Rotblat, Joseph (Oral history)

Polish civilian nuclear physicist with Radiological Laboratory Society of Warsaw, Poland, 1933-1939 and University of Liverpool, GB, 1939-1943; member of British Mission to the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Laboratory in US, 2/1944-11/1944; founding member of Association of Atomic Scientists and Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs in GB, 1946-1992

REEL 1 Recollections of period as Research Fellow with Radiological Laboratory Society of Warsaw, Poland, 1933-1939: story of how his work with radioactivity led him to believe that an atomic bomb could be made; scientific theory relating to construction of atomic bombs; question of the dilemma of working on such research; reaction to potential German production of atomic weapons. Aspects of period as Oliver Lodge Fellow at University of Liverpool in Liverpool, GB, 1939-1940: reasons for move to University of Liverpool, 4/1939; difficulties he faced in early months; developing a rationale about atomic research; opinion that he was first to state the concept of nuclear deterrence; brief return to Poland and failed attempt to collect wife Tola, 8/1939; story of how he lost his moral scruples about atom bomb research with the outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939. Aspects of period as lecturer with Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, GB, 1940-1943: development of research work on atomic bomb, 1940-1941; question of enormous resources necessary for atomic research which ruled Great Britain out; contact with other nuclear scientists prior to 1943; secret nature of work; status as 'friendly alien' and restrictions on activities. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as nuclear physicist with British Mission to Manhatten Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, United States of America, 2/1944-11/1944: development of Manhatten Project and first contacts with American scientists; inclusion in project on own terms; nature and opinion of facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory; his increasing unhappiness with his work and how knowledge that the Germans were no longer working on the bomb caused his resignation from project, 11/1944; story of being a suspected Soviet spy; secrecy and nature of his departure from Los Alamos National Laboratory, 11/1944. Aspects of period as nuclear phyicist with Physics Department of University of Liverpool in Liverpool, 1/1945-8/1945: continuing work on nuclear physics; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945. Recollections of membership of Atomic Scientists Association and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, 1946-1992: story of how he mooted idea for a moratorium on nuclear research for three years which led to the foundation of the Atomic Scientists Association, 1946 and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, 1955; his moral decision to change line of research to humanitarian medical applications of nuclear physics; affects of his change of research line and how he was considered a 'deserter' for leaving the Manhatten Project in 1944; exploration of term pacifist. REEL 3 Continues: explanation of fallacious nature of deterrence theory, post-1945; instability of arms race; driving force of technology and the addition scientists suffer from; question of ideological competition as basic cause of arms race; story of Niels Bohr's idea of sharing nuclear research with the Soviet Union and how he was nearly interned by Prime Minister Winston Churchill for suggesting it; question of reasons for America dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; opportunities presented by the end of the Cold War for international control and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, 1991; question of nations cheating; possibility of technical verification and his idea of 'societal verification'; problems of dealing with plutonium; question of coping with plutonium and his ideas for dealing with it; civil use of nuclear power; problems of military and civil link on nuclear power and dealing with waste; question of lack of justification for GB's independent deterrent with the end of Cold War, 1991; activity of Pugwash Conference group in influencing government. REEL 4 Continues: examples of influence of Pugwash Conference group on nuclear powers; issue of nuclear scientists 'brain drain' from former Soviet Union. Reflections on family's experiences in Poland, 1939-1945: question of why he could not return to Poland in 1945; development of science in pre-war Poland; abortive attempts made to get his wife Tola to GB, 1939; account of how she perished in Majdanek Concentration Camp in Poland, 1942; story of how his Polish family came to GB with his help in 1945; importance of having his family with him; reaction to visits to post-war Poland; question of ignorance of fate of Jews during Second World War; story of his younger brother's experiences with Soviet Partisans and how he came to GB with Rotblat's help; nature of privations suffered in Poland during First World and how this formed his abhorrence of war.