DOCSLIB.ORG

BRITISH SCIENTISTS and the MANHATTAN PROJECT Also by Ferenc Morton Szasz

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
BRITISH SCIENTISTS and the MANHATTAN PROJECT Also by Ferenc Morton Szasz BRITISH SCIENTISTS AND THE MANHATTAN PROJECT Also by Ferenc Morton Szasz THE DIVIDED MIND OF PROTESTANT AMERICA RELIGION IN THE WEST (editor) THE DAY THE SUN ROSE TWICE: The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945 THE PROTESTANT CLERGY IN THE GREAT PLAINS AND MOUNTAIN WEST British Scientists and the Manhattan Project The Los Alamos Years Ferenc Morton Szasz Professor of History University of New Mexico, Albuquerque MMACMILLAN © Ferenc Morton Szasz 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this pub1ication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any 1icence permitting 1imited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 A1fred P1ace, London WClE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liab1e to crimina1 prosecution and civil claims for darnages. First published 1992 by MACMILLAN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL LTD. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS andLondon Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-1-349-12733-7 ISBN 978-1-349-12731-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12731-3 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. For Margaret and Maria Contents Preface IX Introduction Xlll Background 2 The British Mission at Los Alamos: The Scientific 16 Dimension 3 The British Mission at Los Alamos: The Social 32 Dimension 4 The Aftermath 46 5 Varieties of the British Mission Experience 56 6 The Strange Tale of Klaus Fuchs 82 7 The British Mission and the Postwar Nuclear Culture 97 Notes 107 Appendix I The Postwar Careers of the British Mission 133 II The Frisch-Peierls Memorandum (March 1940) 141 III Ralph Carlisle Smith's Summary of the 148 British Mission at Los Alamos IV Otto Frisch's Eyewitness Account of the 152 July 16, 1945, Atomic Explosion at Trinity Site, Alamogordo Air Base, New Mexico Bibliography 154 Index 163 VB Preface This is a study of the British scientific mission to Los Alamos, New Mexico, from 1943 to 1947, and the impact it had on the early history of the atomic age. In retrospect, it is clear that this book had a dual origin. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, I researched and wrote an account of the world's first atomic explosion (July 16, 1945) at Trinity Site, on the Alamogordo Air Base in central New Mexico. In 1984, the University of New Mexico Press published this as The Day the Sun Rose Twice. The research for this project, especially the opportunity to interview many of the original participants of the Manhattan Project, lured me forever into the fascinating world of atomic history. During the academic year of 1985-6, I taught at the University of Exeter in Devon as a Visiting Fulbright Professor for the American and Common- wealth Arts Division. There my family and I became fascinated with British life, especially that of the West Country. This study of the British scientists who went to wartime Los Alamos is an attempt to combine these two themes. Any project that stretches over a decade acquires numerous obligations. Consequently, I would like to begin by thanking the following: Don Pierce, Gerald Lane, and Charles Bates, three Albuquerque book dealers who always kept their eyes open for anything that touched on atomic history; Brenda Spurlock Landstedt, who proved that an undergraduate work-study person could do graduate level research; Dennis Bilger of the Harry S Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, for gracious treatment during my visit there; the staff at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York, for making available the "Atomic Bomb folder"; Edward J. Reese of the Modem Military Branch of the National Archives, Washing- ton, DC; the staff at the Public Record Office in Kew, London; Anna Broussard and Dorothy W onsmos of Zimmerman Library, the University of New Mexico; Mrs Ashley C. Oates for generously serving as a "broker" to put me in touch with her parents, Sir Ernest Titterton and Peggy Titterton; Sarah (Polly) Tuck for sharing memories of her parents, James and Elsie Tuck; Los Alamos veteran Robert Porton for loaning me his priceless collection of the Laboratory daily bulletins for 1943-5; Mrs Lorna Arnold of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for responding so splendidly to a stranger's phone call; and Professor W.N. Everitt of the Department of Mathematics, University of Birmingham, for