1942 8:00 a.m. Stagg Field University of Chicago: The man in charge of the project is an Italian physicist called Enrico Fermi ... He will attempt to become the first man ever to harness atomic energy. Days that Shook the World s1e9: First Nuclear Reaction/Chernobyl, BBC 2003
Einstein urged Roosevelt to fund American research into nuclear chain reactions. ibid.
If today’s experiment is successful, it’ll be a giant step forward in the Allies’ effort to defeat Hitler’s war machine. ibid.
Enrico Fermi will be the first man to attempt to release and control atomic energy. ibid.
The students are known as the Suicide Squad. ibid.
No-one photographed the scene. ibid.
Fermi refuses to support the subsequent development of the Hydrogen bomb. ibid.
Willingdon has stolen a UR-12 bomb from the magazine at Wallingford. He’s also written a personal letter to the prime minister. He says that unless it’s publicly announced that Great Britain will stop making any more such weapons, he’ll set it off and destroy what he calls the seat of government. Seven Days to Noon 1950 starring Barry Jones & Olive Sloane & Andre Morell & Sheila Manahan & Hugh Cross & Joan Hickson & Ronald Adam & Marie Ney & Wyndham Goldie & Russell Waters & Martin Boddey et al, director Roy and John Boulting, men in car
God Is Here Every Sunday At 6.30 Come And Meet Him. ibid. church sign
Why do you want to start this science lark in the first place? ibid. her to him
It’s you and your sort – inventing things, interfering with natures – that’s what’s causing all the trouble. ibid.
Scientists disagree as to when radiation will reach Australia. The atomic war has ended. On the Beach 1959 starring Gregory Peck & Ava Gardner & Fred Astaire & Anthony Perkins & Donna Anderson & John Tate & Harp McGuire & Lola Brooks & Ken Wayne & Grant Taylor & Guy Doleman & Joe McCormick et al, director Stanley Kramer, radio announcer
Our so-called civilisation was gloriously destroyed by a handful of vacuum tubes and transistors. ibid. Astaire
We’re all doomed, you know. ibid.
This is a special kind of sleeping pill. ibid. Perkins to wife
Who would ever have believed that human beings would be stupid enough to blow themselves off the face of the Earth? ... The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained by arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn’t possibly use without committing suicide. ibid.
Help us understand the reason for this madness on Earth. ibid. Salvation Army chaplain’s prayer
But why? Why did he come to Copenhagen? Copenhagen 2002 starring Stephen Rea & Daniel Craig & Francesca Annis et al, director Howard Davies, opening scene Mrs Bohr to Bohr getting off bus
There are only two things the world remembers about me. One is the uncertainty principle, the other is my mysterious visit to Niels Bohr in Copenhagen in 1941. ibid. Heisenberg’s commentary
The more I look back on it the more I think Heisenberg was the greatest of them all. ibid. Bohr
So what was Bohr? He was the first of us all. The father of it all. Modern atomic physics began when Bohr realised that quantum theory applied to matter as well as energy, 1913. ibid. Heisenberg’s commentary
He taught Relativity and they said it was Jewish physics. ibid. Bohr to wife
No-one is going to develop a weapon based on nuclear fission. ibid.
The ashes have become very cold indeed. ibid. Mrs Bohr
Mathematics becomes very odd when you apply it to people. ibid. Heisenberg to Bohr
Does one as a physicist have the moral right to work on the practical exploitation of atomic energy? ibid. Heisenberg to Bohr
Do you actually think uranium fission can be used for the construction of weapons? ibid. Bohr to Heisenber
Niels Bohr says that in his considered judgment supplying a homicidal maniac with an improved instrument of mass murder is shall we say an interesting idea ... A really rather uninteresting idea. ibid. Bohr to Heisenberg
There was a report in a Stockholm newspaper that the Americans are working on an atomic bomb. ibid. Heisenberg to Bohr
You built the bomb. And used it on a living target. ibid.
The bomb would have been built whether he’d gone or not. ibid. Mrs Bohr to Heisenberg
That’s the point. Under my control. ibid. Heisenberg to Bohr, with Mrs Bohr
Sense is mathematics. ibid. Heisenberg
I shatter the objective universe around you, and all you can say is, There’s an error in the formulation! ibid. Heisenberg to Bohr
We turned the world inside out ... We put man back at the centre of the universe. ibid. Bohr to Heisenberg
I can only say that it worked. ibid. Heisenberg to Bohr & Mrs Bohr
The critical mass – that was the most important thing. ibid. Bohr to Heisenberg, with Mrs Bohr
And suddenly a very different and very terrible work begins to take shape. ibid. Bohr
What will be left of our beloved world? Our ruined and dishonoured and beloved world. ibid. Mrs Bohr
Hi There Dear John. Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb 1963 starring Peter Sellers & George C Scott & Sterling Haydenn & Keenan Wynn & Slim Pickens & Peter Bull & James Earl Jones & Tracy Reed & Shane Rimmer et al, director Stanley Kubric, names imprinted on nuclear bombs
I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. ibid. Jack Ripper
Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said? He said, ‘War is too important to be left to the generals.’ When he said that, fifty years ago, he may have been right. But now war is too important to be left to the politicians. They have neither the time nor inclination for strategic thought. ibid.
Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the war room. ibid. president
Good, then. Well then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. Good. Well, it’s good that you’re fine, and – and I’m fine. I agree with you. It’s great to be fine. [laughs] Now then, Dmitri, you know how we’ve always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb. The BOMB, Dmitri. The hydrogen bomb. Well now, what happened is, uh, one of our base commanders, he had a sort of – Well, he went a little funny in the head. You know. Just a little funny. And uh, he went and did a silly thing. ibid. president
It’s a friendly call. Of course it’s a friendly call. Listen, if it wasn’t friendly, you probably wouldn’t have even got it. They will not reach their targets for at least another hour. I am, I am positive, Dmitri. Listen, I’ve been all over this with your Ambassador. It is not a trick. Well, I’ll tell you. We’d like to give your Air Staff a complete rundown on the targets, the flight plans, and the defensive systems of the planes. ibid.
Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American people, than with your image in the history books. ibid. Turgidson
Muffley: How long would you have to stay down there?
Dr Strangelove: Well let’s see now ah ... cobalt thorium G ... Radioactive half-life of uh ... I would think that uh ... possibly uh ... one hundred years. ibid.
Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn’t that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious ... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Russian Ambassador: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor. ibid.
Peace Is Our Profession. ibid. motto of 843th Bomb Wing Strategic Command
This is the game, Rab, eh? A picnic by a nuclear reactor. It’s just like the tele, I’d say – a fun day for all the family. Rab C Nesbitt