Oppenheimer's associate. How a Ukrainian solved the problem of the explosion of the first atomic bomb and then fought to limit nuclear weapons

November 19, 23:14 NV Premium Share:

Professor Georgy (George) Kistyakovsky returned to Harvard after the Manhattan project and headed the chemistry department there.. Photo circa 1947 (Photo: manhattanprojectvoices.org)

Thanks to the Ukrainian Georgy Kistyakovsky, the United States was the first in the world to create an atomic bomb. He served on the teams of three American presidents as a security adviser and fought the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction while teaching at Harvard.

“ Don't eat these buns! They are poison. Don't eat them! – American saboteur agent Frank Gleason recalled how he instructed Chinese cooks in Hong Kong in early 1943 – One of them thought: “These damned Yankees just want these baked goods for themselves!” He broke my ban and ate one cupcake and almost died.”

The sorcerer's workshop: Georgy Kistyakovsky in the Harvard chemical laboratory, March 1963 / Photo: Alfred Eisenstaedt / Time via LIFE Photo Collection

It was then that the Americans began supplying flour from the then famous Aunt Jamima brand to Japanese-occupied Hong Kong.. It was intended for Chinese partisans. When the invader patrols checked this raw material for bakeries, it was actually possible to whip up a pancake from it. But even the carriers themselves did not know that this flour was mixed with octogen – a powerful but non-toxic explosive. And a detonator inserted into a loaf of bread baked from such a mixture turned it into a bomb.

Georgiy Kistyakovsky, a chemist professor from Ukraine, came up with this idea in the laboratories of Harvard University.. Even before the United States entered World War II, this native of Boyarka headed one of the government programs to improve explosives.

Read also:
2 million Poles were supposed to die. What kind of war with NATO was the Kremlin preparing for in 1983 and what lengths was it ready to go to destroy the enemy?

And in the summer of 1943, the Manhattan Project, which, under the leadership of Robert Oppenheimer, conjured the creation of an atomic bomb, reached a dead end. If at the theoretical level the program manager had no equal, then he did not immediately think about putting his ideas into practice. Therefore, an acute problem arose: how the bomb should detonate.

In the project, two scientists dealt with this issue – Seth Neddermeier and Dick Parsons, who were at enmity with each other. Oppenheimer began looking for more experienced specialists. Georgiy ( George) Kistiakowski was a godsend for Manhattan.

At first, the Harvard professor was reluctant to accept the invitation: “To a certain extent,” he recalled, “because I did not believe in the bomb being ready in time, but was interested in the fact that my efforts in the university laboratories would help win the war.”. However, in October 1943, he agreed to come to Los Alamos, a town in New Mexico, where Manhattan scientists worked, as a consultant. Provided that they keep his Harvard salary, and most importantly, they allow his daughter Vera to live with him at a secret facility, and even attend the nearest college.

I am not russian. I am Ukrainian. It's like asking a Scot if he's English.

Georgy Kistyakovsky

The authorities allowed the brothers to rule the streets. Who covers them – Oleg Simoroz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMjPYNueGk

Read about it in the new issue of NV, available here