sending me materials on his late colleague, Tony Skyrme. Reference librarian Kate ix x Preface Luger deserves special commendation for devising increasingly intricate ways of tracking down missing British scientists. Thanks to her, I was eventually able to account for every member of the British Mission who came to Los Alamos from 1943 to 1947. Research in the early history of the atomic era is ever entwined with current matters of state. On both sides of the Atlantic, national security measures are such that certain World War II materials still remain closed to historians. This is especially true for the British side of the story, where numerous documents are unlikely to be available within the foreseeable future. On the American side, materials that had been declassified in the 1950s have suddenly been reclassified again. (The rise of international terrorism prompted this move. While the nuclear technology of the World War II years may be outdated, it still works.) Consequently, a special word of thanks must go to Roger A. Meade, head ArchivistIHistorian at the Los Alamos National Laboratories. Meade did yeoman work in uncovering virtually everything in the archives that pertained to the British experience in New Mexico. In addition, he and his staff provided invaluable assistance in transcribing the many interviews that I conducted over the years. I would also like to credit my colleague, Dr Donald Skabelund, and Paul W. Henricksen of Los Alamos for their aid; the late Dr Ralph Carlisle Smith, who read an earlier draft; and Professors A.P. French and Janet Roebuck, who read through the entire manuscript. After almost thirty years, I am still indebted to Richard W. Smith, Professor Emeritus at Ohio Wesleyan University, for his inspiration and guidance. Richard G. Robbins, Barton J. Bernstein and Robert Del Tredici were all most generous in sharing primary documents. Two anonymous reviewers for St. Martin's Press saved me from a number of potentially embarrassing errors. The typing skills of Pat E. Devejian and Penelope P. Katson were at their usual level of excellence. So, too, were Margaret Connell Szasz's highly valued editorial skills. Special mention should also be made to our colleagues and friends at the University of Exeter: Mick and Nancy Gidley, Richard Maltby, David and Gillian Hom, Ron and Anne Tamplin, and Peter and Louisa Quartermain. They patiently answered all our questions about British life, even the foolish ones, without a hint of embarrassment. I could not have completed this study without the courtesy of those who graciously allowed me to interview them regarding their knowledge of the British Mission to Los Alamos: Ms Ellen Bradbury, Dr Norris Bradbury, Mrs Hanni Bretscher, Ms Judy Florence, Dr Anthony P. French, Dr D.J. Littler, Dr Donald C. Marshall, Dr J. Carson and Kathleen Mark, Dr John Manley, Dr P.B. Moon, Sir Rudolf Peierls, Lord William George Penney, Dr M.J. Poole, Mrs Mollie Rodriguez, Dr Joseph Rotblat, Dr Alice Kimball Preface xi Smith, Dr Cyril Stanley Smith, Dr Ralph Carlisle Smith, Sir Ernest and Peggy Titterton. Of course, all scholarship treating these issues must begin with the works by Margaret Gowing, the official historian of the British atomic world: Margaret Gowing, Britain and Atomic Energy, 1939-1945 (London: Macmillan, 1964); Margaret Gowing, Independence and Deter- rence, Vol. I, P olicy Making; Vol II, Policy Execution (London: Macmillan, 1974); and her American counterparts, who wrote the official history of the Atomic Energy Commission: Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 193911946: Vol. I of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962); Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan, Atomic Shield, 194711952: Vol. II of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park, Penn., and London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1969); Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, 1953-1961: Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Com- mission: Volume III of A History of the Atomic Energy Commission (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989). Finally, I would like to thank all the members of my family. My father, Ferenc P. Szasz, Ing. (1906-1984), introduced me to both the world of science and that of emigre life. My mother, Mary Szasz, received updates on this project almost every week for the last five years. Chris, Scott and Eric also heard about it with regularity. And I would especially like to thank Margaret and Maria for listening so patiently to the endless stories about the British Mission to Los Alamos. In an academic household, the gift of listening is far more precious than can ever be imagined. FMS Introduction The first weeks of August, 1945, proved the most decisive in the history of humankind. Or so thought Isaiah Berlin, then head of the Special Survey Section of the British Embassy in Washington, DC. Berlin would later go on to become an internationally famous philosopher/historian, but in 1945 he was drafting manuscript dispatches for the British home front.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 01 Freer.Pdf
