49 Cold War Transformation of a Scientific Community: the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories

Home , Ernest Lawrence, Frank Oppenheimer

Cold War Transformation of a Scientific Community: The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories

Dennis Copeland

It is dangerous for an individual or a university to exert strong control over the direction of research activity. Freedom of the individual is a strong tradition. . . and in no place is individual freedom more important than in research.

Dr. John H. Lawrence(1956)1

The Berkeley University campus has a long tradition of inventiveness and individualism. Nowhere were these values more evident than in the scientific research community, partly housed in academic departments on campus and partly housed, since 1936, in Ernest Lawrence’s Radiation Laboratory. By the late 1930s, California had become a mecca for new scientific research, much of it revolving around the penetration of the atom. A new generation of promising, often brilliant, scientists and engineers began to cluster around Lawrence.2 In Berkeley, Ernest Lawrence developed his first high voltage particle accelerator, the Cyclotron, and a scientific team. In so doing he pioneered the complex of specialized machines and interdisciplinary research known as “Big Science.” Scientific research was carried out previously in separate biology, chemistry, engineering, and physics departments. Lawrence’s group outgrew these original habitats, the academic divisions. Although scientists remained attached to the university where they taught, the laboratories were created to house research communities. The Radiation Laboratory performed a dual role as a research and teaching center for graduate students and research fellows from across the nation and eventually the world. The Berkeley “Rad Labbers,” as they were called, were a community whose pioneers expressed a faith in the American classic values of individualism and enterprise. The Berkeley Laboratory also had a reputation in the larger scientific community: “baidheaded in the Berkeley way.” They were that “damn California crowd,” “Lawrence’sgroup,” the inventors and tinkerers.

1John H. Lawrence, “Early Experiences in Nuclear Medicine,” northwestMedical Journal 55(1956); 553. From an address delivered to the Society of Nuclear Medicine, June 18, 1955. John H. Lawrence Papers, Box 25, Folder 5. (Hereafter abbreviated as JIlL) 2 the establishment of the Laboratory: [Statement of Radiation Laboratory,J August 1951 and “Minutes of the Regents of the University of California,Berkeley, April 1936, “LawrenceBerkeley Archives (LBL) General Reference Files (History). The other new center for physics on the West Coast was the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology in Pasadena. H.M. Miller, Jr. to Ernest Lawrence, September 24, 1940, quoted in Mark Lothrop, AndrewGuthrie, and George Everson, “History of RadiationLab, September 29, 1945,” LBL Archives General Reference History: 26. SeeNuet Pharr Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968): Chapters 2 and 3 for overview of sense of excitement and discovery within the Lab. 50

Ernest Lawrence’s personal characteristics defined the group in the eyes of the public and the larger scientific community: bold, individualistic, informal, exuberant, naive, boyish, and enthusiastic.3 An early biographer of Lawrence depicted him as an American pioneer-hero, a tall, optimistic, Viking-scientist, and a frontiersman in California.4 This characterization of the community and its leader bears some resemblance to how participants actually defined themselves. This self-definition shifted in the late 1940s and the Rad Lab shored up its defenses in a new hostile world. The qualifications for membership changed. The Berkeley scientific community which originated in the 1930s expanded during the Second World War and became transformed in the post-war period. In the Rad Lab’s early years, most of the scientists were Protestant males, of Northern European origins, second-generation Americans, and often Midwesterners or Northeasterners. Teetotalling, devout Chairman Edmund Hall and his assistant, Professor Raymond Birge, sought to expand the Physics Department at Berkeley. Birge, originally from the Northwest, was suspect of Jews and eastern and central Europeans. In his mind, background made a difference. However, to create an active research center on the West coast Hall and Bfrge had to compromise their preferences. They hired the urbane theoretician, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, from New York in 1928. Three weeks later they hired Earnest 0. Lawrence who arrived with his parents and brother John. Midwestern, “they were good folks,” according to Birge. Background, indeed, has a strong influence. The Lawrence brothers were Norwegian, Lutheran, and had grown up in small, primarily Scandinavian and German, South Dakota towns, the sons of a mathematics teacher and a school superintendent and college president. Like many scientists, they had followed their mentors from school to school. Ernest followed the English physicist, W.G.G. Swann, from the University of Minnesota to the University of Chicago, then to Yale. John followed in the footsteps of his fatherly mentor, Harvey Cushing, from the Yale

