Historic party encounter

[kerry]

Attended a neighborhood party last and had an interesting encounter. Met an old man who said he:
Was a chemical engineer at Dupont
Was transferred to Los Alamos in the 1940's
He invented the trigger for the first atom bomb
Was married to the woman who reported the spies at Los Alamos to Oppenheimer
He came up with the idea that since the explosive power of a bomb increases by the square of the size of the bomb, Americans should fill planes with ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel and pilot them by remote control onto targets. Joseph Kennedy was killed when the attempt to implement this idea went awry.

While very interested in discussing the technical details of his inventions, he never once mentioned any moral qualm at being involved in creating atomic bombs.

[waybomb]

Originally Posted by kerry edwards

he never once mentioned any moral qualm at being involved in creating atomic bombs.

What moral qualm? Eat or be eaten?

[Emmerich]

No kidding. If you have a war ending weapon, why would you NOT use it?

Truman never struggled with dropping the bomb, he just had trouble with HOW MANY?

[TheDon]

interesting, people from that era are very interesting to talk to.

[kerry]

I was referring to the moral qualms that Oppenheimer expressed.

I came across the following link:

http://www.science-spirit.org/printerfriendly.php?article_id=350

The man I met last night said Crouthamel was the only person he knew when he first went to Los Alamos and that it was Crouthamel who introduced him to Oppenheimer. Crouthamel also had no deep moral thoughts about his work.

My impression of the man I met last night was similar to my impression of other similar people I have run into in life. He was brilliant and innovative, engaged in the pursuit of the answers to technical questions. (He invented a sewer sludge conveyor that made him rich--he said he gets 1/3000th of a cent everytime anyone flushes a toilet in the US). But he was unmoved by moral questions, almost as if they didn't exist.

[Botnst]

You may have put your finger on it: Perhaps for this man there is no moral question. As was said above concerning Truman, the only question is how.

Bot

[waybomb]

Originally Posted by kerry edwards

I was referring to the moral qualms that Oppenheimer expressed.............

But he was unmoved by moral questions, almost as if they didn't exist.

He was a Physicist, not a Philosopher. Each are relevant, each have their own calling, and the two compliment each other. But having both in one psyche, and doing both correctly, would be unusual.

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by Emmerich

No kidding. If you have a war ending weapon, why would you NOT use it?

Truman never struggled with dropping the bomb, he just had trouble with HOW MANY?

not really.... we only had two at the time. and we dropped both of them. we told everybody we had an unlimited supply though.

tom w