Einstein was undoubtedly the single greatest contributor to science in the 20th century. Few will argue with that point. His gifts to today's understanding of the universe, energy, time among others base many branches of modern science.
His contributions are not restricted only to the fields of science, but also to the individual person: from powerful heads of states to the average citizen.
Albert Einstein helped Oppenheimer1 develop the fundamental science needed to break atoms, causing massive amounts of energy to be released. There are two common forms of this technology today, the Nuclear Power Plants, and the Atomic, or Nuclear Bomb.
During the WWII battles with Japan, the United States government instructed a group of scientists to derive a new weapon, one that could potentially cause large scale destruction emitting from a single bomb. Many notable scientists contributed to this project, but none with as much global respect as Einstein.
With the help of his physics knowledge, the mission was accomplished: a weapon yielding the force of thousands of tons of dynamite was tested at a government installation test site in Nevada.
Soon after the United States used this weapon on Japan twice, The Soviet Union developed their own nuclear weapon. The Arms Race was on. Suddenly both countries expended large amounts of resources on making these bombs useful in combat. Three hundred billion U.S. dollars2 were spent to ignite this project and produce only a small number of functional bombs. The Soviet Union was thought to have spent about equal amounts.
By the late 1950's what we now know as the Cold War erupted. Nuclear Holocaust seemed inevitable. Tensions between the Communists and the States reached monumental highs. The whole United States suddenly went into a panic mode that would stay resident until the 1980's. Children on the first day of a new year of school were taught where the fallout shelter was. Instead of swimming pools, people would purchase subterranean bunkers to protect them from the radiation and chaos that was expected to follow the attack. Both sides of this war scrambled to better their strategic location of missiles. All to many times did one country push the other nearly to the brink of all out nuclear war.
It seemed that Einstein had foreseen the use of this weapon and made it know in a statement that he is commonly quoted saying,
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
He was all too correct with this statement. He knew very well that when a war was fought with such weapons as nuclear bombs, there would be little left to fight over. There would be no winners in this war. The whole globe would be shattered by these two giants. And both sides knew it.
As soon as one power would attack the other, an all out fight would engage. The peak U.S. response time was only a little less than 10 seconds. Missiles would be launched, landing in a little over a minute in key locations first, like industrial centers, capitals, etc. The clean up round would completely annihilate all land governed by the country in less than 4 minutes. Without the ability to launch full destruction from a button, these two powers would have for certain used land troops and air attacks. Civilians would die and cities would be crumbled in a non-nuclear battle, but this was a winnable war. One would walk away having brought the other to its knee. Some treat the nuclear weapon like a curse, others the single most important tool in protecting our liberty. I feel that my personal well being has been the result of the nuclear bomb.
Since the end of WWII until today, there has been less bloodshed between world powers than in centuries, if not millenniums. Although Einstein was hated by some groups in his time because of his contribution, I believe that he knew very well of the future. I strongly feel he would avoid helping the Manhattan
Project if he felt it would result in nuclear war.
"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
References:
http://sci.hkbu.edu.hk/math/einstein.html http://galileo.eng.wayne.edu/Alumni/vinod/ae.html http://www.sofitec.lu/misc/einstein.htm http://www.netfrance.com/Libe/manhat/ho_ eins.html http://magna.com.au/~prfbrown/albert_e.html http://cuy.net/%7Eeinstein/einstein.html http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~ history/Mathematicians/Einstein.html http://www.aip.org/history/esva/einstein.htm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/nova/einstein/ http://www.yahoo.com/Reference/Encyclopedia http://www2.elibrary.com/id/27/86/search.cgi 1 Robert Oppenheimer was the head of the Manhattan Project, the project given the instruction to harness the power of the atom in a destructive way. Einstein played a great role in laying the roadwork for this new venture. Oppenheimer himself received a Nobel Prize in physics. 2 Inflation adjusted to 1995.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Cold War with the Soviet Union was escalating, and second, the war in Korea was…
- 5019 Words
- 21 Pages
Powerful Essays -
5) In late 1940s the Cold War began to take shape as the U.S and Russia began arming themselves and seeking allies around the world –it soon became clear that air power and the capability to deliver nuclear weapons would be the driving force of the Cold War.…
- 527 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
After World War two almost immediately the United States and Russia started the Cold War. However some people might say that the cold war started on August 6, 1945 when the first atomic bomb was dropped. This makes President Truman’s decision to not only end the war with Japan and save American lives but also to try and scare Russia. “The view that it was purely coincidental that the first bomb was dropped two days before the Soviet offensive was due to start” (ideas in conflict 160). So because Russia had started their own Nuclear program it could cause problems for America in the future.…
- 866 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The Cold War began in 1945 and went through 1991. It was primarily over the nuclear arsenals amassed by the USA and the Soviet Union. This scared many Americans because we were targets of the bomb threats that would be dropped on them at any time. Families were building shelters and underground homes. Many in the US including government became preoccupied with satellite launches and accusing innocent people of spying.…
- 572 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
After WWII’s ending, there is no any big fighting in the future. But some major powers still are greedy, so that’s the Cold War (1945-1991) coming. The Soviet Union and the Western Countries began to see other as Enemies. So the world was divided into Communist and Capitalist Countries. USSR, Eastern Europe and China kept the government system as Communism, and USA, Western Countries decided to keep Capitalism. The Cold War was a conflict between these two ideas, Communism and Capitalist Democracy.…
- 1102 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Aviation and electronics grew in size and usefulness. The demands of the war not only generated new weapons but also new innovations in electronic intelligence and transportation. For example, radar and sonar was a new technology that became very useful during the war. Soldiers would watch the radar or sonar screen and send planes or ships to intercept oncoming enemies. Another major technological advancement that came as a result of World War II was the first atom bomb. A race took place against the Soviet Union called “The Arms Race” in which the U.S raced to create an atomic bomb in secret. Using newly discovered science, the United States underwent “The Manhattan Project”, that lead to the creation of a bomb that could cause devastation never seen before with any weapon (The 1940’s Science and Technology: Overview 2001). This bomb affected the U.S and the world forever. A weapon of this caliber caused many people to oppose it on moral grounds. Others thought it was necessary for protection. After the U.S dropped two on Japanese civilians, there was a lot of controversy. These bombs combined killed 109,000 instantly. The radiation killed another 200,000 by the end of the year. Other countries feared this power and scrambled to create atomic weapons of their own. To this day, countries attempt to have the most…