    John Henry Poynting First Prof Physics Birmingham 1880-1914 Rudolf Peierls 1907-1995 Birmingham 1937+ (holes in semiconductors) Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant 1901-2000 Birmingham 1937-1950 Otto Frisch (1904-1979) Bham 1939+ co-discover of 2H, 3H and 3He Role in first demonstration of nuclear fusion Got plans from Lawrence for Birmingham’s cyclotron John Bell 1928-1990 CPT 1951 Birmingham Luders-Pauli Thm Freeman-Dyson Tony Skyrme (1922-1987) Birmingham, 1949-51 Why are light nuclei so important – Understanding cutting edge theory ? [Otsuka et al., PRL 95 (05) 232502] Tensor correlations [Otsuka et al., PRL 97 (06) 162501] Neutron – proton interaction - - - + + + + - 8Be Ab initio type approaches (Greens Function Monte Carlo) 13 11 + 9 4 7 Ex [MeV] [MeV] Ex Ex 5 3 2+ 1 + -1 0 -1 4 9 14 19 24 Pieper and J(J+1) Wiringa, ANL 9 Ab initio no-core solutions for nuclear structure: Be P. Maris, C. Cockrell, M. Caprio and J.P. Vary Total density Proton - Neutron density Shows that one neutron provides a “ring ” cloud around two alpha clusters binding them together Chase Cockrell, ISU PhD student 12 C Chiral EFT on the lattice 32 S 24 Mg 9Be 9B PHYSICAL REVIEW C 86 , 057306 (2012), PHYSICAL REVIEW C 86 , 014312 (2012) 10 Be 12 C 10 C Characterization of 10 Be * Gas inlet LAMP array Window (2.5 um mylar) LAMP 6He LEDA LAMP LEDA Collimator M. Freer, et al. PRL 2006 Test of method- measure 10.36 MeV 4 + resonance In 16 O ( 12 C+ α) LAMP LEDA LAMP LEDA Resonances in 16 O E( 12 C)=16 MeV Singles Coincidence 10 10 4He Energy Energy (MeV) (MeV) 12 C 0 0 8 24 8 24 Angle Angle Gas pressure = 100 Torr LAMP LEDA LAMP 4 Energy ( 12 C) LEDA θcm ( He) 180 0 Energy ( 4He) 12 180 θcm ( C) Resonance analysis Counts 6000 - =121 mm detector 2000 - (E, θw) ddet window Distance/2+20 (mm) θw θlab dreaction 2 |P 4(cos( θcm )| θcm 6He+ 4He at 7.5 MeV – 7Li+ 7Li the 10.15 MeV state in 10 Be N.
    [Show full text]
  • The Skyrme Model Fundamentals Methods Applications
    springer.com Physics : Elementary Particles, Quantum Field Theory Makhankov, V.G., Rybakov, Y.P., Sanyuk, V.I. The Skyrme Model Fundamentals Methods Applications The December 1988 issue of the International Journal of Modern Physics A is dedicated to the memory of Tony Hilton Royle Skyrme. It contains an informative account of his life by Dalitz and Aitchison's reconstruction of a talk by Skyrme on the origin of the Skyrme model. From these pages, we learn that Tony Skyrme was born in England in December 1922. He grew up in that country during a period of increasing economic and political turbulence in Europe and elsewhere. In 1943, after Cambridge, he joined the British war effort in making the atomic bomb. He was associated with military projects throughout the war years and began his career as an academic theoretical physicist only in 1946. During 1946-61, he was associated with Cambridge, Birmingham and Harwell and was engaged in wide-ranging investigations in nuclear physics. It was this research which eventually culminated in his studies of nonlinear field theories and his remarkable proposals for the description of the nucleon as a chiral soliton. In his talk, Skyrme described the reasons behind his extraordinary sug• gestions, which Springer when first made must have seemed bizarre. According to him, ideas of this sort go back many Softcover reprint of the decades and occur in the work of Sir William Thomson, who later became Lord Kelvin. Skyrme 1st original 1st ed. 1993, XVIII, edition had heard of Kelvin in his youth. 265 p. Order online at springer.com/booksellers Springer Nature Customer Service Center LLC Printed book 233 Spring Street Softcover New York, NY 10013 Printed book USA Softcover T: +1-800-SPRINGER NATURE ISBN 978-3-642-84672-4 (777-4643) or 212-460-1500 [email protected] $ 109,99 Available Discount group Professional Books (2) Product category Monograph Series Springer Series in Nuclear and Particle Physics Other renditions Softcover ISBN 978-3-642-84671-7 Prices and other details are subject to change without notice.