3 J.L. Heilbmn; RobertW. Seidel; and BruceR. Wheaton,“A Strong Interaction between Science and Society:LBL, 1931-1981,” [19811,LBL Archives General Reference Histories: 2; Lothrop, Guthne, and Everson, “History of RadiationLab, December29, 1945,” LBL Archives Reference: 1-2, contains quotations from teachers, colleagues, and family members. Quotations on the Laboratory’s reputation are from Physicist James Tuck, Atomic Energy Commissioner Henry Smyth, and Chemist Samuel Weissman. Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer: 99-100, 268- 269. On E.O. Lawrence’s personal traits: HerbertChilds, An American Genius: The Lzfeof Ernest Orlando Lawrence (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1968): 85 (Emiio Segre), 146 (Luis Alvarez): Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer: 120, quoting Paul Aebesold, 193 (Henry Smyth), 269, 275 (Hans Bethe). Also Luis Alvarez, Ernest Orlando Lawrence, August 1, 1901 - August 27, 1958. BiographicalMemoir, LBL Archives General Reference Files. HerbertChilds’An American Genius contains interview material with many of E.O. Lawrence’s friends, colleagues,and family. At times, however, Childs’biography borders on panegyric. In the early period, obvious exceptions existed to the Northern European-Protestant influence at the Rad lab. The Italian Emilio Segre joined the Lab in 1938; Ryokichi Sagone worked on the cyclotron, then returned to Japan during WW II, and later rejoined the Lab in 1950. Chien-Shiung Wu began graduate work in 1937 and became the only woman to receive a doctorate from E.O. Lawrence. from personal interviews with Wu and others in Childs: 267, 306; also Jill. 1.5, “1942 Q-Z.” by the late 1930s, emigres from Europe, many fleeing fascist persecution, joined the RadLab. Birge’sassessment of the Lawrences quoted in Davis, Lawrence and Oppenheimer: 16. j 51

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John Letter, 0. for 52 research and for a research community which nurtured scientific values. “We have developed an extraordinary sense of confidence in this system of self-reliance because it worked.” All of John Lawrence’s staff and colleagues--Joseph Hamilton, Hardin Jones, Cornelius Tobias, John Gofman, and others--practiced these traits. These same virtues were still to be cultivated among laboratory members, including Robert Johnston, in the postwar period. The key moral ingredients for John Lawrence and his associates were individual initiative, enterprise, and enthusiasm applied to the service of humanity and for the benefit of the larger community. The ideal was perhaps that of the untiring and dedicated small town doctor or educator. However, this “system” of individualism, as Lawrence himself noted, could be threatened by the “dictates of the group” or “dictatorial, compulsive government.”10 Director Ernest Lawrence, by all accounts, evoked enthusiasm and strong loyalty from friends, colleagues, and staff. His independence characterized the Laboratory. The early Laboratory itself lacked formal organization and assignment of roles and responsibilities. An organization chart, according to observers, would have resembled a sphere with radiating spokes from the center rather than the traditional hierarchical flow-chart.11 Following their belief in individual enterprise, both Lawrences solicited funds from individuals and private foundations before and immediately following the War. Grants and gifts allowed them independence because they did not require outside control over projects. Ernest’s enthusiasm attracted and then mobilized private donors and the University to sponsor Laboratory projects. Raising funds for the Laboratory required ingenuity and sales acumen. The Research Corporation, a philanthropic foundation, provided funds to move and outfit a large magnet, donated by the Federal Telegraph Company, for the cyclotron. Ernest Lawrence, Stanley Livingston, and John Lawrence and his associates wanted to create accelerators which would produce high energy protons with the hope of improving medical treatment and exploring a new source of energy in the atom. Emphasizing the use of radioactive isotopes as medical tracers brought additional support from the Macy and Rockefeller Foundations. The staff began to send radioisotopes for medical research around the country. Joseph Hamilton mixed his radioactive “cocktails,” as he called them, and dispenses them to patients, and even the staff. In 1935, John and Ernest Lawrence treated cancer with the neutron beams of the cyclotron. John Lawrence had perceived immediately the effectiveness of diagnosing and treating diseases, such as polycythemia, leukemia, and

10j H. Lawrence,“MedicalResearchand theNonprofitMotive,”Speech,March18,1959,JHL 22.18: 3-4; “EarlyExperiencesinNuclear Medicine,”Speech,JHL 25.5,“1960”:2. BesidesgeneralcorrespondenceofJNL and EOL,JohnLawrence’smemorandaanddirectivesto theDonnerstaffprovidea glimpse into staffgoalsand expectations.JHL 6.8; 11.22-23;12.2; 14.11; 15.56; 15.67; 16.1(JamesLinfoot,JamesBorn,Edward Manougian). 11Davisquotesananonymousphysicist who describestheorganizationchart as a “daisy” withlinesradiatingfrom E.O. Lawrence. Lawrence and Oppenheimer: 198.Glenn T. Seaborgalso described the organizationinsimilar terms. JFII.34.1. The Lab reflected“anunusualdegreeofindependencewhichLawrencehadestablished before WorldWar II,” in Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan, AtomicShield, 1947-1952, Volume2,A History of the U.S. AtomicEnergy Commission(University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1969):225. 53

