IN THE SHADOW OF THE BOMB PRINCETONSERIESINPHYSICS EditedbyPaulJ.Steinhardt,CurtisG.Callan,andPaulM.Chaikin(published since1976) SurprisesinTheoreticalPhysicsbyRudolfPeierls TheLarge-ScaleStructureoftheUniversebyP.J.E.Peebles QuantumFluctuationsbyE.Nelson MoreSurprisesinTheoreticalPhysicsbyRudolfPeierls SupersymmetryandSupergravity(2ded.)byJuliusWessandJonathanBagger IntroductiontoAlgebraicandConstructiveQuantumFieldTheorybyJohnC. Baez,IrvingE.Segal,andZhengfangZhou PrinciplesofPhysicalCosmologybyP.J.E.Peebles QEDandtheMenWhoMadeIt:Dyson,Feynman,Schwinger,andTomonaga bySilvanS.Schweber TheInterpretationofQuantumMechanicsbyRolandOmne`s GravitationandInertiabyIgnazioCiufoliniandJohnArchibaldWheeler TheDawningofGaugeTheorybyLochlainnO’Raifeartaigh TheTheoryofSuperconductivityintheHigh-T CupratesbyP.W.Anderson C MasterofModernPhysics:TheScientificContributionsofH.A.Kramers byDirkterHaar CriticalProblemsinPhysicseditedbyValL.Fitch,DanielR.Marlow, andMargitA.E.Dementi IntheShadowoftheBomb:Oppenheimer,Bethe,andtheMoral ResponsibilityoftheScientistbyS.S.Schweber MoreIsDifferent:FiftyYearsofCondensedMatterPhysicseditedby N.PhuanOngandRavinN.Bhatt IN THE SHADOW OF THE BOMB: Oppenheimer, Bethe, and the Moral Responsibility of the Scientist S. S. Schweber PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright©2000byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,3MarketPlace, Woodstock,OxfordshireOX201SY AllRightsReserved Thirdprinting,andfirstpaperbackprinting,2007 PaperbackISBN-13:978-0-691-12785-9 PaperbackISBN-10:0-691-12785-9 TheLibraryofCongresshascatalogedtheclotheditionofthisbookasfollows Schweber,S.S.(SilvanS.) IntheShadowoftheBomb:Oppenheimer,Bethe, andthemoralresponsibilityofthescientist/ S.S.Schweber p.cm.–(Princetonseriesinphysics) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-691-04989-0(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Oppenheimer,J.Robert,1904–1967.2.Bethe,HansAlbrecht,1906– 3.Atomicbomb–Moralandethicalaspects–UnitedStates. 4.Nuclearphysics–UnitedStates–Biography.I.Title.II.Series. QC774.O56S322000 172'.422–dc21 99–052225 BritishLibraryCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailable ThisbookhasbeencomposedinUtopiaandBluejackdisplay Printedonacid-freepaper.∞ pup.princeton.edu PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 For Paul Forman and Anne Harrington, special friends, Everett Mendelsohn, a special colleague, and Miriam Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xvii INTRODUCTION 3 1. WHATISENLIGHTENMENT? 28 2. J.ROBERTOPPENHEIMER 42 OppenheimerandtheEthicalCultureMovement 42 TheAgendaoftheEthicalCultureSociety 46 TheTeachingofEthicsattheSchool 50 TheMaturationofOppenheimer 53 BecomingaPhysicist:OppenheimerandHisSchool 61 3. HANSBETHE 76 BecomingaBildungstra¨ger 76 BecomingaPhysicist:ArnoldSommerfeld 87 WholenessandStability 91 LosAlamos 104 BetheandOppenheimer:TheirEntanglement 107 4. THECHALLENGEOFMcCARTHYISM 115 TheBernardPetersCase 115 ThePhilipMorrisonCase 130 SomeConcludingComments 146 5. NUCLEARWEAPONS 149 AtomicBombs 149 HydrogenBombs 156 PSACandtheNuclearTestBanTreaty 168 6. ONSCIENCEANDSOCIETY 178 EPILOGUE 183 NotestotheChapters 187 Bibliography 239 Index 257 Preface I used to be a theoretical physicist. I did my graduate studies at PrincetonUniversityfrom1949to1952.DuringmystayinPrinceton, theoreticalphysicswasdominatedbyEugeneWigner,theJonesPro- fessorofMathematicalPhysicsattheuniversity,andRobertOppen- heimer,whorecentlyhadbecomethedirectoroftheInstituteforAd- vancedStudy.OnFridays,thedepartmentalcolloquiumwouldbring Oppenheimer,whenhewasintown,totheuniversity,andthecom- ments by Wigner and Oppenheimer would expose their contrasting views of the world. Every Wednesday afternoon all the theory stu- dentswouldtrekouttotheInstitutetoattendthetheoreticalphysics seminar thereand listen toOppenheimer’s oftenacerbic comments onthepresentation. Princeton was an enormously stimulating place. I still vividly re- member Einstein giving a series of lectures on unified field theory; Bohr and Einstein presenting their differing views on quantum me- chanicsininaudibleandincomprehensiblemutterings;Paulitalking onspinandstatistics;vonNeumanncommentingonDavidBohm’s formulationofthequantumtheoryofmeasurementandhiswalking outofalecturebyJulianSchwinger.TheatmosphereinFineHall,the home of the mathematics department, was equally heady. In addi- tion, there was a rich cultural life. I recall Hermann Weyl delivering hislecturesonsymmetry;EugeneWignergivingatalkattheGraduate Schoolonthelimitsofscience;BertrandRussellgivingalecturetoa packedauditorium,andDylanThomasarrivinglateanddrunktogive passionate,movingreadingsofhispoetry. ButtheyearsIspentatPrincetonwerealsotensetimes.TheCold Warhadintensified,andwhenIarrivedthereinSeptember1949the USSR had just detonated its first plutonium bomb. That fall, an in- tensedebatetookplaceonwhethertodevelopanH-bomb.Icaught my first glimpse of Hans Bethe when he was leaving Wigner’s office sometime inOctober 1949.He wasin Princetonto discusswith Op- penheimer the feasibility of a fusion bomb. The following spring, David Bohm, a brilliant young theoretical physicist who had been a staffmemberattheRadiationLaboratoryatBerkeleyduringthewar and then became an assistant professor in Princeton’s Department ofPhysics,wascitedincontemptofCongress;hehadtakentheFifth Amendmentwhenrefusingtoanswercertainquestionsposedtohim bytheHouseUn-AmericanActivitiesCommittee.In1950hewasin- ix