European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 7, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The atomic bomb a tense band of military men and scientists gathered in a Remote Section of the Alamogordo air base on the new Mexico desert 120 Miles Southeast of Albuquerque to witness the results of their years of first fateful test of the atomic it was in the a darkening lightning and peals of Thunder heightened the tension was failure was always and too great Success might have meant not Only an unusable weapon but the death of those who the bomb might blast them and their entire efforts into the nearest observation Post was Yards South of the steel Tower from which the bomb was to be Here in a Timberland Earth shelter the controls for the test were at a Point Yards from the Tower which would give the Best the key figures in the cosmic project took their the time 20 minus 15 the the watchers held their two minutes before the scheduled firing time most of them Lay face with their feet pointing towards the the moment there was a blinding Flash brighter than the brightest a Mountain Range three Miles away stood out in bold and then there was a sustained a heavy wave of pressure bore Down upon the two men who were standing outside the control Cen Ter were knocked a Manyco lored Cloud surged majestically upward for More than the steel Tower was completely the test was the bomb was a what is this bomb like what is its size How is it constructed those Are still top military popular science writers say it is Likely that the bomb contains in great con As Well As some Means to split it and make it release its Energy in an the detonating mechanism of the bomb must contain a slowdown device for the neutrons which Are hurled at the uranium or plutonium atoms to produce an Only a which an uncharged particle found in the atoms has much Chance of getting through an atoms electrical ring of before the War scientists had in their cumbersome in bombarding uranium with neutrons and getting the neutrons it has been estimated that these Neu trons had about one Chance in 140 of hitting the nucleus when that the uranium atom split in and the result was no longer uranium but barium and a rare that was and together with it came the emission of the mass of Krypton and barium being less than that of the orig Inal uranium but major mechanical and Laboratory advances have been it seems evident that scientists Are now Able for the first time to separate uranium in Quantity and that a Means has been devised to release neutrons to bombard plutonium and thus detonate the bomb at a desired period after the bomb leaves the the War department has released information show ing that the weapon is fired before it hits the ground to increase its Power to shatter buildings and to disseminate its radioactive products As a the mechanism that effects such a Marvel must obviously be far simpler than a which weighs How quickly research on the bomb itself has proceeded is shown by the disclosure that the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan at naga August was a More powerful and a Sim Pler which made the bomb dropped on Hiroshima but the mechanical details of the bomb did not concern most when the news came that the greatest weapon in the world had been unleashed upon the nations main reaction was one of there was Little re president Truman voiced the sentiments of the country when he the atomic bomb is too dangerous to be Loose in a Lawless we must constitute ourselves trustees of this new prevent its and to turn it into channels of service to it is an responsibility that has come to when the Awe at the destructiveness of the new weapon began to Wear the feeling that we were entering a new age of atomic the new York times three word headline the like of which had probably never appeared in a newspaper it up new age be Vic before had one discovery so caught the imagination of people never before had it been obvious so soon that a scientific Dis covery would change the All Over the people started using words they barely understood the nations press did its Best to simplify the scientific principles of atomic Energy for its the War department Felt that the was too highly complicated for its officers to explain and called in a the new York times science sex William to handle the press releases on the bomb and its there was much disagreement As to when and to what extent atomic Energy could be put to peaceful the Coal and Oil industries protested vehemently that it would be years after the lifetime of any one now living before atom Energy would take one scientist close to the development of the atomic bomb compares it with the prehistoric discovery of fire and cautions that there was a lapse of centuries and centuries Between the discovery of fire and the development of the steam the atomic discovery does not seem As important As the discovery of elec this scientist although it May Actu ally prove to be that important in others were More in sir John who As Chancellor of the exchequer in the Churchill government super Vised the British Side of the atomic bomb re said the discovery definitely is greater than that of chairman of the physics department at Princeton University and consultant on the atomic has written a de tailed account of the history of the project and of its scientific background with War department Smyth says there is Good prob ability that nuclear Power for special purposes could be developed within 10 years and that plentiful supplies of radioactive materials can have a profound effect on the treatment of cer Tain diseases in a similar the Alphonse Dean of the St Louis University medical sees in atomic Energy a possible key to the mystery of but to make sure that when the secrets of atomic Energy become available for peacetime application they will be employed wisely in the interests of Security and the Britain and Canada have taken action to control patents in the Field and to obtain control Over the uranium Ore which so far appears indispensable to the in each All scientific and Industrial figures involved in the work have been required to assign their entire rights to any inventions to their respective subject to financial settlement to consider the Lon term direction and control of atomic Secretary of War Stimson has appointed a committee to make an advisory group of the scientists and industrialists most closely connected with the development of the bomb is already planning National and International they As the world that the new age of atomic Energy will be an age of peace As for if it is an age of that War might mean the annihilation of the human Jonathan Kilbourn one of1 the giant production plants the works at Oak Ridge Tennessee i i i i