FEAR OF WAR
ATOM BOMB RESEARCH ATTITUDE OF SCIENTISTS (P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 9. Aspects of the attitude of scientists to the atomic bomb were referred to this morning at a press interview by Dr Karl T. Compton, one of the party of American scientists who arrived yesterday from Bikini. Commenting on the earlier stages of atomic research, he said that scientists in the United States were inspired by a double motive. They were chiefly impelled by fear that Germany would get the bomb first. When it came to using it against Japan, many of his scientific friends hated the idea.
Dr Compton said they simply had to hope it would be sufficiently terrifying to force people to give up their traditional ideas and make sacrifices to prevent future wars. Some scientists were not very enthusiastic about the Bikini test, because of their belief that it would not be as terrible as the public were led to believe. For instance, if the atomic bomb had been dropped over a large city the devastation would have been more spectacular. Scientists were afraid the world might settle back and say: “ It’s not so bad after all,” and thus relieve the pressure preventing war.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 26200, 10 July 1946, Page 6
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200FEAR OF WAR Otago Daily Times, Issue 26200, 10 July 1946, Page 6
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