PROF. BRIDGMAN ASKS AGREEMENT ON BOMB

The SRO sign was hanging out at the New Lecture Hall last night as a curious group of the Faculty, students and Cantabrigians assembled to find out more about the atomic bomb, and its implications to those who created it.

"The basic principles of the bomb are known to research scientists all over the world," declared Wendell H. Furry, associate professor of Physics. "There is no secret of the atomic bomb, no one fact that could facilitate its duplication," he said.

Commenting on the economic and social implications of the bomb, Percy W. Bridgman, Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, pointed out that "the responsibility for this weapon falls upon the shoulders of the government and people who called for its creation, not upon the scientist."

He stressed the fact that the withholding of our knowledge of the atomic bomb fosters ill will which cannot be risked when we realize the potentialities of the invention.

Placing emphasis on the United States position of leadership in this line of research, Professor Bridgman recommended that "the bomb be turned over to an international control group involving mutual trust among nations." He forecast the end of nationalities and a society in which nations must band together in the preservation of mankind.

"Countries, particularly Russia," he said, "must open their borders to inspection by this international group, and must give their word of honor not to pursue investigations along these lines without informing the rest of the world."

Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, in summing up the discussion, reaffirmed Professor Bridgman's position, declaring that "the raw materials needed for the atomic bomb's manufacture are so widely distributed that control at the production stage rather than in the laboratory is absolutely necessary. It is either one world or no world at all," he concluded.