Einstein Saved The World? 💣 w/ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[chase]

actually the letter was written by leo szilard, but because of the fact that Szilard wasn’t known enough to get a letter to the president or taken seriously even if he did, he employed his friend albert Einstein so send the letter under his name.

[MouthyMama]

He also said that the 3rd world war would be fought with nuclear arms, but the fourth would be fought with sticks. Pretty potent warning.

[ChipArgyle]

The scariest arms race ever happened before the weapon actually existed. After that, all the races were just competitive stockpiling.

[AdelbertMeek-mtml]

I remember my science teacher in high school standing up and telling us a story about himself. He was a quiet man and he talked about how he had ulcers in the cause of it was that he was involved in developing the atomic bomb during World War II. He said war on him over the years, because he thought about all the people that the bomb eliminated in Japan. He did not drop the bomb. He just helped develop it. His conscience would not allow him to forgive himself for ending the war. He only thought about all the lives that were taken because of the bomb. It was sad we all cried, and we all went up to him at the end of class and shook his hand.

[ikkiAMV]

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

[Johnr]

It's also not widely known that Norwegian soldiers actually stopped the Nazis getting the bomb first by destroying a heavy water production plant. Operation Gunnerside, a stealthy group of commandos took out a crucial Nazi chemical plant.

If anyone is interested in history on that subject.

[tejspedersen]

It wasn’t actually Einstein who wrote the letter. Szilard did, and he asked Einstein to sign it because he was significantly more famous, and could get Roosevelt’s attention.

[sandyjohnston]

As a child in 3rd grade we were always practicing what we would do hiding under our desks if world 3 happened in our country it was very scary for a child to be going through this especially being away from your parents and siblings, even to this day I hope it never happens

[Nothing]

A big reason why the Germans didn’t get it before America was because a lot of the work/research was scattered across different projects that weren’t in collaboration with each other; the Manhattan project pooled together all of the best minds available to collaborate on making it a reality.

[blipblapity]

“Everyone is a pacifist until they get punched in the face.“ -Mike Tyson lol

[williammahaffy]

Most Americans do not realize it but the UK and Canada were already working on it. They had done a lot of valuable research before they combined their work with the Americans'. It gave the Manhattan project a big boost.

[olalekanolamide]

One time traveller: Knocks out the mailman who's meant to send the letter....

[Captain.Creamer]

I am impressed that many people know history's small and yet important details so well in the comment section.

[fuegodelacruz]

You can see Einstein's letter on the wall of the AMSE in Oak Ridge. This museum is free of charge and it's fantastic.

[ajbell]

"I am a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace." -Einstein

[christopherlangdon]

It’s widely known. However, two other scientists went to Einstein and asked him to go to Roosevelt. One of the scientists was Leo Szilard I think

[michaelbryant]

There seems to be some discrepancy on this subject. Fermi did write a letter but Hungarian refugees, Szillard, Wigner, and Telller convinced Einstein to write a letter to Roosevelt to warn him about the danger of Hitler's project to build the A bomb.

[LeonG-ff]

Bro just finished watching Oppenheimer

[sulla]

There’s two things to appreciate about this exchange.

1. Einstein’s ability to make a complex idea understandable then his ability to convince this hypothetical world ending technology isn’t science fiction

2. Roosevelt’s ability to not only grasp said theory but also open enough to put such a massive and expensive project into action

Nowadays it seems liked a no brainer situation since we’ve all seen the videos and widely accept the basics of nuclear fission but imagine you’re in an era where propeller fighter planes are peak technology and some nerd warns your enemy could potentially have a bomb based off a relatively new science the world has barely seen yet.

[tophatdalekthetophatteddal]

The project was originally a british one. Everyone seems to forget that. We lacked the funds to develop it but due to the letter being sent to Roosevelt, they took up interest and the development began.


Furthermore, Hitler opposed developing nuclear technology, he viewed it as Jewish science, so it was never given enough funding or development to really compete.