That’s not really his fault though, physics is physics, and he wasn’t really pushing for its creation as much as he was terrified that Heisenberg and the Nazis were going to get to it first.
Perhaps, though that was sent 10 years before he wrote his article on socialism, alot can happen in that time.
Also, regarding that letter, he seems to have written it not to promote building the bomb, but rather to emphasise precaution and ‘watchfullness’ in its inevitable development and subsequent use.
Oh I didn’t know that the letter came first. Yeah I get that it was done out of fear of the Nazis developing an atomic weapon. It just sucks that it was the USA who ended up getting there first and then preceded to be the only state to actually use them against a foreign adversary.
That’s true, though at the time you really do have to remember that the United States (with assistance from Canada, the UK, and Mexico), was truly the only allied nation (and probably any nation at all) at the time which could successfully pool together the resources, manpower, and scientific genius to accomplish the feat of unlocking nuclear fission and nuclear weapons.
Britain was under constant air attack, threatened with invasion, and most of its manpower was drawn to the war effort, and the Soviet Union was all hands on deck for the war effort with the vast majority of the country devastated.
Plus allied physicists can no idea how far along the German or Japanese programs were or what they would do if they reached the bomb first.
Those physicists by extension had no idea how or when their efforts would be used. They simply did their job and accomplished one of the largest breakthroughs in human technology. I doubt very many expected that their efforts would be thrown at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, especially since they anticipated using the bombs on Germany and Japan wasn’t even a second thought.
I can’t fault him for theorizing the atomic bomb. Its a weapon that can be used by anyone, and if it wasn’t Einstein, its only a matter of time until someone else does it. Its better to get a jumpstart and protect the information, resources and weapons than to stick your fingers in your ears and do nothing, rather than let the capitalists and nazis get ahold of it first and maintain a monopoly.
Dude, you missed highlighting Einstein? He was one of us too!
https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/
That’s true although he’s partially responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb. He warned FDR of the possibility.
That’s not really his fault though, physics is physics, and he wasn’t really pushing for its creation as much as he was terrified that Heisenberg and the Nazis were going to get to it first.
That’s fair. It really was a no win scenario for him.
Perhaps, though that was sent 10 years before he wrote his article on socialism, alot can happen in that time.
Also, regarding that letter, he seems to have written it not to promote building the bomb, but rather to emphasise precaution and ‘watchfullness’ in its inevitable development and subsequent use.
Oh I didn’t know that the letter came first. Yeah I get that it was done out of fear of the Nazis developing an atomic weapon. It just sucks that it was the USA who ended up getting there first and then preceded to be the only state to actually use them against a foreign adversary.
That’s true, though at the time you really do have to remember that the United States (with assistance from Canada, the UK, and Mexico), was truly the only allied nation (and probably any nation at all) at the time which could successfully pool together the resources, manpower, and scientific genius to accomplish the feat of unlocking nuclear fission and nuclear weapons.
Britain was under constant air attack, threatened with invasion, and most of its manpower was drawn to the war effort, and the Soviet Union was all hands on deck for the war effort with the vast majority of the country devastated.
Plus allied physicists can no idea how far along the German or Japanese programs were or what they would do if they reached the bomb first.
Those physicists by extension had no idea how or when their efforts would be used. They simply did their job and accomplished one of the largest breakthroughs in human technology. I doubt very many expected that their efforts would be thrown at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, especially since they anticipated using the bombs on Germany and Japan wasn’t even a second thought.
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I can’t fault him for theorizing the atomic bomb. Its a weapon that can be used by anyone, and if it wasn’t Einstein, its only a matter of time until someone else does it. Its better to get a jumpstart and protect the information, resources and weapons than to stick your fingers in your ears and do nothing, rather than let the capitalists and nazis get ahold of it first and maintain a monopoly.