[DentsRun]

We know from Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" that several of the physicists involved in the project resisted the bomb's use on Japan. As Jews and European refugees, they had been motivated to develop the bomb so it could be used on Hitler's Germany. They had no wish to unleash havoc on a country against whom they held no personal animus.

Who were the physicists who didn't want the bomb used on Japan?

[okie01]

"Who were the physicists who didn't want the bomb used on Japan?"

My copy of Rhodes' book is in storage. But, as I recall, Leo Szilard, the Hungarian physicist who had been a leading light in developing the theory, left the project because of the decision to use it on Japan.

There were several others who objected, but Szilard was the only one who had the courage of his convictions.

Several of these same physicists subsequently refused to work with Edward Teller, another Hungarian physicist, on the H-bomb.

[IncPen]

Who were the physicists who didn't want the bomb used on Japan?

Robert Oppenheimer was said to have remarked, on witnessing the first atomic explosion, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"(quoting the Bhagavad Gita).

I don't recall reading that Oppenheimer was against the initial use of the bomb, but he was suspected and the target of McCarthy's squad for his comments after the war.

As a side note, I recommend Richard Feynman's excellent book "Surely you Must Be Joking Mr. Feynman", a serious/whimsical memoir of the time building the bomb at Los Alamos.

[Petronski]

The Chicago group, headed by Fermi, wanted a 'demonstration' before use. Szilard was convinced that even a test would introduce an arms race by proving to the Soviets that the weapon was possible.

Of course, the Soviets were by the time of the test, and well aware that detonation of the device was possible, thanks in part to the treason of Klaus Fuchs.