Klaus Fuchs | The 'Atomic Spy' on Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- 'Klaus Fuchs | The 'Atomic Spy' on Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project'
While Robert Oppenheimer and his team of scientists were developing the first atomic bomb in the Los Alamos desert, there was a spy among them, passing vital atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Mark Dunton, Contemporary Records Specialist at The National Archives, explores some of the detailed MI5 files on Klaus Fuchs that we hold in our collection. Fuchs was a brilliant physicist, who played a significant role in the Manhattan Project, but all the while passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. With Christopher Nolan’s new film ‘Oppenheimer’ in cinemas, we’ve taken the opportunity to tell the real story of Klaus Fuchs, the ‘atomic spy.’
To hear more about Klaus Fuchs, you can listen to our podcast about him here: media.national...
To read the rich and detailed files for yourself, take a look at our collection: discovery.nati...
Documents used:
KV 6/134: discovery.nati...
KV 2/1258: discovery.nati...
Images:
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, atomic physicist and head of the Manhattan Project, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration / Wikimedia Commons
Klaus Fuchs, atom spy / images.nationa...
Berlin, Karl-Liebknecht-Haus am Tag der Reichstagswahl, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-09424-0006 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Klaus Fuchs, British internment card / images.nationa...
The gadget in the Trinity Test Site tower (1945), Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy / Wikimedia Commons
Klaus Fuchs security pass photo / images.nationa...
Fuller Lodge at Los Alamos / U.S. Department of Energy / Wikimedia Commons
Trinity Test - 100 Ton Test / U.S. Department of Energy / Wikimedia Commons
'Trinity' explosion at Los Alamos, Alamogordo, New Mexico. July 16, 1945. Photograph taken 9 seconds after the initial Trinity detonation shows the Mushroom cloud. / The Official CTBTO Photostream / Wikimedia Commons
#oppenheimer #history #ww2 #spy
Although Klaus Fuchs was passing secrets to the Russians, as he was working on the British atomic bomb project he also passed what he learnt on the Manhattan project to the British Atomic bomb project…
I hope I'm forgiven if I'm mistaken by all this. However, your statement on it's face is rather confusing. You state that Klaus passed along secrets to the British. Well, the British were already involved completely. They were invited by Oppy and Grove's. It was the British scientists who managed the explosive part of the bomb. The Americans under Oppenheimer couldn't get the compression right in the "gadget". It usually exploded as a dude. In fact it was a British Science Fiction writer, H.G. Wells who first described the power of the atom and what it could do. Also, Fuchs was a British citizen. So, in essence he couldn't pass along secrets to Britain, they already were involved.
talk about a double agent
The Manhattan project was a joint collaboration between the USA, UK, and Canada
dude was just passing notes to his friends
The other way around lol. He worked on the British project first, then Britain collaborated with America and sent him to the Manhattan project. If anything, he used his knowledge from the British project to aid the Manhattan project.
British gave him a slap on the wrist and sent him to East Germany.
What's wrong with East Germany? It at least got rid of Nazis, unlike the West.
Problem was Russia and the US were allies during wartime. The people Oppenheimer mingled with before the war were communists, including his brother, so Fuchs was always seen as a friend
In this case the problem was that the UK and the US were allies. Fuchs came to the US from the UK and he returned there after the war.
In addition Russia was not a US ally during the war but the USSR was. It is important to know who our allies and opponents actualy were!
Yes, but when push came to shove, Oppenheimer kept his mouth shut about nuclear secrets when around Communists. Fuchs couldn't wait to open his.
That is not consensus, some in the US Government did NOT consider Russia as a trusted ally. This does not justify Fuchs as being a traitor.
@@joey6818 Russia was not an ally, trusted or otherwise, during the second world war.
Why is this a problem? The stupid anticommunism fanaticism of the USA continued for so many decades. It seemed not to care about Nazism (notice it still supporting Ukraine now!) while the USSR defeated the Nazis.
[in the] book, “Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West,” other spies at Los Alamos included a prodigious scientist, Theodore “Ted” Hall (code name MLAD, or “Young”); Julius Rosenberg (code name ANTENNA, later LIBERAL); David Greenglass (BUMBLEBEE, CALIBER). Other Soviet spies, like the British scientist Alan Nunn May, worked in other parts of the Manhattan Project.
Generally speaking, it's not a good idea to give someone like Josef Stalin the atomic bomb.
Same can be said of the Americans. They were, after all, the ones that used it.
Better than hitler
@@VSDawsonstop pretending context doesn’t matter
It was actually the single most important act of the 20th century. Without it, unchecked and untold horror would occur. This is no more clearer than when the US was considering using nukes against China in the Korean War, but ultimately didn’t due to the Soviets having the nuke. It’s sadly only through the principle of M.A.D that was able to be keep all parties at bay when consideration of such heinous yet powerful weapons
while itd be nice it the weapon didnt exist.
the thing is it exists now and it IS better for the world to be in possession of it among multiple nations.The world and history is proving Klaus Fuchs, made the right call.
we see throughout history what happens when a nation lacks nuclear weapons, wether because they didnt aquire them or because they gave them up.
their nation is invaded and brutalised, and th eU.S is just as if not more guilty of this fact then anyone else.
