Description

T he story of the atomic bomb begins in a setting
as unlikely as any: a man standing at the corner
of an intersection, waiting for the traffic light
to change. The man was Hungarian-born physicist Dr. Leo
Szilard. The place was Southampton Row, in London, England.
The time was September 1933. It was while on one of
his frequent, ambling walks that Szilard envisioned an atomic
chain reaction much like a series of traffic lights all changing
to green in rapid sequence, allowing traffic to flow again.
Szilard had a playful mind, and thoughts such as these served
as both stimuli and entertainment.