What do You Know about Leo Szilard?

Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-American physicist and inventor. He is noted for his contributions to the development of nuclear chain reactions and, as co-founder of The Committee for Nuclear Information, for his early advocacy of peaceful uses of atomic energy and control of nuclear weapons.

Szilard initially formulated the idea of a nuclear chain reaction in 1933, while working on the atomic bomb at the University of California, Berkeley. He patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi in 1934. He also conceived the Szilard–Wheeler model of thermonuclear fusion.

In 1938, fearing that German scientists might develop an atomic bomb for Nazi Germany, Szilard persuaded fellow Hungarian émigré physicists Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller to contact Albert Einstein with the idea of writing a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, urging the United States government to start its own atomic bomb research program. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project, which built the first atomic bombs.

Szilard later campaigned with Albert Einstein and others for the peaceful use of atomic energy and control of atomic weapons. He led the Szilard Petition Campaign, which attempted to persuade the United States government to stop nuclear weapon tests and development. He was interviewed in 1963 by Michael Amrine for the Atomic Oral History Project at Columbia University.

Early life and education

Leo Szilard was born in Budapest in 1898 into a Jewish family; his parents were telegraph engineer Antal Szilard and his wife Karolina (née Maurer). He had two older sisters, Teréz and Ilona. ID cards issued to him and his sisters described their religion as Calvinist.

Szilard attended Catholic and Lutheran schools until high school. In 1918, he studied engineering at the Budapest Technical University but did not complete his studies due to financial difficulties caused by World War I. In 1919, he traveled to Egypt and worked as an engineer for the Nile Valley Authority. He then emigrated to the United States in 1921 on a ship bound for New York City.

Career

In the United States, Szilard initially worked as a financial journalist for brokerages in New York City. He later began working as an engineer and physicist. He worked with Enrico Fermi on the first nuclear reactor, and co-founded The Committee for Nuclear Information. Not only that, but he also conceived the Szilard–Wheeler model of thermonuclear fusion.

Szilard was one of the first scientists to realize that a nuclear chain reaction could be used to create an atomic bomb. In 1933, he formulated the idea while walking on Southampton Row in London. He later recalled:

    "As I turned from Southampton Row into Russell Square, I suddenly realized that if we could find an element which is split by neutrons and which keeps its neutrons together better than uranium, we would have an instrument of enormous destructive power."

In 1934, he patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Fermi. They both recognized that if such a reactor could be created, it would be possible to use it to generate energy or create an atomic bomb. In 1938, fearing that German scientists might develop an atomic bomb for Nazi Germany, Szilard persuaded fellow Hungarian émigré physicists Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller to contact Albert Einstein with the idea of writing a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, urging the United States government to start its own atomic bomb research program. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project, which built the first atomic bombs.

HERE A SHORT VIDEO ABOUT SZILARD LIFE: