A cringe-free read; well done. (So many summaries cut corners and screw up the details.)
I firmly believe that no account of the Nuclear Age is complete without a tip of the hat to Joseph Rotblat. In early 1945, when the scientists at Los Alamos were briefed on the "destruction"* of the Nazi's nuclear weapon program, they cheered and went back to work on the Bomb. Not Rotblat. That night, recalling that the foremost justification for pursuit of the Bomb was that Germany might get it first, he deduced that the Manhattan Project could be shuttered. The following morning he brought this to the attention of General Groves, who replied, "We are going to build the Bomb, and we are going to drop it." To which Rotblat replied, "I cannot be part of this." and tendered his resignation. His physics career suffered from his independence of mind; he eventual focused in the biological effects of radiation. He and Bertrand Russel founded the Pugwash Movement, on whose behalf he received the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize.
The fundamental question is: Why weren't any (all?) of the other scientists (and military) able to take the same stance?
I will be watching the Oppie the film to see if Rotblat gets a nod.
* In actuality, the German program, deemed impractical given the limited timeframe, had been scrapped two years earlier. As it was the US program delivered only during the final death-throes of the Japanese Empire.
Some of the Manhattan Project scientists (most notably Niels Bohr) took comfort in the thought that the great powers would never go to war with each other for fear of escalation to nuclear warfare. What they missed was that, as EP Thompson so vividly described it, nuclear deterrence created an "arch" beneath which all sorts of lesser conflict could proceed "safely", when, in fact, each carried with it a risk of escalation.
A cringe-free read; well done. (So many summaries cut corners and screw up the details.)
I firmly believe that no account of the Nuclear Age is complete without a tip of the hat to Joseph Rotblat. In early 1945, when the scientists at Los Alamos were briefed on the "destruction"* of the Nazi's nuclear weapon program, they cheered and went back to work on the Bomb. Not Rotblat. That night, recalling that the foremost justification for pursuit of the Bomb was that Germany might get it first, he deduced that the Manhattan Project could be shuttered. The following morning he brought this to the attention of General Groves, who replied, "We are going to build the Bomb, and we are going to drop it." To which Rotblat replied, "I cannot be part of this." and tendered his resignation. His physics career suffered from his independence of mind; he eventual focused in the biological effects of radiation. He and Bertrand Russel founded the Pugwash Movement, on whose behalf he received the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize.
The fundamental question is: Why weren't any (all?) of the other scientists (and military) able to take the same stance?
I will be watching the Oppie the film to see if Rotblat gets a nod.
* In actuality, the German program, deemed impractical given the limited timeframe, had been scrapped two years earlier. As it was the US program delivered only during the final death-throes of the Japanese Empire.
Many thanks.
Thank you for this.
Thank you for such an incredible series! I’ll definitely be picking up the book for the longer version
Some of the Manhattan Project scientists (most notably Niels Bohr) took comfort in the thought that the great powers would never go to war with each other for fear of escalation to nuclear warfare. What they missed was that, as EP Thompson so vividly described it, nuclear deterrence created an "arch" beneath which all sorts of lesser conflict could proceed "safely", when, in fact, each carried with it a risk of escalation.