Richard Rhodes - The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Planck’s constant, 70, 74, 75, 130

Plato, 116

plutonium, 360, 365, 403

in atomic bomb, 366–68, 387, 388–89

Compton on, 388–89, 398

critical mass of, 461, 464, 655

cross-section measurements of, 366–68

description of, 659–60

isolation and concentration of, 407–11, 413–15, 420, 431, 448, 476, 547–48, 603–4

Los Alamos’ crisis with, 548, 553

production piles for, 431–32, 436, 496–500, 508, 547–48, 557–60, 603

Seaborg’s research on, 353–55, 366, 381, 389, 407–10, 413–15, 476–77, 547–48, 603, 604

Segrè’s research on, 353–55, 366

spontaneous fission of, 540–41, 548

plutonium nitrate, 604

Poland, 309–10, 622–24, 645–46

Polanyi, Michael:

background of, 106

on chemical chain reactions, 28

science assessed by, 31–32, 33–35

Szilard and, 25, 31, 70, 221–22, 224, 237

polonium, 118, 158, 160–161, 578–79

Pond, Ashley, 450–51, 459

Pontecorvo, Bruno, 217–19, 241

Porsche, Ferdinand, 404

positrons, 200–201

“Possible existence of a neutron” (Chadwick), 164

“Possible production of elements of atomic number higher than 92” (Fermi), 230

Potsdam Conference (1945), 656, 658, 666, 682–83, 689–90, 692–93

Potsdam Declaration (1945), 688–89, 692, 697, 742, 745

precision bombing, 341, 587

area bombing vs., 469–71, 476, 586, 591, 650

central premise of, 587–88

Pregel, Boris and Alexander, 298, 649

primary thermal burns, 714–15

Princeton, 109, 186, 196, 282

Princeton University, 112, 187, 196, 265–66, 282, 284

Principia (Newton), 39

Principia Mathematica (Russell and Whitehead), 123

Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , 127, 321

“Proposed Program for Japan” (Stimson), 683–84

protactinium, 220, 233–34

Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The (Vinberg), 17–18, 181–84

protons, 199–201

proximity fuse, 477

Prussian Academy of Sciences, 169, 173

Pumpkins (Fat Man dummies), 586, 589–90, 639, 687

Pu239, 461, 464, 476, 548, 563

Pu240, 548

quantum mechanics, 71, 75, 78, 83–85, 113–17, 124, 127–29, 131–33

Quebec Conferences (1943, 1944), 500, 523, 527, 530, 536, 634, 655

Queen Marys, 603–4

Que Viva Mexico! , 186

Rabi, Isidor I., 189, 209, 267, 293

atomic bomb development opposed by, 452–53

on atomic bomb’s use, 698

background of, 279–80

Los Alamos and, 452–53, 465, 479

Oppenheimer and, 149, 449, 452–53, 676

Trinity and, 656, 665–66, 668, 672, 675–77

Rabinowitch, Eugene, 635

racetracks, 489

construction of, 490–91

design problems of, 491–92

productivity of, 600–601

Rachkovsky, P. I., 183

radiation:

as atomic bomb by-product, 324–25, 369, 386, 420–21, 432, 632, 648

from beryllium, 159–64, 215–16, 238

Cerenkov, 604

commercial and medical uses of, 239–40

radiation sickness, 569, 731–32

radiation transport, 670–71

radiative capture, 216–18, 226–27

“Radioactive change” (Soddy), 43–44

radioactive displacement law, 67–68

“Radioactive element 93” (McMillan and Abelson), 350

radioactive warfare, 510–11, 512–13

radioactivity:

artificial, 201–4, 209, 212, 230

Becquerel’s discovery of, 41–42

Bohr’s studies in, 67–69

Curies’ research on, 42, 44–45, 47–48, 118, 158

energy and, 43–45

Hahn’s studies on, 45, 80–81, 85

Joliot-Curies’ research on, 201–4, 209, 211, 213, 230

Rutherford’s studies on, 42–46, 135–38, 170

slow-neutron, 220, 226

Soddy’s studies on, 42–44, 67, 170

Szilard and, 44, 203–4, 238

as weapon, 510–11, 512–13

radiochemistry, 67–68, 80–81

Radio Saipan, 737

radio waves, Rutherford’s research on, 36–38

radium, 42–45, 80, 118, 172, 578

isotopes of, 252–55

radon, 45, 160, 210–11

Raeder, Erich, 402–3

Rafferty, James, 650

RaLa (radiolanthanum implosion experiment), 574, 577

Ramsey, Norman F.:

