[lit-ideas] Re: Ought we to do something about Iran?
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 20:23:06 -0800
Here is the time line for our development of our Atomic Bomb:
<http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/manhattanproject.cfm>
http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/manhattanproject.cfm
"in 1939, the Nazis were rumored to be developing an atomic bomb. The United
States initiated its own program under the Army Corps of Engineers in June
1942. America needed to build an atomic weapon before Germany or Japan did."
"The Race for the Atomic Bomb Begins 1939-1941
World War II started September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. By
1941, the Germans were leading the race for the atomic bomb. They had a
heavy-water plant, high-grade uranium compounds, a nearly complete
cyclotron, capable scientists and engineers, and the greatest chemical
engineering industry in the world.
The Research Effort Struggles
1941-1945
Factors including internal struggles, a major scientific error, and the
devastation of total war compromised any successful research toward a German
atom bomb. Unlike the American program, the Germans never had a clear
mission under continuously unified leadership."
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Robert Paul
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 8:05 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Ought we to do something about Iran?
Lawrence Helm wrote:
> Do you mean that when we learned Germany was developing an atomic weapon
and
> established a program to beat the Germans, we started something? What did
> we start?
We started the British 'Tube Alloys' program, and ultimately the
Manhattan Project.
However, we didn't start them because we learned that Germany was
developing 'an atomic weapon.' We couldn't have learned that because
they weren't. We began research into atomic weapons when the Government
was made aware of the _possibility_ of them in Einstein's famous first
letter to FDR, in August 1939. Einstein wrote at the urging of the
refugee physicist Leo Szillard, who had 'invented' (or discovered)
self-sustaining chain reaction.
The US/UK ultimately began work on atomic weapons because they believed
(a) that such weapons were possible and (b) that whether or not there
was a German atomic weapons project, the fact that there might be was
sufficient reason to try to get there first.
Robert Paul
Reed College
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