Conant May Testify at Hearings; 9 Scientists Support Oppenheimer

J. Robert Oppenheimer '26 was a loyal and great American when he directed the development of the atomic bomb, three University professors who worked on the bomb project declared Sunday in the New York Times.

"It was clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dr. Oppenheimer's only concern was the welfare and the security of the United States," the three scientists asserted. "America can ill afford to dispense with the services of such a man."

Those who made the statement which was in the form of a letter to the editor were: Kenneth T. Bainbridge, professor of Physics; Francis Birch '24, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology; and George B. Kistiakowsky, Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry.

Six M.I.T. Men Sign

Six M.I.T. physicists who also served on the Los Alamos staff joined the Harvard professors in signing the letter.

Bainbridge's job at the Los Alamos project, of which Oppenheimer was over-all scientific director, was to supervise the first actual test of the new weapon. From February, 1944, to September, 1945, he directed the preparations and the subsequent calculations for the first atomic explosion which took place on July 16, 1945.

Kistiakowsky, along with another scientist at Los Alamos, was in charge of the final assembly of the bomb before the test. He and Bainbridge were the last men to inspect the weapon before it was detonated.

David H. Frisch, assistant professor of Physics at M.I.T. and one of the signers of the Times letter, said last night that Oppenheimer impressed him at Los Alamos as slightly conservative. "We young scientists were all for international control of atomic energy," Frisch recalled, "and Oppy struck us as being exceptionally cautious on the subject of trusting Russia."