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. We didn't do well then, and the parallels to our current
situation are troubling.
The effort to build the first atomic bomb was led by the brilliant physicist J.
Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was not naturally interested in politics but
became painfully aware of what he perceived as the grave threat to Western
civilization from the Third Reich, a threat surely grave because of the possibility
that Hitler might obtain nuclear weapons. Energized by this concern, he brought
his strong intellect, passion for physics, and charismatic leadership skills to Los
Alamos and led a rapid and successful effort by an incredible collection of great
minds to quickly invent the bomb.
What is striking is how this effort continued so naturally after the initial impetus
was removed. In a meeting shortly after V-E Day with some physicists who felt
that perhaps the effort should stop, Oppenheimer argued to continue. His stated
reason seems a bit strange: not because of the fear of large casualties from an
invasion of Japan, but because the United Nations, which was soon to be formed,
should have foreknowledge of atomic weapons. A more likely reason the project
continued is the momentum that had built up - the first atomic test, Trinity, was
nearly at hand.
We know that in preparing this first atomic test the physicists proceeded despite
a large number of possible dangers. They were initially worried, based on a
calculation by Edward Teller, that an atomic explosion might set fire to the
atmosphere
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