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The Miracles of Science in the 1940s: How did a simple memo change the course of the war?
During World War II, a memorandum from Britain changed the landscape of the war and started a global race for nuclear weapons technology. This memorandum was written by two scientists, Rudolf Perls and Otto Frisch, at the University of Birmingham in 1940, in which they detailed the process of using pure uranium-235 to create a kiloton TNT bomb. The possibility of a powerful atomic bomb. This research triggered the establishment of the MAUD committee and marked the beginning of the UK's full efforts in nuclear weapons research and development.
This memorandum not only revealed the feasibility of the atomic bomb, but also paved the way for future nuclear weapons technology.
In this race for nuclear weapons technology, the British Tube Alloys project was eventually merged with the American Manhattan Project due to the high costs caused by the war, forming the "Quebec Accord". This agreement not only facilitated the sharing of nuclear technology between Britain and the United States, but also established a framework for nuclear weapons research and development. However, the United States did not provide Britain with full details of the Manhattan Project, which created an additional sense of urgency after the war and prompted Britain to restart its high explosives research program.
Early in the war, the scientific community began to pay attention to the discovery of nuclear fission. In 1938, Otto Han and Fritz Strassmann successfully split uranium atoms in a laboratory in Germany, opening up the possibility of using nuclear energy. Subsequently, a team of French scientists also actively studied the neutrons released during the fission process of uranium. This research was a major breakthrough in the self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. There is widespread recognition in the scientific community that if this process could be effectively controlled, it would be possible to develop an extremely destructive atomic bomb.
In the UK, scientists such as Nobel Prize winners George Padgett Thomson and William Lawrence Bragg are also actively promoting this research. As the competition for nuclear weapons intensified among countries, the British government finally approved a nuclear weapons development plan in August 1941. This move proved that nuclear weapons were not only possible but a key factor in winning or losing a war.
Under such a scenario, the establishment of the MAUD Committee is regarded as a key measure to save the UK and the world.
After the establishment of the MAUD committee, a series of experiments were carried out in several universities in the UK. These studies gradually formed a systematic nuclear weapons research plan, and the relevant reports became an important basis for the development of British nuclear weapons. The report, first published in 1941, provided a detailed analysis of uranium's potential for nuclear weapons and the need for production facilities. According to the committee's recommendations, it is necessary for the UK to build a uranium separation plant as soon as possible. This is crucial to ensuring that the UK is not left behind in the development of nuclear weapons.
As Britain began to launch comprehensive nuclear research, the Tube Alloys project gradually became an important reference for the United States' Manhattan Project. The cooperation between the two countries has changed the post-war global security landscape to some extent. When the United Kingdom successfully conducted a nuclear test in 1952, it became the third country to possess nuclear weapons. This made the political and military aspects of nuclear weapons even more important. The alliance between Britain and the United States has been further consolidated, forming a strong "special relationship".
In summary, Tube Alloys' research is not only a scientific success, but also an important turning point in international politics. How this simple memorandum written by two scientists in a wartime environment influenced the subsequent nuclear age makes us think: In today's era of technological explosion, are similar stories behind it still quietly changing our future?