- 1654 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
The Cold War took off after the end of the Second World War when the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two global dominant superpowers each grasping ideologies that were dichotomous from each other. This adverse relationship continued for half a century and the clash of two distinct and differing political ideologies of communism and capitalism saw no clear conclusion or victory for either side. The tense atmosphere resonated not only in the United States and the Soviet Union, but also around the world and into space. For most of the fifty years of the cold war, the ideological struggle and the many indirect physical conflicts between the West and the Soviet Union were in a deadlock with no visible success of either side. However,…
- 392 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In the mid 1900’s the term Cold War would be used to describe the relationship between the United States and the USSR. With the United States possessing a powerful weapon known as the atomic bomb; the USSR would not be long behind them after World War II with their own atomic bomb. During this time period the USSR and the United States relationship would dissolve because of the United States holding back information at the Yalta Conference. The Cold War would greatly affect the civil liberties and the election politics in the United States. Although neither side ever fought the other if one side attacked the other it would lead to World War III.…
- 561 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the year 1947 is what is known as the beginning of the Cold War. During World War II the countries of United States and Soviet Union combined forces to defeat the Germans. When the war was over the tension of different ideologies began once again. Joseph Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union wanted to expand communism, he believed that communism was the superior ideology. The United States being capitalist contain communism by using the Berlin blockade and airlift to their advantage, the Korean war, and The Cuban missile crises.…
- 504 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
people started to be afraid of the cold war. In fear of starting a war on the USSR, people…
- 569 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The Cold War, one of the most scariest times in America’s, or even the world’s history. The threat of nuclear war was real, very real. At any moment America or the U.S.S.R. could destroy the entire world with their assault of nuclear weapons, just at a call and a click of a button. This is one of many important times in history, and still affects us today. Not only did the North Atlantic Treaty Operation come from the tensions, but the bay of pigs, the cuban missile crisis, the berlin wall (the construction and demolition) all were the outcome from these tensions in which still affect us today.…
- 521 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The results of the explosion lit up the desert sky and shook the Earth with the power that would have been over twenty thousand tons of dynamite. This action ignited the atomic age (The Trinity Test). On August 6, 1945, the United States successfully dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan, and from that point on, the United States entered a new state of uncertainty. The dropping of the atomic bomb sprung the nuclear era upon America which resulted in rapid changes in society's way of thinking. News outlets expressed the shock and regret that American society felt during this time and informed Americans sense of security was long lost. The dropping of the atomic bomb took the world by storm and even many of the Manhattan Project personnel were taken by surprise. Then, three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and the hearts of many Americans sunk in their chests. Americans fear of a nuclear holocaust were significantly increased and manipulated by political activists in an effort to pressure society into a change in public policy and implement fear tactics. Atomic scientists and…
- 848 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In Albert Einstein’s letter to Phyllis as to whether or not scientists pray, Einstein uses effectively rhetorical language by focusing on the subject, speaker, and audience, as well as appeals to get his point across. At the end of the paper, it seems that Einstein himself never answers Phyllis’s question deffinately, never really leaning either way, but by using rhetorical writing he doesn’t really have to. As the name mike suggest, it’s simply rhetorical.…
- 346 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
On the morning of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay flew over the industrial city of Hiroshima, Japan and dropped the first atomic bomb ever. The city went up in flames caused by the immense power equal to about 20,000 tons of TNT. The project was a success. They were an unprecedented assemblage of civilian, and military scientific brain power-brilliant, intense, and young, the people that helped develop the bomb. Unknowingly they came to an isolated mountain setting, known as Los Alamos, New Mexico, to design and build the bomb that would end World War 2, but begin serious controversies concerning its sheer power and destruction. I became interested in this topic because of my interest in science and history. It seemed an appropriate topic because I am presently studying World War 2 in my Social Studies Class. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were always taught to me with some opinion, and I always wanted to know the bomb itself and the unbiased effects that it had. This I-search was a great opportunity for me to actually fulfill my interest. <br><br>The Manhattan Project was the code name for the US effort during World War II to produce the atomic bomb. It was appropriately named for the Manhattan Engineer District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, because much of the early research was done in New York City (Badash 238). Sparked by refugee physicists in the United States, the program was slowly organized after nuclear fission was discovered by German scientists in 1938, and many US scientists expressed the fear that Hitler would attempt to build a fission bomb. Frustrated with the idea that Germany might produce an atomic bomb first, Leo Szilard and other scientists asked Albert Einstein, a famous scientist during that time, to use his influence and write a letter to president FDR, pleading for support to further research the power of nuclear fission (Badash 237). His letters were a success, and President Roosevelt established the Manhattan…
- 1812 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Albert Einstein once defined insanity as, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” For instance, if one repeats an action over and over again like speeding, he or she will expect a different outcome; however, he or she will keep receiving tickets for speeding. From a personal viewpoint, a few of my friends think repeatedly performing a task over and over will give them a new result.…
- 422 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays