What Is Einstein's Letter To Szilard

The film titled “Einstein’s Letter” depicts the historical events that took place beginning the summer of 1939; world renowned physicist Albert Einstein agreed to sign a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that would change the world forever. He was visited at his Long Island home by Hungarian physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner in order to get his help in urging the President to build a nuclear bomb; they felt that the building of this atomic bomb and the treat of its detonation would save the world. He presumed that a big, scary weapon would deter war and force nations into peace. Szilard needed Einstein’s help to set his theory in motion. Driven by intense fear of the Nazi Germany having an unbeatable lead on the

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

During the events of WWII, the world’s scientific community learned that German physicists had unlocked the secrets of splitting a uranium atom. The world quickly came to fear the idea of Nazi scientists finding a way to harness that energy and create a weapon of mass destruction the likes of which had never been seen before.

In early 1939, the world’s scientific community revealed that German physicist had learned the secret of splitting uranium atoms. A fear that the Nazis might attempt to manipulate an advancement to advance their domination of Europe arose. To exacerbate the situation, Pearl Harbor would be bombed in December 1941. This initiated not only the American efforts to discover the secrets of atomic energy, but also race prejudice of a plot among Japanese-Americans to sabotage war efforts. As panic spread across America, drastic decisions would transpire.

In the early months of 1939, scientists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi penned a letter to the President of the United States, informing him of a recent breakthrough in the German research utilizing uranium. If the huge amounts of energy produced by the splitting of a fissionable nucleus was harnessed, it could be used to construct a bomb with destructive power never before seen. Even more concerning, they had reason to believe that such a weapon was closer to reality than ever before thought, and the German physicists that had made this discovery were seemingly first in this atomic arms race. Fearing the future in which the axis successfully claimed control of such power, Einstein, Fermi, and numerous other scientists strongly urged the president to start his own atomic research program. Though Roosevelt had his doubt about the

Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt urging the development of an atomic research program in 1939. Roosevelt saw neither the necessity or the utility for the project, but agreed to proceed slowly. The American effort to design and build an Atomic bomb received it’s code name, in late

The United States government was shocked by the news of German scientists discovering nuclear fission. The news came to the United States from Albert Einstein. Einstein found out the nuclear fission information from a German physicist named Leo Szilard. He then told it to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and urged him to start an investment toward atomic research. The research would then help construct an atomic weapon of mass destruction. Roosevelt was not especially concerned about investing in atomic weapon research because he didn 't plan on getting involved in the War.

In the early 20th century, there were numerous groundbreaking advances in science. One of the most important ones was the splitting of the atom or nuclear fission. Physicists realized that fission could release tremendous amounts of energy in a form of a bomb. With WWII in the horizon, the U.S. government decided to launch the Manhattan Project, the race to develop the world’s first atomic bomb. The project took about 7 years, approximately $2 billion, and around 130,000 personnel to complete, (Hall,“By the Numbers: World War II’s atomic bombs”). The eventually success of the project would change countries around the globe forever. The results of the Manhattan Project opened up a new field of possibilities, leaving behind numerous consequences.

While nuclear fission was believed to be possible in Germany since 1938 it was not put into actionin the United States until 1943. That year Allied scientists created a plan to use the fission to build an atomic bomb before the Germans could. In early 1939 word spread like wildfire that Germany had learned hot to split an atom. The fears this struck in the scientific community encouraged scientist, like Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi, who escaped Fascist Italy, to approach the President. They wanted to express the dangers of the technology and to urge him to start an atomic research program in the United States. Fermi decided to travel to Washington only to be faced with the fact that no one else felt the

In 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U.S. was seeking a way to design an atomic bomb. Doing this would win World War II for the United States. The government tried and succeeded in acquiring all the materials and employees needed to do the job. One of those people was Enrico Fermi who led a small group and conducted the first controlled nuclear chain reaction. Now that milestones were reached to keep secret research was only to be based at few universities. Again, the reaching of milestones not only made secrecy a priority but also now the funds would

The Manhattan Project was preceded by a variety of scientific discoveries in the 1920’s and the 1930’s. During this time of scientific discovery, Hitler had been steadily rising to power in Germany, and before long, physicist Leo Szilard and fellow Hungarian Jews Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller became worried. They decided that the President of the United States must be informed about the new fission technology that had been discovered, which they believed was capable of making bombs. The three physicists enlisted the help of Albert Einstein, the foremost scientist in that period, and together they drafted a

The fear of other nations developing a weapon powerful enough to decimate the US led to the authorization of research to develop an Atomic bomb in 1939. Before WWII people were fearful of the involvement of nuclear science in war because of its’ unfamiliarity. Physicists knew that if Hitler developed the technology that could potentially begot the development of an Atomic bomb, mass destruction would occur. Upon realizing the necessity of nuclear involvement in war, Albert Einstein signed a letter to the U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) addressing his concerns that Germany was developing a nuclear bomb. Einstein urged FDR to fund a research program, Roosevelt agreed and the U.S. set out in October 1939 to study the recent advances in nuclear fission. One key factor that cannot be ignored was that from 1941 the US was involved in war with Japan and because of the attacks on pearl harbour it seemed necessary to develop a weapon of this caliber.

When the secret to building the ultimate weapon was discovered, the race began to see who could build one first. German physicists unearthed the secret to nuclear fission, splitting a uranium atom, word quickly spread in the science world. A weapon could be created using the newly uncovered truth behind nuclear fission, it could be used to create a very destructive weapon. Eugene Wigner and Leo Szilard, Hungarian physicists, went to Albert Einstein for help to get a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, explaing the current debacle. They were afraid that if the Germans got their hands on such a powerful weapon, the whole world would be in danger. Alexander Sachs delivered the letter to the president, and he ordered that the bomb be created. The bomb was made using uranium nitrate in lukewarm neutrons, which in turn, transmitted microscopic

What else could have lead to the creation of this weapon of mass destruction? It is apparent that Einstein’s letter to the President, informing him of his beliefs that the Germans were making an atom bomb, caused and spread panic throughout the government. In the midst of the chaos, panic turned into a frantic race to build the atom bomb before the Germans did. As a result, opposing countries’ scientists went to war in an effort to make the most dangerous weapon ever created.

This concept drastically transformed the image of the atom and eventually led to further discoveries in physics. After the discovery of the neutron, the concept of utilizing the neutron for a bullet to assault other nuclei was in place. This would later be known as nuclear fission, which is a major stepping stone going into World War II. It was a matter of speed and time to figure out the most optimal conditions and power for this chain reaction bomb. Later, it was applied to Uranium atoms, in which it released huge packets of energy. This was discovered through the use of Einstein’s theory and relationship between mass and