Physicist feared power he helped create

Web posted Sunday, November 5, 2000

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By Brandon Haddock
Staff Writer

Leo Szilard's name often goes unmentioned when people speak of contemporaries such as Oppenheimer and Einstein. Yet, the Hungarian-born physicist was essential to the development of the atomic bomb - a contribution he came to regret.

Dr. Szilard drafted Albert Einstein's early letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and helped Enrico Fermi discover and develop protocols that led to the world's first nuclear reactor - a milestone that laid the foundation for the atomic bomb.

But he campaigned against even the first use of the weapon and was one of several scientists to circulate a petition against dropping the bomb on Japan. Within years, the legendary physicist abandoned his chosen field, choosing to live out his final years as a biologist.

Like so many of his colleagues, Dr. Szilard initially pushed for creation of the bomb because he knew firsthand what could happen if Nazi Germany alone developed the weapon.

The scientist twice fled fascist rule during his life, first from his native Hungary in 1919 - only two years after fighting in World War I - and again in 1933, after his adopted nation, Germany, fell under the spell of Adolf Hitler.

Settling first in London, then in the United States, Dr. Szilard worked on experiments involving nuclear fission and was convinced of the possibilities of creating a controlled, man-made nuclear reaction.

Dr. Szilard's belief that uranium might be able to sustain a chain reaction led the physicist to Einstein. Dr. Szilard persuaded his famous contemporary to send a letter - drafted largely by Dr. Szilard - to Roosevelt, to inform the president that an atomic weapon might be possible.

But when that weapon finally was created in 1945, Dr. Szilard backed away from his hawkish stance. Fearful of the post-war arms race to come, the physicist circulated a petition, to no avail, urging that the weapon not be dropped on Japan.

Dr. Szilard went on to speak out against development of the hydrogen bomb. He worked tirelessly to ease Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, even acting as a diplomat during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

The physicist died of a heart attack at age 66 on May 30, 1964.

Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409.

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