    [Show full text]
  • Manhattan Project National Historic Park National Park Service U.S
    Manhattan Project National Historic Park National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Los Alamos, New Mexico MAIN GATE PASSES MUST BE PRESENTED TO GUARDS PASSES POST No. 1 SECRET Courtesy of the Atomic Heritage Foundation Manhattan Project National Historical Park Los Alamos, New Mexico JUNIOR RANGER BOOK Manhattan Project National Historical Park is a partnership park between the Department of Energy and the National Park Service. Three separate sites were located in Los Alamos, NM; Oakridge, TN; and Hanford, WA. Each site contributed significantly to scientific study and defense during World War II. Every location has different stories to share. Download Junior Ranger books from other sites to learn more! Hanford, WA Oakridge, TN Los Alamos, NM Junior Rangers are a very special group of people who promise to care for our National Parks so that future generations can enjoy and learn from them too! To become a Junior Ranger, you will need to read information about the Los Alamos Manhattan Project site, answer questions and complete activities. It is OK for parents to help! When you are finished, bring the completed booklet to the visitor center, or mail it in to the address below to receive your badge. Please tell us where to mail your badge: How many pages do I Name _______________________________________________ complete to earn my badge? 9th grade and up - All pages 4th-8th grade - 5 pages Address _____________________________________________ Under 4th grade - 3 pages City ________________________________________________ State __________________________ Zip _________________ For questions, contact the Los Alamos, NM Visitor Center at: 475 20th Street, Los Alamos, NM 87544 (505) 661-6277 Visit us online at www.nps.gov/mapr Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ManhattanProjectNPS Also find us at Twitter@MnhtnProjectNPS Rev.
    [Show full text]
  • NORRIS E. BRADBURY May 30, 1909–August 20, 1997
    NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES N O R R I S E . B R A D B URY 1909—1996 A Biographical Memoir by H A R O L D M. Ag NE W AN D RA E M E R E . S C HREIB ER Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 1998 NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS WASHINGTON D.C. Courtesy of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory NORRIS E. BRADBURY May 30, 1909–August 20, 1997 BY HAROLD M. AGNEW AND RAEMER E. SCHREIBER ORRIS E. (EDWIN) BRADBURY died August 20, 1997, at the Nage of eighty-eight. He succeeded J. Robert Oppen- heimer as director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in Octo- ber 1945 with the understanding that his appointment was an interim one, perhaps only for six months. Instead, he held the position of laboratory director for twenty-five years before retiring. Under his leadership, the laboratory recov- ered from the postwar doldrums and became internation- ally renowned for advanced research and development in a variety of fields. Much of the work was aimed at under- standing the use of nuclear energy, but important work was also done in related fields, such as computing, biosciences, and space technology. Norris Bradbury was born May 30, 1909, in Santa Bar- bara, California, one of four children of Edwin Pearly and Elvira (Clausen) Bradbury. He grew up in southern Califor- nia and attended Hollywood High School and then Chaffey Union High School in Ontario, California, where he gradu- ated at the age of sixteen.