Kokura atomic bombing and, 737–38

Little Boy’s combat delivery and, 701, 704

on Little Boy’s readiness, 699

ordnance work of, 478, 480–81, 582–84

Parsons and, 481

Target Committee and, 630

Tinian and, 682

Randall, James, 319

Rasetti, Franco, 208, 210–11, 219, 241

Rasetti, Ginestra, 209

Rasmussen, Knud, 226

Rath, Ernst vom, 249

Rathenau, Walther, 174

RDX, 577

reactors, see plutonium, production piles for

Reich Research Council, 402–3, 513

Reichstag, burning of, 25, 184, 185

relativity theory, 19, 152, 168–73, 185–86, 260

republic of science, 31–32, 33–35

“Resonance in uranium and thorium disintegrations and the phenomena of nuclear fission” (Bohr), 287–88

Reviews of Modern Physics , 346–47

rhenium, 230, 349

Ricerca Scientifica , 209, 211–12, 219, 226

Richards, T. W., 358

Riemann, Georg, 61, 76

Roberts, Richard B., 270–73, 477 n

nuclear fission and, 283–84, 287, 289–90, 295, 315–16, 432

uranium cross section and, 334–35

Rome, University of, 207

Rommel, Erwin, 355

Röntgen, Wilhelm, 38, 41, 138

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 526, 614, 636, 657

Roosevelt, Franklin, 606

aerial bombing and, 309–10, 471, 476

atomic bomb project administration and, 378–79, 412, 423

atomic bomb’s political implications and, 526–27, 531, 534–38, 562, 620–21

Bohr and, 525–28, 531–32, 534–38, 561–62, 620

Bush and, 337–38, 365, 377–79, 387–88, 405–6, 412, 551, 605

Byrnes and, 618–20, 646

Churchill and, 471, 500, 520–21, 527–28, 530–31, 536–38

death of, 613–14, 617

Einstein’s letters to, 303–4, 305–9, 312–14, 331–32, 635–36

Frankfurter and, 525–27, 531–32, 536–38, 562

Hopkins and, 337–38

Iwo Jima and, 594

military aspects of nuclear fission and, 313–15, 337–38, 377–79, 387–88

nuclear chain reaction and, 306–9, 313, 317

Sachs’ meetings with, 313–15

Snow on, 537

Stalin and, 536

Stimson and, 618, 620–21

Szilard and, 635–36

Teller and, 335–36

unconditional surrender and, 521

Rosbaud, Paul, 236, 253, 256, 261

Rose, E. L., 465, 467–68

Rosenberg, Alfred, 183

Rosenfeld, Léon, 193

Bohr and, 58–59, 61–62, 76–77, 264–65, 267, 282, 284–86, 289 n

Roskilde, Treaty of (1658), 256

Rotblat, Joseph, 356

Rothschild, Baron Edmond de, 86, 87, 90

Royal Astronomical Society, 169

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 55

Royal Society of London, 37, 39, 96, 153, 169, 330

Rozental, Stefan, 56, 329, 482, 483

Russell, A. S., 82, 156

Russell, Bertrand, 123

Russia, Imperial, 178–79, 180–81, 183

Rust, Bernhard, 402–3

Rutherford, Ernest, 23, 80, 83, 109, 144, 191, 198, 202, 216, 221, 231, 292–93, 652

alpha scattering studied by, 47–51, 66, 130, 135–36, 151–52

ambitions of, 39

appearance of, 46, 134–35, 159

Aston and, 138, 141

atomic models of, 40–41, 50–51, 62, 71, 77, 83–85

atomic transformation and, 27–28, 38

awards and honors of, 37, 45, 159

Bohr and, 53, 66–69, 71, 75–77, 81, 86, 136, 139, 229–30

cathode ray experiments of, 39–40

Chadwick and, 36, 50, 124, 135, 138, 153–58, 162, 164

Curies and, 42, 44–45, 84