August 2, 1939: The Einstein-Szilárd Letter

Einstein (left) and Szilárd, re-enacting their letter after The War

August 2, 1939: Albert Einstein mails a letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The great physicist wanted to warn the President of the United States about the danger of Nazi Germany becoming the 1st nation to develop an atomic bomb.

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman reported the discovery of nuclear fission in uranium in the January 6, 1939 issue of the German magazine Die Naturwissenschaften. Danish physicist Niels Bohr brought the magazine to America, and showed it to a Hungarian refugee, physicist Leó Szilárd.

Szilárd and the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi built a nuclear reactor at Columbia University in New York, conducted a series of experiments, and concluded that a chain reaction in natural uranium could be possible if they could find a suitable neutron moderator.

They found that the hydrogen atoms in water slowed neutrons, but tended to capture them. Szilárd then suggested using carbon as a moderator. They then needed large quantities of carbon and uranium to create a reactor. Szilárd was convinced that they would succeed if they could get the materials.

But he was concerned that German scientists might also attempt this experiment. On July 12, Szilárd and fellow Hungarian physicist Eugene Wigner drove to Cutchogue, Long Island, New York, where Einstein was staying. They told Einstein of the possibility of atomic bombs. Einstein, whose famous 

equation "," meaning "Energy equals matter multiplied by the square of the speed of light," made such a bomb possible, said, "I did not even think about that!"

First, Szilárd dictated to Wigner, in German, a letter which Einstein signed. It was addressed to the Belgian Ambassador to the United States, warning them that the vast uranium fields in Belgium's colony in the Congo were in danger of being appropriated by the Nazis, and why that must be avoided at all costs.

Now, they needed support from the federal government for uranium research, so they could beat the Nazis to it. On August 2, Szilárd and yet another Hungarian physicist, Edward Teller, drove out to Long Island, and met with Einstein. For this letter to President Roosevelt, Einstein dictated in German, and Szilárd took it back to Columbia, and dictated it in English to stenographer Janet Coatesworth.

Coatesworth heard what Szilárd was suggesting, and later told an interviewer, "I thought I was working for a nut." Concluding the words with "Yours truly, Albert Einstein" didn't change her mind. Einstein later signed this letter.

Einstein told FDR:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable – through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America – that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable – though much less certain – that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air...

I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated."

Carl von Weizsäcker was just 27 years old, compared to Einstein and Hahn, both 60; Bohr, 43; Szilárd, 41; Strassman, Fermi and Wigner, all 37; and Teller, 31. In a 1999 interview, von Weizsäcker said he had told his superior about the possibility of an atomic bomb in 1939, and asked that superior if he should tell Chancellor Adolf Hitler. He recalled that the superior said, "Please, don't. If you do, he will want it done in 6 months. And, when it is not done in 6 months, he will want to know why."

Szilárd sent the letter to Einstein, who signed it, and sent it back. Szilárd received it on August 9. On August 15, he gave it to Alexander Sachs, an economist who knew FDR. Before he could get in to see him, the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1.

He finally got an appointment on October 11, and FDR -- said by the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. to have had "a second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament" -- understood quickly: "Alex, what you are after is to see that the Nazis don't blow us up."

FDR's response, dated October 19, thanked Einstein, saying, "I found this data of such import that I have convened a Board consisting of the head of the Bureau of Standards and a chosen representative of the Army and Navy to thoroughly investigate the possibilities of your suggestion regarding the element of uranium."

One thing led to another, and, in June 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started the Manhattan Project. Due to the Allied bombings of German facilities, the Nazis never came close to developing an atomic bomb. FDR died on April 12, 1945, with the project not yet finished. With the Soviet Union closing in on April 30, Hitler killed himself. The Nazis surrendered on May 8.

On July 16, the 1st atomic bomb was successfully tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico. On August 6, the new President, Harry S Truman, ordered the dropping of the 1st available atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, he ordered another, dropped on Nagasaki. On August 14, Japan surrendered. In 1995, on the 50th Anniversary of the event, a surviving Japanese physicist admitted that his country was also working on it, and that, if they had built it, they wouldn't have hesitated to use it.

In 1947, Einstein told Newsweek magazine, "Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing."

Fermi died in 1954, Einstein in 1955, Bohr in 1962, Szilárd in 1964, Hahn in 1968, Strassman in 1980, Janet Coatesworth in 1986, Teller (who developed the 1st hydrogen bomb) in 2003, and von Weizsäcker lived until 2007.

There are those who say that the Soviet Union was a more evil regime than Nazi Germany. The Soviets had the bomb for 42 years before their regime collapsed, and they never used it. If Hitler had the bomb, would he have hesitated to use it on Moscow? On London? If he could have loaded one onto a plane aboard their only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, and sent a bomb to New York or Washington, would he have ordered it? It was Hitler. Of course he would have.

But he never got close. Partly because the Allies took action, and partly because Hitler chased his own best scientists into the arms of the Allies.

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August 2, 1939 was a Wednesday. This was the day the Hatch Act became law. I have a separate entry for that event. And horror film director Wes Craven was born on this day.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Bill Dickey hit a home run, but Atley Donald did not have good stuff.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Joe Bowman pitched a 5-hit shutout.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 12-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Mel Ott went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 8-2. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 5-4. Red Sox rookie sensation Ted Williams went 0-for-6, although he did draw 2 walks.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Athletics won the 1st game, 13-4. The Chicago White Sox won the 2nd game, 2-1.

* The Washington Senators beat the St. Louis Browns, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to play the Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1940) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, but were rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Cards swept, 5-1 and 4-3.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but were rained out. It was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on September 14. The Cubs swept, 13-1 and 5-2.