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On August 2, Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt informing him
of German atomic research and the potential for a bomb:
"Some recent work...leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned
into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future...that it may
become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium,
by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements
would be generated.... This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction
of bombs, and it is conceivable -- though much less certain -- that extremely
powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this
type...might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the
surrounding territory."
Einstein drafted the letter with the help of Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard,
one of many scientists who had fled Europe to escape Nazi and Fascist
repression. Szilard was a vocal advocate of a U.S. program to develop bombs
based on the latest findings in nuclear physics. In the letter, they encouraged
Roosevelt to fund American atomic research. This letter prompted Roosevelt to
form a special committee to investigate the military implications of atomic
research. Roosevelt approved uranium research in the United States in October
1939. This was the first decision among many that led to establishment of the
Manhattan Project (see September 1942).
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