Re: Szilard connection

Posted by DickT on March 19, 2003 at 19:23:32:

In Reply to: Szilard connection posted by DocN on March 19, 2003 at 09:05:26:

Doc,

The minute he heard about Meitner's fission interpretation of Hahn's experiment, Leo Szilard saw the possibility of a chain reaction and an atomic weapon. He sought to patent this insight in Europe, where he then was, and he offered it to Britain's Royal Navy, but they declined.

Szilard then emigrated to the USA (he was a Hungarian Jew, and on Hitler's hit list). This is when he went to Einstein and persuaded him to write the famous letter.

This is a cruel abbreviation of a long and fascinating story, which is told in several biographies of the men involved.

Regards,
Dick

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