I signed a petition, which in effect suggested that the bomb not be dropped on a city in Japan. My feeling was that we should use it on a totally military target, not involving civilians. Ralph Lapp : So I think that we could jump from such a flicker of flame—the reactor—to something a billion times more, and build it in less than two years, is really fantastic. It shows the enormous power of organized science and technology.
Henry Frisch : In some ways, the most important contribution was the role of the university in getting civilian control versus military control of nuclear things. The movement by the scientists to try to control access to nuclear material and weapons was an immensely important thing.
I think Chicago played an immensely important part in every aspect of the nuclear story. I think our history is such that we have both a responsibility and a tradition that we should continue. The story is not over yet. The legacy that was left, the awe of nuclear physicists, the funding of high-energy physics, because it was the legacy of the Manhattan Project, as the generations go by, that all fades somewhat.
HALL, position not identified EARL K. MONK, Physicist ERIC L. JOHN A. From internal evidence, one probably was prepared in late and the other in late It seems reasonable to conclude that the lists were prepared and used for the purpose of administrative retaliation against the petition signers. This experimental proof could then serve as a model for large-scale plutonium production.
An abandoned rackets court underneath Stagg Field in the middle of the University of Chicago campus was chosen as the test site for the experiment. Fermi directed the project. On December 2, , the Chicago Pile-1 went critical and reached a thermal output of 0. Ultimately it operated at watts maximum. Forty-nine scientists and workers witnessed the historic event. For a list of those present, click here. For a detailed description of the Chicago Pile-1 experiment, click here.
The West Stands in Stagg Field were demolished in The University of Chicago's Regenstein Library was later built in its place. Today, there are several plaques by the library commemorating the Chicago Pile The sculpture was dedicated on the 25th anniversary of the CP-1 going critical in Glenn Seaborg and his team at the University of California first produced plutonium in They kept this discovery from the general public, understanding the potential for plutonium to undergo fission and be useful in an atomic bomb.
Techniques for plutonium production, however, were still far from fulfilling this potential. Seaborg, now with the resources of the Manhattan Project, continued to work on synthesizing plutonium at the Metallurgical Laboratory. Both of these buildings were buzzing with activity late into the night.
Eckhart Hall houses the Department of Mathematics. The petition was addressed to President Truman and states that the original intention of the Manhattan Project was to defend the United States against a possible nuclear attack by Germany, a threat that had by then been eradicated. They then pleaded with Truman to make public the full terms of surrender and to await a Japanese response before dropping the atom bomb, and to consider his "obligation of restraint":.
It would then be more difficult for us to live up to our responsibility of bringing the unloosened forces of destruction under control. We, the undersigned, respectfully petition: first, that you exercise your power as Commander-in-Chief, to rule that the United States shall not resort to the use of atomic bombs in this war unless the terms which will be imposed upon Japan have been made public in detail and Japan knowing these terms has refused to surrender; second, that in such an event the question whether or not to use atomic bombs be decided by you in the light of the considerations presented in this petition as well as all the other moral responsibilities which are involved.
Byrnes , hoping to find someone who would pass on to President Truman the message from scientists that the bomb should not be used on a civilian population in Japan, and that after the war it should be put under international control in order to avoid a post-war arms race.
Byrnes was not sympathetic to the idea at all. Thus, President Truman never saw the petition prior to the dropping of the bomb. After the meeting with Byrnes, he is quoted as having said, "How much better off the world might be had I been born in America and become influential in American politics, and had Byrnes been born in Hungary and studied physics.
The first atomic bomb, known as Little Boy , was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, It was followed three days later by a second bomb, known as Fat Man , over Nagasaki. The deployment of these bombs led to an estimated , civilian dead and Japan's eventual surrender.
In December of , a study by Fortune business magazine found that over three-quarters of Americans surveyed approved of the decision to drop the bombs. The theme of the book, which sold over a million copies, was that nuclear arms should never be used again and that international cooperation should govern their use.
0コメント