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Living With the Bomb
AUGUST 2005
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In Learn More the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information to expand your knowledge of our featured subjects. Special thanks to the Research Division.
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 Did You Know?
The discovery of fission—the splitting of an atom's nucleus—was perhaps the most significant breakthrough in the making of the atomic bomb. German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann are generally recognized as the co-discoverers of atomic fission, for which Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1944. A key collaborator who worked closely with the two men is often overlooked. Her name was Lise Meitner.
Lise Meitner, an Austrian-born scientist, had worked with Hahn for decades in Germany conducting radiochemistry experiments. But in July 1938, with the rise of Nazi Germany, Meitner, who was Jewish, fled the country. Hahn and Strassman continued the team's experiments. Later that same year, after bombarding uranium with neutrons, they found barium. They sent their results to Meitner in Sweden.
Meitner, along with her nephew, Otto Frisch, was able to interpret and explain the significance of their results, which Meitner called nuclear fission. She published the first paper providing a theoretical explanation of what had been found, explaining that atoms could be split apart, subsequently releasing massive amounts of energy. That energy release would be realized in the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Meitner, however, refused to work on the Allied atomic bomb effort during the war, aware of the potentially devastating consequences.
The ignored scientist was partly vindicated in 1966, when Meitner, Hahn, and Strassman were all awarded the Enrico Fermi Award for their scientific contributions.
—Christy Ullrich
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Related Links
U.S. State Department
www.state.gov/t/np/trty/16281.htm
The U.S. State Department outlines the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty terms.
National Resources Defense Council
www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nudb/datab12.asp
Excellent resource for statistics on nuclear arsenals around the world.
Nuclear Threat Initiative
www.nti.org
The Nuclear Threat Initiative is working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
Nuclear Weapon Archive
nuclearweaponarchive.org
Delves into the history of nuclear weapons tests.
Arms Control Today
www.armscontrol.org
An authoritative resource on safeguarding nuclear arms.
Monterey Institute for International Studies: Center for Nonproliferation
cns.miis.edu/cns/index.htm
The Center for Nonproliferation Studies strives to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction by training the next generation of nonproliferation specialists and disseminating timely information and analysis.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
www.lanl.gov
From the lab that made the first nuclear weapons, Los Alamos works today to help ensure the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons in the United States stockpile.
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Bibliography
Boese, Wade. "U.S., Russia Still Sorting Out Nuclear Reductions." Arms Control Today, May 2004.
Kimball Smith, Alice, and Charles Weiner, eds. Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections. Harvard University Press, 1980.
Obeidi, Mahid, and Kurt Pitzer. The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind. John Wiley and Sons, 2004.
Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Rhodes, Richard. Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. Simon and Schuster, 1995.
Schneider, Barry, and William Dowdy. Pulling Back From the Nuclear Brink. Frank Cass, 1998.
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NGS Resources
Simons, Lewis M. "Weapons of Mass Destruction." National Geographic (November 2002), 2–35.
Long, Michael E. "Half-Life: The Lethal Legacy of America's Nuclear Waste." National Geographic (July 2002), 2-33.
Gup, Ted. "Up From Ground Zero: Hiroshima." National Geographic (August 1995), 78-101.
Edwards, Mike. "Lethal Legacy: Pollution in the Former U.S.S.R." National Geographic (August 1994), 70-99.
Eliot, John L. "Bikini's Nuclear Graveyard." National Geographic (June 1992), 70-83.
Cobb, Charles E. "Living with Radiation." National Geographic (April 1989), 402-37.
Edwards, Mike W. "Chernobyl—One Year After." National Geographic (May 1987), 632-53.
Ellis, William S. "Bikini—A Way of Life Lost." National Geographic (June 1986), 810-34.
Bittinger, Charles Artist. "Operation Crossroads." National Geographic (April 1947), 519-30.
Markwith, Carl R. "Farewell to Bikini." National Geographic (July 1946), 97-116.
Arnold, Henry H. "Air Power for Peace." National Geographic (February 1946), 137-93.
Freidel, Frank B., Jr. "The Atomic Age: Its Problems and Promises." National Geographic (January 1946), 66-119.
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