Chapter 9 - Hall of Fame: Part IV

Abstract

This chapter portrays the lives and works of the following pioneers and Nobel Laureates: James Chadwick, Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn, Leo Szilard, Joseph Rotblat, and Edward Teller. The scientific findings and achievements of these pioneers are described in detail; these include the following: the discovery of the neutron and its mass, the discovery and interpretation of nuclear fission and the energy liberated in fission following the capture of a neutron by the nucleus of uranium-235, Leo Szilard's patent for the artificial creation of a nuclear chain reaction and an atomic bomb, the Szilard–Chalmers Process, Leo Szilard’s drafting of Einstein's letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt that initiated the Manhattan Project and the making of the first atomic bomb, the joint patent by Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard for the construction of the first nuclear reactor for the production of radioisotopes and electric power, the construction and principle of the first atomic bombs, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard's efforts to stop the American Government from using the atomic bomb against Japan during World War II, the resignation of Joseph Rotblat from the Manhattan Project and his lifelong efforts in support of nuclear nonproliferation, the leadership of Rotblat in the establishment of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs promoting the reduction and obliteration of nuclear weapons worldwide and the prevention of war, and the Russell–Einstein Manifesto against nuclear weapons and war. The chapter concludes with the making of the more powerful thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb.