{"id":85836,"date":"2023-07-20T16:10:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T20:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/?post_type=ftm_article&#038;p=85836"},"modified":"2023-07-24T13:53:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T17:53:13","slug":"hg-wells-atomic-bomb-oppenheimer","status":"publish","type":"ftm_article","link":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/science\/hg-wells-atomic-bomb-oppenheimer","title":{"rendered":"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Let\u2019s begin with a brief account of how nuclear weapons were developed. Frederick Soddy and Ernest Rutherford discovered that radioactive decay involves the transmutation of one type of atom into another, which led to worries about a \u201cplanetary chain reaction\u201d of infectious decay that converts the chemical mosaic of Earth\u2019s elements into helium. In the process, a huge amount of energy would be liberated, according to the equation E = mc<sup>2<\/sup>, which led some to speculate about the causes of nova observed in the firmament. Later, in 1934, Irene and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Joliot-Curie figured out how to convert certain stable atoms into radioactive atoms, by which time the notion of \u201catomic energy\u201d had inspired a profusion of utopian and dystopian proclamations about its potential to usher in a post-scarcity world or tear the planet asunder.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A notable example that combined both themes was H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel&nbsp;<em>The World Set Free<\/em>, which was written the previous year and dedicated to Soddy\u2019s work on radium. This book describes a catastrophic world war (initiated by Germany in the 1950s, as it happens) that ultimately leads to the creation of a harmonious world state. What is most relevant for our purposes is that the war involves what Wells called, coining the term, \u201catomic bombs\u201d that pilots fling from their cockpits on urban centers below, destroying entire cities. However, these are not like the \u201catomic bombs\u201d dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945; rather than producing a sudden massive explosion, they utilize a fictional radioactive element called \u201cCarolinum\u201d to generate \u201ca blazing continual explosion\u201d that \u201cis never entirely exhausted,\u201d and which would create \u201cpuffs of luminous, radio-active vapour drifting sometimes scores of miles from the bomb centre and killing and scorching all they overtook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Human Extinction (Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine)\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_AealKqEHkAbagR&#038;asin=1032159065&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this was science fiction, the idea greatly influenced one of the pioneers of nuclear weapons: a young Hungarian physicist named Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd, who read&nbsp;<em>The World Set Free<\/em>&nbsp;in 1932 and included Wells within his circle of acquaintances. As the now-famous story goes, Szil\u00e1rd read an article in&nbsp;<em>The Times<\/em>&nbsp;the following year that quoted Rutherford as saying that \u201canyone who looked for a source of power in the transformation of the atoms was talking moonshine.\u201d The reason is that, as another newspaper article on Rutherford\u2019s talk explained, \u201cwalls of electric energy surround the nucleus. To break down wall after wall and eventually reach the holy of holies [i.e., the nucleus] in which almost incredible energy is concentrated, the physicist must lay siege to the atom. So he tries to batter it and blast it apart\u201d by shooting alpha particles at the nuclei. The problem is that only \u201cone particle in 10,000,000 strikes the nucleus,\u201d meaning that the process is extremely inefficient (quoting here a&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;article published the same day on Rutherford\u2019s comments).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding himself \u201cirritated\u201d by Rutherford\u2019s confidence Szil\u00e1rd went for a walk and, standing at a street corner in London, devised a method for unlocking the vast stores of energy trapped in atomic nuclei: a nuclear chain reaction. Whereas earlier experiments had involved alpha particles, which consist of two protons and neutrons (the latter of which were first discovered in 1932), Szil\u00e1rd instead imagined bombarding atoms with free neutrons, which unlike alpha particles have a neutral rather than positive charge. This would enable them to easily trespass the aforementioned \u201cwalls of electric energy,\u201d thus striking a greater number of nuclei. Furthermore, Szil\u00e1rd reasoned that if an atom struck by a free neutron were to subsequently release two additional neutrons, the process \u2014 the chain reaction \u2014 could become exponential and self-sustaining. Over just a few millionths of a second, billions of atoms could be struck by and release neutrons, thereby liberating enormous quantities of energy at once rather than (as with natural radioactive decay) over protracted stretches of time. Szil\u00e1rd quickly realized that, as he later wrote, \u201cin certain circumstances it might become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction, liberate energy on an industrial scale, and construct atomic bombs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was the abstract idea, but could it work? Are there elements whose atoms release two neutrons when struck by one? If so, which elements? An important step toward answering these questions came in 1938 with the discovery of nuclear fission in uranium atoms by a team of scientists in Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, which found that irradiating uranium with neutrons causes the atoms to split into fragments. Upon hearing about this the following year, Szil\u00e1rd, in his words, \u201csaw immediately that these fragments&#8230; must emit neutrons, and if enough neutrons are emitted in this fission process, then it should be, of course, possible to sustain a chain reaction. All the things which H.G. Wells predicted,\u201d he continued, \u201cappeared suddenly real to me.