DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Burlington Atomic Energy Week, 1947 | 1947-10-24 Burlington Hawk-eye Gazette Article: ""Thinking Out Loud: What of Atomic Energy?""

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Burlington Atomic Energy Week, 1947

1947-10-24 Burlington Hawk-eye Gazette Article: ""Thinking Out Loud: What of Atomic Energy?""

4 Burlington Ia., Hawk Eye Gazette... Fri , Oct 24, 1947

Thinking Out Loud
WHAT OF ATOMIC ENERGY?

On a bright day in the late summer of 1945, a United States bombing plane winged over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2 of Japan's major cities and war centers. 
A missile was dropped on each and at that moment the whole phase of history was changed. Everything that man kind had known prior to that moment became affected by this act. 
That was the first atomic bomb ever developed and used by a world power. The devastating effect which those atomic bombs had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki shocked the world, brought Japan to almost immediate surrender. 
We hailed it as a great instrument of warfare giving the United States a most decided advantage. "Now we have nothing to fear from any other power since we have this mighty weapon", some said. 
But we reckoned without thinking. What assurance has any country that another does not know its most guarded secrets or that its scientists have not been as alert as ours? Who knows today what atomic secrets have leaked out or been stolen from our laboratories? It is commonly known that spies are abroad all the time. We have our own observers scattered everywhere. So have other countries. 
As far as is known, nobody else has tapped the atom's secret, but our forces in Japan discovered cyclotrons that proved beyond a doubt that Japanese scientists were engaged in the same pursuit as ours. So are the Russians. There may be others. 
None of us knows much about atomic energy, what it is, how it is generated or controlled. All of us know what appalling things can happen when it is employed... whole cities wrecked in a single flash... thousands killed...other thousands for miles around affected by the powerful rays of radioactivity a single bomb can generate. Plutonium and uranium are just names, to most of us, to be conjured with by chemists, physicists and metallurgists. They are beyond comprehension to the average layman who can only ask "If atomic energy is of such vital use in warfare, why cannot it be harnessed and developed as beneficially for peacetime pursuits?"
That's the question everybody is asking.... "can't we live at peace in an age of atomic energy at least as well as we have in the progressive ages of gunpowder airplanes, long range guns, guided missiles and other implements that man also uses for war?"
An attempt to bring atomic energy down to a level of more general understanding is to be undertaken in Burlington this coming week, beginning Sunday. There will be explanatory lectures by competent authority. Various phases of this new power will be explained. Obviously, the public cannot be taken behind the scenes to inspect secret formulas but the public can be given a much needed appreciation of what this force is and what it can be made to do. 
It is our conception of the proposed program that it would be worse than foolhardy simply to set up thee atomic bomb as the arch enemy of all mankind and of every living thing. Sure it can be a deadly missile but cannot the same scientists who produced it for war tell us how to us it for peaceful pursuits? If only mass hysteria is to be furthered, the whole program is wrong. If we are going to tell our people they can expect an atom bomb in the middle of Jefferson street at any moment, no purpose will have been served because it seems this force it virtually inescapable. There is little we can do about it. Before we start wholesale construction of bomb shelters such as that undertaken by the Chicago Tribune, let us explore other fields to the limit. 
It is well for the public to know more about atomic energy that it now knows. there is already too much hysteria due to lack of knowledge. We want to cooperate to the fullest in helping disseminate constructive, useful and wholesome information on the subject. But let's not scare the people to death by holding this bogey before them, with nothing offered as an alternative or panacea.
The only panacea lies in better world understanding, a more forceful United Nations or whatever they may want to call a congress of nations morally obligated to strive for universal peace. When such can come about, if ever, then atomic energy will be as docile and tractable as any of the other forces science has produced. 
Every citizen, however, who takes pride in his citizenship should make an attempt to share in the meetings to be held here next week.

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4 Burlington Ia., Hawk Eye Gazette... Fri , Oct 24, 1947 Thinking Out Loud WHAT OF ATOMIC ENERGY? On a bright day in the late summer of 1945, a United States bombing plane winged over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2 of Japan's major cities and war centers. A missile was dropped on each and at that moment the whole phase of history was changed. Everything that man kind had known prior to that moment became affected by this act. That was the first atomic bomb ever developed and used by a world power. The devastating effect which those atomic bombs had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki shocked the world, brought Japan to almost immediate surrender. We hailed it as a great instrument of warfare giving the United States a most decided advantage. "Now we have nothing to fear from any other power since we have this mighty weapon", some said. But we reckoned without thinking. What assurance has any country that another does not know its most guarded secrets or that its scientists have not been as alert as ours? Who knows today what atomic secrets have leaked out or been stolen from our laboratories? It is commonly known that spies are abroad all the time. We have our own observers scattered everywhere. So have other countries. As far as is known, nobody else has tapped the atom's secret, but our forces in Japan discovered cyclotrons that proved beyond a doubt that Japanese scientists were engaged in the same pursuit as ours. So are the Russians. There may be others. None of us knows much about atomic energy, what it is, how it is generated or controlled. All of us know what appalling things can happen when it is employed... whole cities wrecked in a single flash... thousands killed...other thousands for miles around affected by the powerful rays of radioactivity a single bomb can generate. Plutonium and uranium are just names, to most of us, to be conjured with by chemists, physicists and metallurgists. They are beyond comprehension to the average layman who can only ask "If atomic energy is of such vital use in warfare, why cannot it be harnessed and developed as beneficially for peacetime pursuits?" That's the question everybody is asking.... "can't we live at peace in an age of atomic energy at least as well as we have in the progressive ages of gunpowder airplanes, long range guns, guided missiles and other implements that man also uses for war?" An attempt to bring atomic energy down to a level of more general understanding is to be undertaken in Burlington this coming week, beginning Sunday. There will be explanatory lectures by competent authority. Various phases of this new power will be explained. Obviously, the public cannot be taken behind the scenes to inspect secret formulas but the public can be given a much needed appreciation of what this force is and what it can be made to do. It is our conception of the proposed program that it would be worse than foolhardy simply to set up thee atomic bomb as the arch enemy of all mankind and of every living thing. Sure it can be a deadly missile but cannot the same scientists who produced it for war tell us how to us it for peaceful pursuits? If only mass hysteria is to be furthered, the whole program is wrong. If we are going to tell our people they can expect an atom bomb in the middle of Jefferson street at any moment, no purpose will have been served because it seems this force it virtually inescapable. There is little we can do about it. Before we start wholesale construction of bomb shelters such as that undertaken by the Chicago Tribune, let us explore other fields to the limit. It is well for the public to know more about atomic energy that it now knows. there is already too much hysteria due to lack of knowledge. We want to cooperate to the fullest in helping disseminate constructive, useful and wholesome information on the subject. But let's not scare the people to death by holding this bogey before them, with nothing offered as an alternative or panacea. The only panacea lies in better world understanding, a more forceful United Nations or whatever they may want to call a congress of nations morally obligated to strive for universal peace. When such can come about, if ever, then atomic energy will be as docile and tractable as any of the other forces science has produced. Every citizen, however, who takes pride in his citizenship should make an attempt to share in the meetings to be held here next week.