Andrew+Week+10

From the beginning of the development of the atomic bomb researches seemed to know that it would have hazardous effects far beyond the basic explosion. In the Frisch-Peierls Memorandum they mention many of the likely after effects of the bomb. Radiation from the blast would remain a lethal factor for days, weeks, even years due to the radioactive material of the bomb being spread by the blast. Fallout in the air could be carried by currents and deliver dangerous amounts of radioactive material to many square miles of area. Rain and settling would allow it to enter the water supply, worsening the effects of the contamination as it would be consumed by all living things in the area. They state all of this fairly specifically, “Any estimates of the effects of this radiation on human beings must be rather uncertain because it is difficult to tell what will happen to the radioactive material after the explosion. Most of it will probably be blown into the air and carried away by the wind. This cloud of radioactive material will kill everybody within a strip estimate to be several miles long. If it rained the danger would be even worse because the active material would be carried down to the ground and stick to it, and persons entering the contaminated area would be subjected to dangerous radiations even after days. If 1% of the active material sticks to the debris in the vicinity of the explosion and if the debris is spread over an area of, say, a square mile, any person entering this area would be in serious danger, even several days after the explosion.” Along with stating how futile any attempts at protection are, “Effective protection is hardly possible. Houses would offer protection only at the margins of the danger zone. Deep cellar or tunnels may be comparatively safe from the effects of radiation, provided air can be supplied from an uncontaminated area (some of the active substance would be noble gases which are not stop by ordinary filters).“ The scientific community obviously knew all about the probable effects of the bomb.

So after all this it seems odd to me that Einstein failed to mention any of this in his letter to President Roosevelt. Mainly because Einstein was an open pacifist. Taking a quote from the AIP article, "My pacifism is an instinctive feeling," he(Einstein) said, "a feeling that possesses me because the murder of men is disgusting. My attitude is not derived from any intellectual theory but is based on my deepest antipathy to every kind of cruelty and hatred." This is the same man that decried Germany's warring actions. Yet in his letter to inform Roosevelt he speaks only of needing to speed up atomic research and of the procurement the required Uranium. He does skirt around the issue, seeming to speak more of the possibility of energy generation but as a man of such intellect, both scientifically and socially, he should have known what the first priority would become. It was a time of war and a bomb that was matched by no other in history was within reach. It's blatantly obvious that research would be pushed in this direction rather than that of peaceful purposes. He mentions the bomb and how it appears Germany may be working on one of it's own, so the thoughts are definitely in his mind. So it makes me wonder why does he not fight against the bomb in this letter. With his staunch pacifism and in depth understanding of the possible power and resultant horrors of an atomic bomb one would think he should have been trying to scare the idea of a weapon out of the Presidents mind in his writings. Such a man must have had some reasoning for not doing so but so many years after it's hard to untangle.