Atomic Scientists of Chicago

The Atomic Scientists of Chicago (ASC) was founded in September 1945 at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago to address the moral and social responsibilities of scientists regarding the use of nuclear energy and to promote public awareness of its possible consequences. Members included J.A. Simpson, Jr., Kenneth Cole, Farrington Daniels, James Franck, Lester Guttman, Thorfin Hogness, Robert Mulliken, Glenn Seaborg, Leo Szilard, Harold Urey, and Walter Zinn. ASC sponsored conferences, lobbied for policies and in December 1945 began publishing the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, was first published in December 1945. The purpose of the publication was to explore, clarify, and formulate the opinion and responsibilities of scientists regarding nuclear energy and to educate the public about the scientific, technological, and social problems arising from the release of nuclear energy.

The Atomic Scientists were a combination of scientific groups which included the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, Federation of American Scientists, Society for Social Responsibility in Science, Council for a Livable World, and the Committee for Nuclear Information.

The Atomic Scientists of Chicago was founded on September 26, 1945, by the scientific employees of the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago, and was made open to any past or present scientific employee of the Manhattan Project. Work on some aspect of the bomb was a requisite for membership. The ASC was established to educate the public and the government in the political, social, and international implications attending the national and international development and exploitation of atomic energy. The constitution, adopted on October 30, 1945, defined the aims of the organization as, “to explore, clarify and formulate the opinion and responsibilities of scientists in regard to the problems brought about by the release of nuclear energy,…and to educate the public to a full understanding of the scientific, technological and social problems arising from the release of nuclear energy.”

ASC’s membership consisted of approximately two hundred, or almost ninety percent, of the University of Chicago’s scientists who had participated in the development of the bomb during the war years--coinciding with the Manhattan Project. Including such noted scientists as Harold Urey, Leo Szilard, Harrison Brown, Thorfin Hogness, and John Simpson. By December 1945 the body had been incorporated in Illinois as a non-profit organization, and had affiliated with the Federation of American Scientists.

On December 10, 1945, the first issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a six-page periodical that was to grow into one of about fifty pages, appeared. The original executive committee was headed by J.A. Simpson, Jr., and the advisory committee was composed of Thorfin Hogness, chairman, Kenneth C. Cole, Farrington Daniels, James Franck, Robert S. Mulliken, Glenn T. Seaborg, Harold C. Urey and Walter H. Zinn. The staff was comprised of H.H. Goldsmith, secretary to the Executive Committee; L.C. Furney, treasurer; and Mrs. R. Adams, secretary.

In November 1945, a University Office of Inquiry into the Social Aspects of Atomic Energy was formed under University auspices as a companion organization to the Atomic Scientists of Chicago. This latter organization embraced the entire University, and its program and methods closely paralleled that of ASC.

The leading members of the Office of Inquiry were Professors E.A. Shils, Robert Redfield, Leo Szilard, T.W. Schultz, Jacob Marschak, Fred Eggan and Jacob Viner. The Office of Inquiry, though technically a separate organization, and open to those not qualified for membership in ASC, co-operated closely with ASC, especially on Bulletin articles and editorials, and on contacts and legislative agitation. As a result, some of its papers and correspondence, especially that of Robert Redfield, are incorporated in this collection.

In April 1949, a reorganization of ASC occurred. The Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science was incorporated under an Illinois charter as a non-profit educational organization with the sole function of publishing the Bulletin, hitherto published by ASC. The ASC continued as a separate organization, engaging in education and propaganda activities, as before, but with increased attention to political action. Its membership, resources and activities achieved a peak in the period of 1946 to 1947, subsequently undergoing a sharp decline, coincident with the decline in public interest over atomic energy problems. Again, in 1954, there was renewed interest in the organization, due to the threat scientist’s saw in “McCarthism” and the Oppenheimer Case. A further decline of ASC membership and activities led the organization, in February 1959, to propose that the Atomic Scientists of Chicago be disbanded. The proposal also suggested that their remaining funds be turned over to a new organization, the Atomic Science Fund, which was to be incorporated as a non-profit, educational body, devoted exclusively to organizing and conducting scientific conferences on atomic energy.

The ASC had conducted three conferences in Chicago (September and December 1945, and February 1946), and three abroad (Pugwash, N.S., 1957; La Beauport, Canada, 1958; and Vienna and Kitzbuhel, Austria, 1958). By re-incorporation, it was hoped that the group might obtain the tax exemption which it was not allowed under its original charter, inasmuch as it was then a political action group. The proposal from February 1959 was abandoned and a meeting was called in June 1959 to decide the future of the ASC.

The Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab) was located at the University of Chicago. It was here that scientists were recruited to work on the theoretical aspects of building the atomic bomb. In 1945, months after the bombing of Hiroshima, about 90% (approximately 200) of Met Lab's scientists reorganized as the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, Inc. and began to publish the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in an effort to influence government policy and to educate the general public regarding atomic energy and the atomic bomb.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists initiated publication December 10, 1945, with the purpose as defined in their constitution:

1. to explore, clarify, and formulate the opinion and responsibilities of scientists in regard to the problems brought about by the release of nuclear energy, and 2. to educate the public to a full understanding of the scientific, technological and social problems arising from the release of nuclear energy.