Leo Szilard Research Paper

Leo Szilard was a Hungarian Physicist who dedicated himself to learning how to create a successful chain reaction to make an atomic bomb before the Germans had a chance to do so. Szilard convinced Albert Einstein to help research with him on how to create an atomic bomb. The “Einstein-Szilard” letter, sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt led to the foundation of research into nuclear fission by the United States government. This ultimately encouraged the development of the program, the Manhattan Project.

In A Petition to the President, Szilard and his cosigners, used their knowledge about atomic bombs to try and persuade the President of the United States, to not to allow the authorization of atomic bombs during the war. They write about the destruction caused by using an atomic bomb and the potential fall out from using such a weapon. Before the devastating bomb dropped on Japan by America, there were scientists who tired to bring awareness of such an event.

Scientists from Germany were making huge progress on the topic of nuclear fission. Fortunately, many of these scientists escaped the authoritarian Germany. These refugees, including Albert Einstein warned the United States about the German’s nuclear weapons capability. Consequently, the United States created the Manhattan Project in 1942 under fears of a nuclear attack by the Germans.

had stopped the exportation of uranium from Czechoslovakian mines which they had taken over in 1938. He feared that Germany was trying to build an atomic bomb, while the United States was sitting idle. Although WWII had not yet started, Germany was clearly a threat, and if the Germans had a monopoly on the atomic bomb, it could be deployed against anyone, including the United States, without warning. Szilard worked with Albert Einstein, whose celebrity gave him access to the president, to produce a letter informing Roosevelt of the situation. Their warning eventually resulted in the Manhattan Project. Bomb opponents argue that the atomic bomb was built as a defensive weapon, not an offensive one. It was intended to be a deterrent, to make Germany or any other enemy think twice before using such a weapon against the United States. To bolster their argument, these

As the engineers and scientists of the Manhattan Project began further research on the creation of the atomic bomb, they quickly ran into one of their first major problems. Making nuclear fuel to power the bomb quickly proved to be a major predicament. The Clinton Engineer

Leo Szilard’s “A Petition to The President of the United States,” is dated as July 17, 1945 in the upper right corner of the document. This date was the day after the Trinity nuclear test in Alamogordo, New Mexico, two months after German surrender in Europe, and less than a month before the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The petition came at a time in the war when America had already committed massive amounts of resources to creating a nuclear weapon. It was written by Leo Szilard; his signature appears on the bottom left corner of the document. Szilard was a key figure in the Manhattan project, working at the Chicago Metallurgical lab.

At the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II scientist started to develop new ways to to react to wars.Scientist like Julius Robert Oppenheimer with the help of Albert Einstein created the first atomic bomb called the “Little Boy” and the “FatMan”. Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. He was incharge of gather the best minds to develop weapons of mass destruction. Oppenheimer along with 200 other physics developed weapons that would change the world forever.

On the 2nd of August, 1939 Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard wrote President F.D. Roosevelt a letter alerting him to the possibility of the creation of atomic bombs (Einstein, 1939). This letter ultimately lead to the creation of the bomb. While Szilard continued to work on the bomb as part of the ‘Manhattan Project’, Einstein’s only involvement was the writing of these letters. Einstein was notoriously left wing and was considered a security risk by the military (American Museam of Natural History, n.d.). Despite only being involved in the most basic way he felt a large amount of regret, stating that “I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt.” (Pauling, 1954). Einstein spent the rest of his life condemning the bombs, proving that he did not think their use was justified. These views are mirrored in those of Leo

In the summer of 1939, Einstein, along with another scientist, Leo Szilard, was persuaded to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to alert him of the possibility of a Nazi bomb. President Roosevelt could not risk the possibility that Germany might develop an atomic bomb first. The letter is believed to be the key factor that motivated the United States to investigate the development of nuclear weapons. Roosevelt invited Einstein to meet with him and soon after the United States initiated the Manhattan Project (M. Talmey).

The Manhattan Project was created out of the fear of their current enemy, Germany of making the first atomic bomb and using it in the war. The current President of the United States was Franklin Roosevelt. It was seen that Germany was making great advances in the war which worried many. But the people who were very worried were three prestigious scientists. Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller who were Hungarian scientists who immigrated to the United States during the war. Szilard and the other scientists wished to advocate for the start of a program that put all efforts into making an atomic bomb. But of course they were very intelligent on how to get their cause across seriously. “Though the three men, particularly Szilard, were well known

Even before the outbreak of War, the United States was concerned with a fascist regime in Europe researching in nuclear weapons. In retaliation, the United States began to fund an atomic weapon development program which became known as “The Manhattan Project” led by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Over the next several years, the Manhattan project started obtaining key materials such as Uranium-235 and Plutonium and testing prototypes until they reached a working model (Coroner).

Well known scientist Albert Einstein, who fled from Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi who escaped Fascist Italy, were now living in the United States, on which they both agreed that the President should be enlightened of the vulnerability of atomic technology that was in the hands of Axis power. Fermi made an attempt and travelled to Washington in March to express his involvement with the government officials, who showed little to no concern. Einstein who as well shared a great concern in this topic; penned a letter to President Roosevelt imploring the development of an atomic research program later that year. Roosevelt saw neither prerequisite nor adequacy for such a project, but agreed to proceed gradually. In late 1941, the American effort to scheme and build an atomic bomb which received the code name as the Manhattan Project. The very first research was placed at only a few universities such as Columbia University, University of Chicago, and the University in California at Berkeley. The

On July 16, 1939, at the insistence of Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner, physicist Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning the President of Nazi Germany's scientific research of the atomic bomb. His letter would acknowledge Roosevelt of the importance and the danger of this type of weapon in the hands of Adolf Hitler. Roosevelt immediately created the Advisory Committee on Uranium. After some time had passed, Einstein was forced to send another letter to Roosevelt because the government was not fully funding the committee because Leó Szilárd and Eugene Wigner were both born outside of the U.S. and were considered possible security risks. Roosevelt immediately ordered the government to give them the needed funds, and this brought about the Manhattan Project. After realizing the bomb would likely be used, Einstein regretted sending the letters to Roosevelt. Although a pacifist,

One of the scientists that was involved was Enrico Fermi. Fermi was the first to make contact with the U.S. about the Germans starting to experiment with fission. Then Albert Einstein, who was a German physicist who escaped Germany to come to the U.S., eventually persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to start a program around nuclear fission to combat German efforts. Additionally, American scientist Philip Hauge Abelson created a uranium separation process that was necessary is making the atomic bomb.

In 1941, The United States began an atomic bomb program called the “Manhattan Project.” The main objective of the “Manhattan Project” was to research and build an atomic bomb before Germany could create and use one against the allied forces during World War II. German scientists had started a similar research program four years before the United States began so the scientists of the “Manhattan Project” felt a sense of urgency throughout their work (Wood “Men … Project”).