pituitary disorders, with radioactive substances. As a result, the researchers synthesized several new isotopes and later discovered new chemical elements. Both Regent-financiers William H. Crocker and William Dormer donated funds for the construction of research laboratories, identified by their respective surnames. The Lawrences were credited with a high degree of entrepreneurial initiative and contagious enthusiasm in creating a convivial, exciting research climate during the Depression.’2 The Second World War transformed this early pioneering climate. Through the Regents of the University and the National Defense Research Council (NDRC), the Laboratory forged a link with the federal government. Ernest Lawrence began to plan for larger, higher-energy nuclear accelerators. The Lawrences and their associates knew that they needed enormous funding sources. In order to obtain funding for the increasingly expensive machines, the expanding staff to create and use them, and the educational programs they planned, they would need a benefactor with near unlimited resources. Only the federal government could afford Big Science. The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRO) and the U.S. Army-Air Force medical research committee brought many new projects and staff to the Laboratory. At its wartime zenith, the Laboratory staff numbered 1,170, including 65 guards. In 1940, the NDRC, through its “Uranium Project,” determined that the new big accelerator on the hills above Berkeley should be completed in order to separate uranium isotopes for bomb production. The Laboratory community under Lawrence, eventually supported this effort with all the force of their characteristic optimism and patriotism; War research was, after all, in the service of the larger community. The “Uranium Project”--later the federal Manhattan Engineering District (MED) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)--gave $170,000 to the Lab after the War.’3 The federal contracts imposed certain conditions on the Lab: security provisions, progress reports, federal patents, supervisory standards for the research teams, and red tape. Security measures were obtrusive and continued after the War. By 1945, the Lawrences realized that Big Science required a benefactor who could afford the large machines and staffs. Science joined the

12 the use of radioactive tracers, “twinkling atoms,”: Joseph G. Hamilton, “The Use of Radioactive Tracers in biologyand Medicine,” Radiology 39 (November 1942):541-572.WilliamG.Myersin “SomeDiscoveriesinthe Basic SciencesattheLawrenceBerkeleyLaboratory...,”Article[1977], JHL 34.32, describes Ernest Lawrence and Joseph Hamilton’s use of radioactive “cocktails.” “Several people around him [EOLJsawthedeterminationof activity in his fingertips.” Also [John H. Lawrence], “Unlimited Horizons,” Radio Transcript, Feb.28, 1943, JHL 25.1. Early support through grants fromfoundationsand individuals: John H. Lawrence Fermi Award Presentation, February 1984--Remarks by TEL,” JHL 22.18: 2-3, referring to the origins of the Donner Lab and meeting with William Donner. Childs, An American Genius: 72-73,311. Lothrop, includes several extended excerpts from the letters of E.O. Lawrence to Dr.WarrenWeaveroftheRockefellerFoundation. 13 John H. Lawrence to C.H. Wasile, Letter, March 19, 1942, JHL 1.3; to Gurth Carpenter,June9, 1944; to Lt. Col. Garett Cheney, Feb 1, 1944; to Robert Mrd, Nov 23, 1943, JHL 4.5 Several letters report thattheWar effort interrupted research. OSRDcontracts:“Chronologyof SignificantEventsInvolving the AEC andLRL Occurring During the Career of W.B. Reynolds,” [n.d.J, LBL Archives General Reference. Lothrop, et. p1..quotesfromthecontractofthe Regents and NDRC, June 1941: 3-5. Radioisotopeshipping:JNL 1.5; 1.6; 1.7; 1.14-16, 4.1. 5.1. 6.3 andEdwin McMillan, “History of the Cyclotron,: Physics Today 12 (October1959):28.

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and

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of government,

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of atmosphere

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the Importance

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increasingly

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suspect

and

The surveillance

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and

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the

the of as completely

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(Washington:

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John

Lewis

began

California

security

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dictates Government

charged approval

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contracted

research,

charge

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for

contracting

enemy,

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from

also and

being

1945,

Berkeley.

researchers

ultimately

154-155. supposed

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legacy

began

Kamen,

Lab

“Secret”

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government

government,

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and

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Regarding

one Hall,

members:

institution. present

period, The

these

should

claim the

Claudine Rad Increasingly,

the

concern

Francisco, without

with during Martin

“Observations clearance

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common

the

City

(HUAC)

complete

War,

1949,

under

the

circumstances (1954).

the

October

San

early then

building

ideologically. 1.42.

described

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formal

Americans

alleged

Hearings

the

Bethe, 6.6

infiltrate

faced

University

are

the

although

fight

the

JHL

discovered and

physicist Bldg,

Lab,

When

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rightfully

scope

four the

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to Period,”

university

Hans

government

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even

changed

Laboratory Conference,

domination.

at the Donner

a government.

advocated Session,

Committee

later,

1943,

During

They

War

to with with activities

Jepp,

labeled

1st

Scientist

During

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Ironically,

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John

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world

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allotted

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Lawrence

collaborated self-reliance. dominated and was undermine,

into the split, community. Berkeley;

Lawrence’s many Activities

the the consisting 17

Joseph 18 D. and October in

Rehabilitation Kamen Interviews Congress, Lansdale’s

Bomb 56

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