\u201d Now the crucial question became, \u201cIs this actually the case? Does uranium fission produce neutrons and, if so, how many?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Flashes appearing on the oscillograph\u2019s display screen would indicate that uranium does indeed produce neutrons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>To answer the first question \u2014 to confirm his suspicions \u2014 Szil\u00e1rd conducted an experiment with his colleague Walter Zinn in March of 1939. It involved using a cathode-ray oscillograph to track the movements and kinetic energy of neutrons that might be released by uranium atoms when split by slow neutrons striking them. Flashes appearing on the oscillograph\u2019s display screen would indicate that uranium does indeed produce neutrons, which \u201cin turn would mean that the large-scale liberation of atomic energy was just around the corner.\u201d After initiating the experiment, Szil\u00e1rd and Zinn were relieved that&nbsp;<em>no flashes<\/em>&nbsp;appeared, although they soon realized that the screen had been unplugged. Once the screen was powered on, the two scientists \u201cturned the switch and saw the flashes,\u201d Szil\u00e1rd later recalled. \u201cWe watched them for a little while and then we switched everything off and went home,\u201d he says. \u201cThat night, there was very little doubt in my mind that the world was headed for grief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having spent much of the 1930s anxious that atomic energy \u2014 more accurately called nuclear energy \u2014 could be weaponized to produce \u201catomic bombs,\u201d Szil\u00e1rd scheduled a meeting with Einstein in a Peconic, Long Island cottage where Einstein was staying. Szil\u00e1rd explained how nuclear energy could be unlocked and turned into a bomb, to which Einstein reportedly said, \u201cI haven\u2019t thought of that at all.\u201d Worried that the world was on the brink of another war and that Nazi Germany might develop an atomic bomb, Szil\u00e1rd penned a letter \u2014 now called the \u201cEinstein-Szil\u00e1rd letter\u201d \u2014 intended for U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to alert him of the danger. He noted that \u201csome of the American work on uranium is now being repeated\u201d at a Berlin-based university with connections to the German Under-Secretary of State, and that Nazi \u201cGermany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from&#8230; the German Under-Secretary of State,\u201d and that \u201cGermany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This letter, whose only signatory was Einstein, spurred the creation of the Manhattan Project, described by some as the first \u201cBig Science\u201d project in history, which aimed to design, build, and test the first atomic bombs. It cost $2 billion USD ($23 billion in 2018 dollars) and involved more than 130,000 scientists, although only a handful were aware of the project\u2019s details and ultimate goals. The research arm of the endeavor, based in the top-secret Los Alamos Laboratory near Santa Fe, New Mexico, was run by the physicist, child prodigy, and chainsmoker (an incredible four to five packs per day) Robert Oppenheimer, known today as the \u201cFather of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-present\/dismantle-a-nuclear-bomb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atomic Bomb<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first atomic bomb, nicknamed the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ahf.nuclearmuseum.org\/ahf\/history\/trinity-test-1945\/\">Gadget<\/a>,\u201d was detonated at 5:29 in the morning on July 16, 1945, in the desert of Jornada del Muerto, sometimes translated as \u201cJourney of the Dead Man,\u201d in New Mexico. This was the Trinity test, which created a burst of smoke and fire that rapidly rose 40,000 feet into the early morning sky. Less than a month later, on the 6th and 9th of August, the United States dropped two atomic bombs \u2014 Little Boy, a uranium bomb, and Fat Man, a plutonium bomb \u2014 on the Japanese archipelago, killing more than 100,000 people and helping, some argue, to bring World War II to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article was reprinted with permission of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/?