences de l'URSS, Ser. Phys.
5
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(1941
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28.
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© 1976 American Institute of Physics.
1976
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