    [Show full text]
  • The Secret History of Australia's Nuclear Ambitions
    Jim Walsh SURPRISE DOWN UNDER: THE SECRET HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS by Jim Walsh Jim Walsh is a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science program at MIT, where he is completing a dissertation analyzing comparative nuclear decisionmaking in Australia, the Middle East, and Europe. ustralia is widely considered tactical nuclear weapons. In 1961, of state behavior and the kinds of Ato be a world leader in ef- Australia proposed a secret agree- policies that are most likely to retard forts to halt and reverse the ment for the transfer of British the spread of nuclear weapons? 1 spread of nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons, and, throughout This article attempts to answer Australian government created the the 1960s, Australia took actions in- some of these questions by examin- Canberra Commission, which called tended to keep its nuclear options ing two phases in Australian nuclear for the progressive abolition of open. It was not until 1973, when history: 1) the attempted procure- nuclear weapons. It led the fight at Australia ratified the NPT, that the ment phase (1956-1963); and 2) the the U.N. General Assembly to save country finally renounced the acqui- indigenous capability phase (1964- the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty sition of nuclear weapons. 1972). The historical reconstruction (CTBT), and the year before, played Over the course of four decades, of these events is made possible, in a major role in efforts to extend the Australia has gone from a country part, by newly released materials Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of that once sought nuclear weapons to from the Australian National Archive Nuclear Weapons (NPT) indefi- one that now supports their abolition.
    [Show full text]
  • Manhattan Park Map
    Manhattan Project National Historical Park - Los Alamos National Park Service 475 20th Street, Suite C U.S. Department of the Interior Manhattan Project National Historical Park Los Alamos, NM 87544 Los Alamos, New Mexico 505-661-MAPR (6277) Project Y workers with the Norris Bradbury with Thin Man plutonium gun the Trinity device. device at Gun Site. In 1943, the United States government’s Manhattan Three locations comprise the park: Project Y at Los Alamos, Project built a secret laboratory at Los Alamos, New New Mexico; Site X at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Site W at site map SITES ON THIS PAGE Mexico, for a single military purpose—to develop the Hanford, Washington. The Manhattan Project National world’s first atomic weapons. The success of this Historical Park legislation references 17 sites at Los Alamos NOT CURRENTLY unprecedented, top-secret government program National Laboratory, as well as 13 sites in downtown Los forever changed the world. Alamos. These sites represent the world-changing history of Original Technical Area 1 OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (TA-1); see reverse. the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Their preservation and In 2004, the U.S. Congress directed the National Park interpretation will show visitors the scientific, social, Service and the Department of Energy to determine political, and cultural stories of the men and women who the significance, suitability, and feasibility of including ushered in the atomic age. signature facilities in a national historical park. In 2014, the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Obama, authorized creation of the Park. This The properties below are within the legislation stated the purpose of the park: “to improve Manhattan Project National Historical Park 4 the understanding of the Manhattan Project and the boundaries on land managed by the legacy of the Manhattan Project through Department of Energy.
    [Show full text]
  • Nuclear Fallout and Intelligence As Secrets, Problems, and Limitations on the Arms Race, 1940-1964
    © Copyright 2016 Michael R. Lehman NUISANCE TO NEMESIS: NUCLEAR FALLOUT AND INTELLIGENCE AS SECRETS, PROBLEMS, AND LIMITATIONS ON THE ARMS RACE, 1940-1964 BY MICHAEL R. LEHMAN DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Lillian Hoddeson, Chair Professor Kristin Hoganson, Co-Chair Professor Michael Weissman Professor Robert Jacobs, Hiroshima City University Abstract Fallout sampling and other nuclear intelligence techniques were the most important sources of United States strategic intelligence in the early Cold War. Operated as the Atomic Energy Detection System by a covert Air Force unit known as AFOAT-1, the AEDS detected emissions and analyzed fallout from Soviet nuclear tests, as well as provided quantitative intelligence on the size of the Russian nuclear stockpile. Virtually unknown because the only greater Cold War secret than nuclear weapons was intelligence gathered about them, data on the Soviet threat produced by AFOAT-1 was an extraordinary influence on early National Intelligence Estimates, the rapid growth of the Strategic Air Command, and strategic war plans. Official guidance beginning with the first nuclear test in 1945 otherwise suggested fallout was an insignificant effect of nuclear weapons. Following AFOAT-1’s detection of Soviet testing in fall 1949 and against the cautions raised about the problematic nature of higher yield weapons by the General Advisory Committee, the Atomic Energy Commission’s top scientific advisers, President Harry Truman ordered the AEC to quickly build these extraordinarily powerful weapons, testing the first in secrecy in November 1952.
