Einstein was a declared pacifist who ended up fleeing Germany after the Second World War broke out. A brilliant mind that sought to walk the path of science and stay away from the geopolitical conflicts that plagued his time. Nevertheless, Albert Einstein has been singled out on many occasions as the forerunner of the atomic bomb, a weapon that the US launched on Japanese territory and ended hundreds of thousands of lives. Why do you have that belief? behind this story there is a letter that tormented him for the rest of his life and for which he is charged with implanting the idea in the US government.
On August 6 and 9, 1945, The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, destroying thousands of miles around. The most optimistic calculations suggest that by December of that same year, as a consequence of both detonations, the deaths amounted to 110 thousand people. However, there are those who point out that this figure could have reached double. Since then, a detonation of such proportions has not occurred again, since it marked a before and after in history.
The most famous equation in physics
The reasons why Albert Einstein is associated with the creation of the atomic bomb have two guidelines: one scientific and the other political. Forty years before the atomic bombs were dropped, Einstein was already creating his first outlines of the great scientist that he was. On September 27, 1905, he was published in Annalen der Physik “Does the inertia of a body depend on its energy content?” written by Einstein. From here, physics began a revolution that continues to talk about until now. From there arose his famous equation E=mc ², which says that the body’s energy (E) is equal to its mass (m), multiplied by the speed constant of light squared.
Of course, the speed of light is already a somewhat exorbitant number, now raised exponentially and multiplied by the mass, will result in an enormous amount of energy. In other words, with this famous Einstein equation, it was discovered that If it is possible to transform a body, however small it may be, totally into energy, this will be of a great magnitude. Although of course the equation doesn’t say how to make an atomic bomb, it just explains where the energy comes from. But it is associated with it, since thanks to this equation a base was generated to create the calculations that later led to the creation of the atomic bomb.
The letter that haunted Einstein’s life
The other reason why Albert Einstein felt guilty for the rest of his life stems from a letter he addressed to the United States government. Six years before the bombings, in 1939, the scientist wrote a letter with his Hungarian colleague Leo Szilard, although the latter did not sign it. In the body written by the scientists, President Roosevelt was warned about Hitler’s Germany’s investigations into chain reactions and that he might be on his way to making atomic bombs.
Einstein warned that this could happen in the «immediate future» and recommended that the US government keep in touch with physicists investigating the nuclear issue. In addition to ensuring uranium supplies and allocating funds for experimental work. And while Einstein later felt guilty when the detonations occurred, his intent was actually focused on the United States stopping Germany’s creation of a nuclear bomb, not generating one of its own.
Regret until the last day
Unfortunately, the course of history changed its course, since like a seed implanted in the mind of a curious person, the US government obtained an idea to implement in its weapons.. The letter led to the creation of the Manhattan project, from which came the atomic bomb. Although, according to historian Alex Wellerstein, Albert Einstein never worked on the project.
In 1952, Einstein wrote for the Japanese magazine Kaizo that his motivation for sending the letter was his fear that the Germans would build atomic bombs. Thus, despite being a declared pacifist, he intervened in political affairs to prevent humanity from disaster. Although we all know the outcome and therefore, Einstein lived in regret all his life. Before dying, the physicist said «If he had known that this fear was not justified… he would not have participated in opening this Pandora’s box.»
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