Atomic Energy: An International Responsibility

Abstract

THE announcement by President Truman on August 6 that the United States Air Forces have used an ‘atomic bomb’ against the Japanese army base at Hiroshima was accompanied by the issue by the Prime Minister of a statement prepared by Mr. Winston Churchill some time ago on the history of the plans made in connexion with this project. The early stages of the research work involved were carried out mainly in the universities of Britain, particularly at Oxford, Cambridge, the Imperial College of Science, and Technology, Liverpool and Birmingham. The Ministry of Aircraft Production was responsible for the work, being advised by a committee of scientific men. In 1941 the project was brought before the Chiefs of Staff Committee, which gave it the maximum priority.