🚀 go-pugleaf

Just a program note, for those of you interested in the History of 
Physics.  The program NOVA on PBS is featuring a story about Leo 
Szilard and his involvement in the development of the bomb.  It 
airs Tuesday (see local listings for the time, usually 8 or 9pm) 
of this week (29 September) and is titled something like "The 
Genius behind the Bomb" if you want to double check with your 
local TV listing. 

Leo Szilard is, of course, the man who pushed Einstein to write the 
letter to Roosevelt warning of the importance of nuclear weapons and 
saw that the letter got through channels so it would actually be 
hand delivered to Roosevelt by someone FDR knew and trusted. 

Szilard is less well known (unless you have seen the Oppenheimer 
biography or read some of the history of the Manhattan Project) 
for his scientific contributions.  Perhaps the most important was 
his effort to get truely pure graphite for cross section tests, so 
that the error in earlier measurements was found out and a graphite 
"pile" was built rather than a heavy-water reactor. 

Later, Szilard led the movement to keep the bomb from being used 
against Japan, and helped found the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists".
A very interesting man, so it should be an interesting program. 

( I am a bit disappointed tho.  When I first saw the title, I had  )
( hoped it would be about Stan Ulam and Nick Metropolis.  Oh well. )

--
J. A. Carr                                    |  "The New Frontier of which I  
jac@gw.scri.fsu.edu                           |  speak is not a set of promises
Florida State University  B-186               |  -- it is a set of challenges."
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute |   John F. Kennedy (15 July 60)