Nuclear Weapons; History And Religion
...overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin;
and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.
J. Robert Oppenheimer (AJ Software and Multimedia. History of Atomic Bomb).
The most destructive weapons every created in the world that in seconds kill up to 200,000 people and destroy a area two mile wide was created not by generals but scientists. It forced people to look at religion for answers on the use of these weapons and how to deal with living in the nuclear age.
The science behind the nuclear weapon was in full force by July 4, 1934 when Leo Szilard was rewarded the patent for the nuclear weapon. Szilard explains in general critical mass and a system to start the reaction. He did this not for personal gain but because he realized the damage this could do and wanted to control it. He ended up giving it away to the British Admiralty in February 1936. This is the earliest of nuclear arms control.
The science of the fission started when the neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in Feb. 1932. This led to hundreds of new radioactive isotopes being discovered. The biggest problem discovered was the "Uranium Problem" in May 1934. During the Neutron bombardment of uranium a couple radioactive products are detected but could not identification or could it be explained.
This was first addressed by German, Ida Noddack, and she said the anomalous radioactivity produced was uranium splitting. This led to Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner solving the problem. They found that one of the radioactivities is a previously known isotope of barium. They then developed a theoretical interpretation of this demonstrated fact. They were able to show conclusive evidence of fission production of radioactive barium from neutron irradiated uranium. On January 13, 1939 Otto Frisch observed fission directly in ionization tube and coined the term "fission". On January...
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