hmm Mr Einstein

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Arpad88
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hmm Mr Einstein

#1

Post by Arpad88 » 03 Apr 2002, 14:28

I spose Mr Einstein made desctruction much greater than Hitler on a 'global scale'. With his ideas and thoughts on guess what?
Now with Mr Einsteins little toys we all can sleep better at nacht?

Cheers
Karl

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Arpad88
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woops

#2

Post by Arpad88 » 03 Apr 2002, 14:44

this was meant for the man of the year 1938, guess who?


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Christian Ankerstjerne
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#3

Post by Christian Ankerstjerne » 03 Apr 2002, 19:42

I don't know - first, he wasn't exactly alone on it (many other scientists), and second, I doubt that as many people have, or will be, killed because of atomic bombs as Hitler arranged to be murdered. Since WWII, very few people have been killed because of atomic bombs, or radiation as a whole...

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Marcus
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#4

Post by Marcus » 03 Apr 2002, 20:23

A reply was moved to the What if section.

/Marcus

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Matt Gibbs
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Einsteins creation..?

#5

Post by Matt Gibbs » 03 Apr 2002, 22:42

I believe there were a significantly huge number of scientists involved in the development of a sustainable nuclear chain reaction than Einstein who in 1931 urged scientists to give up government work.

James Chadwick proved the existence of neutrons in 1932

John Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton of Great Britain split the atom on a linear accelerator built at Ernest Rutherford’s Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. Their experiment proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, but no more.

Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard who took refuge in London from Nazi Germany, reads about a speech in 1933 where Lord Rutherford ridiculed the idea of using the transformation of atoms as a source of power. Szilard realizes that, “if we could find an element which is split by neutrons, and which would emit two neutrons when it absorbs one neutron, such an element could sustain a nuclear chain reaction.”

Enrico Fermi of Italy irradiates uranium with neutrons and believes he has produced the first transuranic element but unknowingly achieves the world’s first nuclear fission.

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann of Germany split the uranium atom in 1938 by bombarding it with neutrons and show that the elements barium and krypton are formed.

Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch of Austria announce theory of nuclear fission in 1939. Also in 1939 Frederic Joliot demonstrates the possibility of splitting the atom of uranium isotope 235 and Hans A. Bethe, a German-born physicist, recognizes that the fusion of hydrogen nuclei to form deuterium releases energy. He suggests that much of the energy output of the Sun and other stars results from energy-releasing fusion reactions in which four hydrogen nuclei unite and form one helium nucleus.

Otto Frisch detects fission fragments in an ionization chamber. He adopts the term "fission." Upon hearing of discovery of fission, Robert Oppenheimer immediately grasps the possibility of atomic bombs.

Einstein wrote to the current president of the US with another scientist concerned that Germany had stopped the export of uranium which could be found in czekoslovakia and that the germans might be able to produce a bomb. The Manhattan project was born later on.

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Ovidius
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Einstein

#6

Post by Ovidius » 03 Apr 2002, 22:52

I think we've already went through this in the old forum :?

Einstein did not believe in 1938-1939 that the nuclear fission could be made into a bomb. Szilard and another scientist(I'll have to search for his name) paid a visit to Einstein and convinced him to review their work and remake their calculations. Once Einstein got convinced of the possibility of a nuclear explosion, he used his worldwide prestige to convince Roosevelt to invest immense amount of money and work into the Manhattan Project. Einstein had supervised the project, indeed, but he did not took directly part in it.

His fault was the fact that he used his reputation. Regardless how many scientists were going to write to him, Roosevelt was not eager to pump money into a "possibility"; he had higher priorities: Lend-Lease, shipbuilding, modernization of airforce etc. But if Einstein, the most famous scientist in the world, said "The bomb can be done", then Roosevelt could be convinced. Einstein had used his fame and won the game.

This doesn't diminish his fault, of course :oops:

~Ovidius

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Scott Smith
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Da BOMB

#7

Post by Scott Smith » 03 Apr 2002, 23:28

The other scientist was Edward Teller, who drove the car to meet Einstein since Szilard did not drive. A key thing for the Einstein letter to Roosevelt was that it was written before the war, and it was directed against Germany, on the notion that the Germans were building them to fry the rest of the world. Still, only the Navy was interested in this fantastic power source until Roosevelt's advisors hammered home the theme of frying Germany. Thus, the Manhattan Engineering District was formed under the Army Corps of Engineers, with a single project, to build the atomic bomb. Since Japan got fried instead, many of the scientists felt used by the military and government. Dr. Teller went on to push for the hydrogen fusion bomb to keep nuclear superiority during the Cold War.
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#8

Post by James » 04 Apr 2002, 03:11

Teller is still alive today, age 94. Along with Hans Bethe, who I think is still alive at age 96, they are the two surviving major scientific participants in the American atomic bomb effort.

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Takao
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#9

Post by Takao » 04 Apr 2002, 03:26

Were not both the Germans and Japanese working developing nuclear technology. Of the Axis, the Germans were further along towards the development of an Atom bomb. The Japanese had started later, and the research work was but on the "back burner" once the war had started.

The Americans won the race and recieved both the credit and the blame.

Does anyone know about if the Soviet were also working on their own atom bomb at the time, or did the start only after the American research met with success?

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#10

Post by Abel Ravasz » 04 Apr 2002, 21:09

The other scientist was Edward Teller...
Ede Teller, indeed.

Abel

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