__hstc=48716089.d5fa3af843cc8daa140f0ad412623439.1686859860276.1689868388682.1689883680687.33&amp;__hssc=48716089.2.1689883680687&amp;__hsfp=1357462694\">Big Think<\/a>, where it was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/\">originally published<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201catomic bombs\u201d in H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel The World Set Free influenced a pioneer of real-world nuclear weapons: physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":86188,"template":"","ftm_taxonomy_fields":[60,100,115],"ftm_taxonomy_challenges":[],"ftm_taxonomy_statuses":[],"ftm_taxonomy_hidden_tags":[],"class_list":["post-85836","ftm_article","type-ftm_article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ftm_taxonomy_fields-books","ftm_taxonomy_fields-inventions","ftm_taxonomy_fields-physics"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The \u201catomic bombs\u201d in H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel The World Set Free influenced a pioneer of real-world nuclear weapons: physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201catomic bombs\u201d in H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel The World Set Free influenced a pioneer of real-world nuclear weapons: physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Freethink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-24T17:53:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Trinity_test_Nuclear_Age-35.jpg?resize=1200,630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Science fiction met nuclear fission when Hungarian physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd pondered the explosive potential of nuclear energy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs","description":"The \u201catomic bombs\u201d in H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel The World Set Free influenced a pioneer of real-world nuclear weapons: physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs","og_description":"The \u201catomic bombs\u201d in H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel The World Set Free influenced a pioneer of real-world nuclear weapons: physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd.","og_url":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/","og_site_name":"Freethink","article_modified_time":"2023-07-24T17:53:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Trinity_test_Nuclear_Age-35.jpg?resize=1200,630","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_description":"Science fiction met nuclear fission when Hungarian physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd pondered the explosive potential of nuclear energy.","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/science\/hg-wells-atomic-bomb-oppenheimer"},"author":{"name":"hannahsadieweber","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#\/schema\/person\/683fbd27f9d24648c48dc7a6ab23f311"},"headline":"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs","datePublished":"2023-07-20T20:10:10+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-24T17:53:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/science\/hg-wells-atomic-bomb-oppenheimer"},"wordCount":1431,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Trinity_test_Nuclear_Age-35.jpg?quality=75","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/science\/hg-wells-atomic-bomb-oppenheimer","url":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/","name":"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Trinity_test_Nuclear_Age-35.jpg?quality=75","datePublished":"2023-07-20T20:10:10+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-24T17:53:13+00:00","description":"The \u201catomic bombs\u201d in H.G. Wells\u2019 1914 novel The World Set Free influenced a pioneer of real-world nuclear weapons: physicist Le\u00f3 Szil\u00e1rd.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Trinity_test_Nuclear_Age-35.jpg?quality=75","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Trinity_test_Nuclear_Age-35.jpg?quality=75","width":1600,"height":1079,"caption":"Rare Historical Photos"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-past\/hg-wells-novel-predicted-oppenheimer-atomic-bombs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/articles"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How an H.G. Wells sci-fi novel predicted Oppenheimer and atomic bombs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/","name":"Freethink","description":"Move the world","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#organization","name":"Freethink Media","url":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/logo.svg","width":651,"height":124,"caption":"Freethink Media"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#\/schema\/person\/683fbd27f9d24648c48dc7a6ab23f311","name":"hannahsadieweber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff5f49f193e5d8fb02ce83b0e28e44857f98b97911e353ac8dc7ce97de5ca019?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff5f49f193e5d8fb02ce83b0e28e44857f98b97911e353ac8dc7ce97de5ca019?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"hannahsadieweber"},"url":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/author\/hannahsadieweber"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ftm_article\/85836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ftm_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ftm_article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ftm_taxonomy_fields","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ftm_taxonomy_fields?post=85836"},{"taxonomy":"ftm_taxonomy_challenges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ftm_taxonomy_challenges?post=85836"},{"taxonomy":"ftm_taxonomy_statuses","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ftm_taxonomy_statuses?post=85836"},{"taxonomy":"ftm_taxonomy_hidden_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ftm_taxonomy_hidden_tags?post=85836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}