Today in History 09/12/17

Dr. Leó Szilárd, of the University of Chicago, testifies before the House Military Affairs Committee, Oct 18, 1945 (© Henry Griffin/AP)(1933) Szilárd’s stroll sets off a nuclear chain reaction
Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd has been puzzling over using atoms as a form of energy, and as he strolls London’s streets, he suddenly conceives the idea of a nuclear chain reaction, which will lead to his work in the atom bomb’s formation and the harnessing of nuclear energy.
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi in 1934, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein’s signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb.
Lived: Feb 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964 (age 66)
Spouse: Gertrud Weiss Szilard (m. 1951)
Academic advisors: Albert Einstein · Max von Laue
Inventions: Einstein refrigerator
Education: Budapest University of Technology and Economics · Technical University of Berlin · Humboldt University of Berlin
Awards: Albert Einstein Award (1960)
Highlights
  • 1922: His doctoral dissertation on thermodynamics Über die thermodynamischen Schwankungserscheinungen (On The Manifestation of Thermodynamic Fluctuations), praised by Einstein, won top honors in 1922.

  • 1938: Foreseeing another war in Europe, Szilard moved to the United States in 1938, where he worked with Enrico Fermi and Walter Zinn on means of creating a nuclear chain reaction.

  • 1950: He publicly sounded the alarm against the possible development of salted thermonuclear bombs, explaining in radio talk on February 26, 1950, that sufficiently big thermonuclear bomb rigged with specific but common materials, might annihilate mankind.

  • 1951: Leó Szilárd married Gertrud Weiss Szilard in 1951.

  • 1961: The Voice of the Dolphins, and Other Stories written by Leó Szilárd was first published in 1961.

  • 1964: On May 30, 1964, he died in his sleep of a heart attack; when Trude awoke, she was unable to revive him.

Fermi-Szilard Neutronic Reactor - Figure 38
An image from the Fermi–Szilard “neutronic reactor” patent

wiki/Leo_Szilard
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