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Mark Oliphant and the Invisible College of the Peaceful Atom

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Mark Oliphant and the Invisible College of the Peaceful Atom The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2019 Mark Oliphant and the Invisible College of the Peaceful Atom Darren Holden The University of Notre Dame Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Publication Details Holden, D. (2019). Mark Oliphant and the Invisible College of the Peaceful Atom (Doctor of Philosophy (College of Arts and Science)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/270 This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Frontispiece: British Group associated with the Manhattan Project (Mark Oliphant Group), Nuclear Physics Research Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. 1944. Photograph by Donald Cooksey. General Records of the Department of Energy (record group 434). National Archives (US) Arc Identifier 7665196. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7665196 Reproduced for non-commercial purposes. Copyright retained by The University of California. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Mark Oliphant And the Invisible College of the Peaceful Atom A thesis submitted in the fulfilment of a Doctor of Philosophy Darren Holden The University of Notre Dame Australia Submitted February 2019, revised June 2019 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As this work has attempted to demonstrate: discovery is not possible in isolation. I give due thanks to my ‘invisible college’ who supported me with encouragement and tutelage. To my primary supervisor, Professor Deborah Gare, I owe an extra special debt of gratitude for encouraging me to step from one life and into another. To my second supervisor, Professor Charlie Fox, thank you for your wisdom, calmness and diligent concentration. And to my surrogate supervisor Professor Joan Wardrop, because in this academic world there is no one with more solicitude than yourself. I would like to also thank all the people who accompanied on this epic quest including and especially the ‘GA’ cohort in the postgraduate room. Many thanks to everyone at the School of Arts & Sciences and the Research Office that guided and encouraged me so much on this journey and especially to Daniel Baldino, Martin Drum, Sarah McGann, Lorraine Mayhew, Anys Price, Catie Gressier and Kate Howell. I also give thanks to the archivists and librarians around the world that assisted my search for new information and particularly Carolyn Collins (Oliphant archives at the Barr-Smith Library in Adelaide), Victor Isaacs (National Archives of Australia in Canberra), Andrew Lewis (National Archives in Kew, London), Margaret Kieckhefer (Library of Congress, Washington) and the staff at the Bancroft Library (University of California, Berkeley) and all the others. A special thanks to those whom I interviewed for this project including Ian Falconner, David Ellyard, Margot Mackie (sadly no longer with us), John Harries and Monica Oliphant. Also a special thanks to Michael Wilson, Elizabeth Tynan and Graeme Farmelo for our communication and discussions. This is for my family, thank you. My wife Leigh, who has immense wisdom to guide me as I travel this journey—you are my lighthouse. And to my boys—Oscar, Toby and Rupert—my compass and stars. iii iv CONTENTS Declaration of Authorship ....................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. iii Contents ............................................................................................................................... v Figures ............................................................................................................................... viii Part One: Oliphant and the Invisible Colleges of the Early Atomic Age ..................... 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2 Marcus (Mark) Laurence Elwin Oliphant, 1901–2000 ............................................................................ 3 Thesis argument and aims ...................................................................................................................... 5 Structure & method ................................................................................................................................ 8 Statement of Significance ..................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter One: Literature Review ........................................................................................... 20 Collaboration in science........................................................................................................................ 20 Understandings of Mark Oliphant ........................................................................................................ 29 Attempted restriction and censorship of atomic scientists .................................................................. 36 Literature Review Summary ................................................................................................................. 42 Chapter Two: Paradigms, networks and invisible colleges in the early atomic age ................. 44 The early atomic age: 1890 to Solvay 1927 .......................................................................................... 45 Solvay 1933, to Nuclear Fission, 1938–39 ............................................................................................ 50 The sociology of science in the atomic age .......................................................................................... 53 Invisible colleges and small-world-network analysis ............................................................................ 56 Lawrence and Oliphant as joint deans of an Invisible College .............................................................. 62 Chapter conclusions: understanding social interaction in the atomic age ........................................... 66 Part Two: Oliphant and the Atom ................................................................................. 69 Chapter Three: The Indiscretion of Mark Oliphant, 1941 ....................................................... 70 Foundations of the bomb: MAUD & the Frisch-Peierls Memorandum ................................................ 73 The Berkeley Meeting, 23–24 September 1941 ................................................................................... 85 Renewed activity and action: September to December 1941 .............................................................. 89 Oliphant in trouble? .............................................................................................................................. 90 v The death of MAUD .............................................................................................................................. 91 Chapter conclusions: the importance of meeting Ernest ..................................................................... 92 Chapter Four: A Weapon of Math Construction, 1942–1945 .................................................. 98 Oliphant in 1942 ................................................................................................................................... 99 The Manhattan Project to the Quebec agreement, 1942–43 ............................................................ 100 Oliphant and the Manhattan Project.................................................................................................. 107 The indiscretion of General Groves .................................................................................................... 114 Oliphant attempts to revive the British Bomb Project ....................................................................... 119 Trinity and Hiroshima ......................................................................................................................... 127 Conclusions: for the sake of the state or the science? ....................................................................... 130 Chapter Five: The Optimism of Mark Oliphant, 1945–1950 ................................................. 132 Optimism: The Picture Post, 27 October 1945 ................................................................................... 134 ‘There are bound to be risks in letting him loose in Australia’ ........................................................... 138 The ‘highway without signs’ ............................................................................................................... 145 Oliphant returns to Australia .............................................................................................................. 155 Chapter conclusions: The fall of optimism ......................................................................................... 159 Chapter Six: The Peace of Mark Oliphant, 1950 – 1965 .......................................................
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