Lauding Lise Meitner, Who Said ‘No’ to the Atomic Bomb
Fermi and the Manhattan Project embodied an age of discovery that rewarded quality over quantity in expertise. In nuclear physics, the 1930s and 1940s were an age of fundamental breakthroughs, and when it came to making those breakthroughs, one Enrico Fermi was worth thousands of less brilliant physicists. American leadership in this era was built
... See moreKai-Fu Lee • AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
“It is a profound and necessary truth,” Robert Oppenheimer would say, “that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they are found because it was possible to find them.”
Richard Rhodes • Making of the Atomic Bomb
Thomas Gold was a professor of astrophysics at Cornell University and one of the most interesting scientists of the 20th century. He had a notable penchant for diving into completely new fields and developing hypotheses utterly at odds with the scientific consensus of the day. His many achievements include correcting the understanding of how the hu... See more
Doomberg • The Other Strategic Reserve
Diego Segura added
EXPLOREWORK IN PROGRESSThe Forgotten Stage of Human ProgressInvention is easily overrated, and implementation is often underrated.By Derek ThompsonA light bulb shatters.Al Barry / Stringer / GettyMAY 11, 2022SHARESign up for Derek’s newsletter here.What if we invented a technology to save the planet—and the world refused to use it?This haunting hyp... See more
The Atlantic • The Forgotten Stage of Human Progress
Johanna added
Bethe, whom Oppenheimer chose over Teller to head the Theoretical Division of the lab, was equally effusive in Oppenheimer’s praise. “He understood immediately when he heard anything, and fitted it into the general scheme of things and drew the right conclusions,” Bethe told Rhodes. “There was just nobody else in that laboratory who came even close
... See morePatricia Ward Biederman • Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration
The atomic bomb posed a moral dilemma. As with Grace Kelly’s character in High Noon, the Americans chose victory and survival over the moral absolute. America was designed by the founders as a moral undertaking. As such it was offended by what was necessary to the nation. The argument began at the founding. It was decided in the desolate places of
... See more