2019 Physics/Theoretical Colloquium
 
Thursday, September 19th , 2019
3:45 – 4:45 p.m.
Rosen Auditorium (TA-53, Bldg. 001)
 
 
Refreshments at 3:15pm
 
Speaker:   Prof. Charles Clark
Joint Quantum Institute- University of Maryland-National Institute of Standards and Technology
 
 
“Old Deuteronomy”
Abstract: 
 
In this 50th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 mission, it is timely to look back upon the great adventure that preceded it: the Manhattan Project. The deep connection between these enterprises has recently been highlighted by Douglas Brinkley [1]. I approach this story via a seeming backwater: the early history of deuterium. That tale shows an amazing interplay of atomic, chemical, low-temperature and nuclear physics in the years leading up to World War II. An epic account is that of the late Per Dahl [2], which combines ripping yarns with excellent tutorials on nuclear physics; just this year, striking new insights on the deuterium-based Nazi atomic bomb project were revealed by Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hebbert [3]. I add illustrations from documentary and material archives of my employer, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where deuterium was first isolated [4,5]. These shed light on early collaboration between NIST and Los Alamos National Laboratory in the development of thermonuclear weapons.

[1] American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, Douglas Brinkley (Harper Collins, New York 2019)
[2]  Heavy water and the wartime race for nuclear energy, Per Dahl (Institute of Physics, Bristol 1999)
[3] Tracking the journey of a uranium cube, Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hebert, Physics Today 72, 5, 36 (May 2019)
[4] Light, Atoms and Nuclei: The Optical Discovery of Deuterium, Charles W. Clark and Joseph Reader, Optics and Photonics News 23, 5, 36 (May 2012)
[5]1932, a Watershed Year in Nuclear Physics, Joseph Reader and Charles W. Clark, Physics Today 66, 3, 44 (March 2013)