    [Show full text]
  • Topology in Physics-A Perspective
    SU-4228-533 March 1993 TOPOLOGY IN PHYSICS - A PERSPECTIVE A.P. Balachandran Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244-1130 ABSTRACT This article, written in honour of Fritz Rohrlich, briefly surveys the role of topology in physics. arXiv:hep-th/9303177v1 31 Mar 1993 When I joined Syracuse University as a junior faculty member in September, 1964, Fritz Rohrlich was already there as a senior theoretician in the quantum field theory group. He was a very well-known physicist by that time, having made fundamental contributions to quantum field theory, and written his splendid book with Jauch. My generation of physicists grew up with Jauch and Rohrlich, and I was also familiar with Fritz’s research. It was therefore with a certain awe and a great deal of respect that I first made his acquaintance. Many years have passed since this first encounter. Our interests too have gradually evolved and changed in this intervening time. Starting from the late seventies or there- abouts, particle physicists have witnessed an increasing intrusion of topological ideas into their discipline. Our group at Syracuse has responded to this development by getting involved in soliton and monopole physics and in investigations on the role of topology in quantum physics. Meanwhile, especially during the last decade, there has been a per- ceptible shift in the direction of Fritz’s research to foundations and history of quantum physics. Later I will argue that topology affects the nature of wave functions (or more accurately of wave functions in the domains of observables) and has a profound meaning for the fundamentals of quantum theory.
    [Show full text]
  • Quark•Gluon Plasma
    news & views GRAPHENE The running of the constants To first approximation, the dispersion relation around the Fermi energy of single-layer graphene is linear, making its charge carriers behave like massless relativistic subatomic particles. More careful inspection of its low-energy band structure suggests the picture is more complex, extending the analogy even further. Maria A. H. Vozmediano he best times in Physics are those when a α–1 b physicists of different expertise meet around a problem of common interest. 3 T ) And this is now happening in the case of 120 3 –1 α–1 2 graphene. From the early days of the isolation QED ms of single sheets of graphene, the relativistic 6 100 (10 1 F nature of its charge carriers was clear . v These carriers, known as Dirac fermions, are 1 described by equations similar to those that 80 10 E (meV) 100 describe the quantum electrodynamic (QED) interactions of relativistic charged particles. 60 2 U(1) ѵ ~ α–1 A meticulous study performed by Elias and F G 2 co-workers of the electronic structure of 40 SU(2) graphene shows that at very low energies reaching a few meV of graphene’s Dirac point, 20 where its cone-like valence and conduction SU(3) bands touch, the shape of the conduction and valence bands diverge from a simple linear 1 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1 2 relation. The result implies that the analogy log E (Gev) log E (10–12 Gev) between graphene and high-energy physics 10 10 is deeper than first expected.
