Letter from Einstein to Roosevelt
Albert Einstein
Old Grove Rd
Nassau Point
Peconic, Long Island
August 2, 1939
FR Roosevelt
President of the United States
Whiste House
Washington, DC
Sr.
Recent studies of E. Fernu and L. Szilard, whose manuscripts have been made to me, lead me to believe that in the immediate future, the element uranium may be turned into an important new source of energy. Some aspects of the situation that now seem to require much attention and, if possible, immediate action on the part of the Administration. So I think it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations.
During these last four months became likely? through the work of Loiot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America? it may be possible to start a nuclear chain reaction on a large mass of uranium, from which would be generated large amounts of power and new elements identical to uranium. Now it is almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.
This new phenomenon could be used in the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable? I think it's inevitable? which can construct a new type of pump extremely powerful. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well completely destroy the port in question, together with the territory that surrounds it. However, such pumps may be too heavy to be transported by air.
The United States has very few uranium mines with little value and in moderate amounts. There are very good deposits in Canada and the former Czechoslovakia, and the most important source of uranium is Belgian Congo.
Given this situation, you might consider it desirable to have some kind of contact between the Administration and the group of physicists who are working on chain reactions in America. One possible way to achieve this could entrust this mission to be a person of his confidence that podiria may serve as an unofficial way. Their functions are as follows:
- Being in touch with the Department of Government, keeping them informed of future developments, and suggest actions the Government, with particular attention to the problems of ensuring the supply of uranium ore to the United States.
- Accelerating the experimental work, which currently takes place with limited budgets of university laboratories, with the provision of funds. These funds were made possible with contacts with private groups who were willing to make contributions to this cause, and obtaining the cooperation of industrial laboratories which had the team needed.
I understand that, currently, Germany stopped the sale of uranium mines in Czechoslovakia, which were taken by German forces. It might be thought that Germany shares held as evident, since the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizacker, is responsible for the Institute Kraiser Guilermo Berlin where some of American jobs are being copied.
Your secure server,
A. Einstein
The atomic bombs on Japan Explosion
The day August 6, 1945 dawned bright and hot in Hiroshima, Japan's seventh largest city with 343,000 inhabitants and a garrison of 150,000 soldiers. Hiroshima is located near the delta of the Ota River, which flows into the sea Interior. That Monday, despite the war being waged on the islands of the Pacific Ocean against the United States of America, life was as usual: the traders had already opened stores, the students were in classrooms, offices and factories were full swing.
Shortly before 8 o'clock in the morning, the siren warning of the presence of enemy aircraft. The alert was so commonplace that few people went to shelters. The siren stopped. At 8:15 pm, high in the sky, there is a bluish-white spark that turns into a pink bow. In tenths of seconds, Hiroshima (Large Island) is white. Buildings and houses levitate. People and animals evaporate; roofs and bricks melt. A heat wave of 5.5 million degrees Celsius and winds of 385 km / h devastate the city.
