The Ultimate Battle: Scientists as Political Activists Before, During, and After the Creation of the Atomic Bomb

Abstract

Debates around science and morality have been going on for centuries. The question of whether scientists and engineers should think about moral questions related to their work can be found at the heart of many current news stories. For example, in March of 2018, a computer engineer who created an Artificial Intelligence algorithm to track gang crimes responded to the question, "What about the ethical implications?" with "I'm just an engineer". If it is not the engineer's job to think about the ethical implications of their work, then who should question these things? Furthermore, what happens when scientists and engineers speak up? Does anyone listen to them? The creation of the atomic bomb tested the concept of scientists as political activists. Scientists appealed to the government before, during, and after the creation of the atomic bomb to try to get their opinions heard. They were the ones who initially pushed the government to invest in atomic bomb research and were also the ones to adamantly oppose the use of the bomb against Japan. However, the atomic bomb scientists were largely ineffective in the political arena due to their lack of understanding of power politics and the nature of war. Their political naiveté prevented them from ever having a chance at influencing the government's decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan. It is important to distinguish what I refer to as "scientists" from "scientific administrators". During the Manhattan Project, several high-level scientists held positions of influence within the government. However, these scientists were very distant from the actual work going on in the Manhattan Project laboratories. In this section, I will give examples of some of these scientists and classify them as "scientific administrators" who are separate from the politically inept scientists working in the laboratories.