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10 Uranium

It was July 1939, several months after the German physicist Otto Frisch proved that uranium atoms could split when struck by a neutron . Frisch called the process fission . In retelling Frisch’s theory, the New York Times described uranium as a “cannonball” that could yield “the greatest amount of atomic energy so far liberated by man on earth.” In other words, it was now theoretically possible to unleash the thunderous force bound up in that atom, producing the most deadly weapon in human history—the atomic bomb. Einstein’s Hungarian visitors described in great detail how a slow-moving neutron aimed at the center of uranium isotope 235 (U-235) could trigger a reaction that A Vision of Catastrophe “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes.” —Albert Einstein, August 2, 1964

Albert Einstein.