    [Show full text]
  • Atomic Testing in Australian Art Jd Mittmann
    ATO MIC TEST ING IN AUST RAL IAN ART JD MIT TMA NN Around the world artists have be en conce rned wit h Within a radius of 800m the dest ruction is co mplete . and Walle r. He docume nted the Austr alian New Gui nea nuclear iss ues, from the first application of atomic bomb s Over 70,000 die instantl y. campaign and its afte rmath . at Hi roshima and Nagasaki, to at omic testing, uraniu m A person stan ds lost amongst the ruins of a house . In 1946 he was se nt to Japan whe re he witnes sed mining, nuc lear waste tra nspo rt and storage, and We don’t see the chi ld’s exp ression, but it can only be the effects of the ato mic bomb. He doc umented the va st scenarios of nuclear Armageddon. The Australian artisti c one of shock and suffering. A charred tree towers ov er dest ruction from a distant vi ewpoint, spa ring the viewe r response to Bri tish atomic te sting in the 195 0s is les s the rubble. Natu re has withe red in the on slaught of hea t the ho rri fic deta ils. His sketch Rebuilding Hiroshim a well-know n, as is the sto ry of the tests . and shock waves. Simply titled Hi roshima , Albe rt Tucker’ s shows civil ians clearing away the rubble. Li fe ha s Cloaked in se crec y, the British atomic testing progra m small wate rcolour is quiet and conte mplative.
    [Show full text]
  • Bertlmann – a Nonlocal Quantum Engineer
    a nonlocal quantum engineer contemplate but don’t forget to calculate ! Reinhold A. Bertlmann Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna talk at symposium “ shut up and contemplate ! ” University of Vienna, March 3rd, 2017 engineer’s career at Harwell John Stewart Bell graduated at Queen’s University Belfast in experimental physics 1948 in mathematical physics 1949 high interest in quantum mechanics showing his dissatisfaction ! position at AERE Harwell from1949 on joined accelerator group of Walkinshaw (Malvern) William Walkinshaw: John on his new “Ariel” “ a young man of high caliber who showed his at Harwell 1952 independence … his mathematical talent was superb and elegant.” papers on electron and proton linear accelerators e.g. “basic algebra on strong focussing systems” “linear accelerator phase oscillations” “phase debunching by focussing foils in proton linear accelerator” Reinhold A. Bertlmann 2 turn to particle physics & Bohm’s qm in mid1950s Bell turned to nuclear and particle physics “time reversal in field theory …”, CPT theorem, PhD thesis fundamental ! “anomalous magnetic moments of nucleons”, collab. Tony Skyrme at that time paper of David Bohm appeared 1952 “interpretation of quantum theory in terms of hidden variable” Mary: for John a “revelation” “everything has definite properties” I remember John saying Bell’s talk about Bohm’s theory in TH division fierce debates with audience especially with Franz Mandl 1954 John married Mary Ross “mathematical engineer” accelerator physicist Reinhold A. Bertlmann 3 engineer’s job
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of the Many-Body Problem in Nuclear Physics
    Aspects of the Many-Body Problem in Nuclear Physics DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Alexander Signatur Dyhdalo, MSc, BSc Graduate Program in Physics The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee: Prof. Richard Furnstahl, Advisor Prof. Robert Perry Prof. Michael Lisa Prof. Junko Shigemitsu c Copyright by Alexander Signatur Dyhdalo 2018 Abstract Low-energy nuclear physics has seen a renaissance of activity recently with the advent of the nuclear effective field theory (EFT) approach, the power of renormalization group techniques, and advances in the computational cost-effectiveness and sophistication of quan- tum many-body methods. Nevertheless challenges remain in part from ambiguities of the nuclear Hamiltonian via regulator artifacts and the scaling of the many-body methods to heavier systems. Regulator artifacts arise due to a renormalization inconsistency in the nuclear EFT as currently formulated in Weinberg power counting, though their ultimate impact on nuclear observables is unknown at present. This results in a residual cutoff dependence in the EFT to all orders. We undertake an examination of these regulator artifacts using perturba- tive energy calculations of uniform matter as a testbed. Our methodology has found that the choice of regulator determines the shape of the energy phase space and that different regulators weight distinct phase space regions differently. Concerning many-body calculations, at present only phenomenological energy density functionals are able to solve for the full table of nuclides. However these functionals are currently unconnected to QCD and have no existing method for systematic improvement.
    [Show full text]