We even see now, the consequences as Russia (Nuclear Armed) has invaded Ukraine (not Nuclear Armed) guarentee if Ukraine got possession of nuclear weapons, russia would instantly back off. knowing full well what would befall them if they continue.
So what many would call a traitor, i call a Hero.
"Fuchs" is German for "fox." Just sayin'.
What does the Fuchs say?
He agrees with me. @@Kenny-the-Platypus
@@Kenny-the-Platypusnein nein nein nien nein na nein
There's something wrong with the UK. There can only be one way to deal with espionage. You know what I mean too.
He should have been disposed of quietly regardless if he was in East Germany
Coined the expression, ‘he Fuchs up.’
That was really interesting. Thanks!
Fuchs was such a nice guy he let inquisitive Richard Feynman use his car on the weekends. What a guy.
Yes, nice guy passing nuclear secrets to Uncle Joe Stalin. What a Mentsch (sarcasm)!
Thanks for sharing this video. I have a natural appetite for studying all eras of History especially revolving around the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s too. Hope you keep the videos rolling! Peace.
The secrets of nuclear fission was public as early as 1938 after Otto Hahn's paper. The rest was an engineering endeavor to enrich Uranium, process Plutonium, and build an ignition mechanism to detonate the device. It was very challenging in 1940s , but history has shown us that no one can prevent others from pursuing the engineering processes that once had been successfully completed.
When something is in the hands of engineers it should be considered common knowledge.
Long time ago I read that someone estimated he cut three or four years off the Soviet nuclear weapons program, not to mention the cost.
How long it took for Soviets to build their own thermonuclear weapon, radar, jet engine, rocket engine and radar guided weapons? Those were top secret technologies in 1945-1955, but nobody could stop Soviets, and nobody could stop China. The only real challenge in implementing a new technology is lack of human resources and money, not blue prints and designs. @@NoahSpurrier
@@JohnMotamed I didn’t say the technology was beyond Soviet capabilities. Fuchs saved the Soviets a great deal of time, human resources, and money in the development of their nuclear weapons program.
You are right. Soviets saved time and money by using the information they obtained from Manhattan project (Fuchs was only one of their resources). @@NoahSpurrier
indeed... it's rather obvious that anything that's a scientific fact can be derived by any other skilled & motivated enterprise and made manifest. the critical aspect is that if one believes they are competing for existence, coming in any position other than first, even by a moment, risks utter destruction.@@NoahSpurrier
"Nobody Fuchs with MI5 for long, son."
-Jim Skardon, probably
The spying that went on between East and West, and in particular the nexus in post-war Brittain, is a remarkably fascinating subject of study for those who consider themselves as a student of the human condition. Kim Philby, in particular, has provided years of interesting research for me. Having been a living rabbit hole, it takes a particularly thorough onion peeling before even beginning to feel as though one has any grasp of what truly motivated the man.
Fucks has been considered the biggest suspect. Oppenheimer was blamed unfortunately for the leaks.
Oppenheimer wasn't unfortuanately blamed.. He was, although guilty himself of making the bomb, staged by the Government bcz of his Anti-Government stance on the Bomb... & bcz his stature was larger than then Govt. Officials & they feared people might accept his views..
Fucks
kinda ironic that Fuchs means fox in german and these guys are known to be liars
Why was he sentenced to prison and the Rosenbergs executed?
He was sentenced in GB, while the Rosenbergs were catched in the USA.
this guy deserves the Nobel peace prize
For what
if this guy didnt Leak the secretes of the atomic bombs to the soviets the us would have bombed any country they want , because of this guy we have a balanced world @@notthistime185
@@notthistime185for stopping the USA from invading the whole world
He put the world in fear over nuclear annihilation and indirectly caused escalation of proxy conflicts around the world that continue to be felt to this day. His choices were more destructive than the atomic bomb.
If anything, he needs the anti Nobel peace prize. 😂
@@Killgore-ip2yq better than zionists disguised as American imperialists controlling the globe.
_And they let him go?_
Probably a patsy.
Well, the Soviets were technically allies in 1944.
Well, treason is still a crime. Information sharing if any should be decided by authorized means, not by spies
Mr. Fuchs saved world. If America only having nuclear bomb then we would be witnessed of more Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Not true america had nukes for almost 4 years before Russia did an never used them on her.
the yapathon of 1776
Dude is yapping alot of bull lol 😊
For the best account on Fuchs' life and activities, I suggest reading the book Trinity by Frank Close(Penguin)
What was the difference between him and the Rosenbergs?
he was a Brit caught before the Red Scare peaked.
He "survived".
They were the fall guy
The British dont believe in Capital Punishment. And they didnt hate the communists like the Americans
Soviets got their bomb from German scientists (Manfred von Ardenne, Nicolaus Riehl and Gustav Hertz) and did not need Klaus Fuchs...After the first successful American nuclear tests and bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, Stalin felt the need to act and urged Soviet scientists to develop an atomic bomb as well. But the project stalled. When a Chinese delegation visited Moscow in July 1949, Stalin showed them a film allegedly depicting the first Soviet nuclear test a few weeks before it took place. But where did this film come from? Where did the test take place?
"Atomic Film"
Delays in creating the bomb disrupted Stalin's foreign policy plans. A few months earlier, Stalin had received from his personal envoy to Mao Zedong, Ivan Kovalev, that the Chinese communists had discovered a secret American plan at Chiang Kai-shei headquarters. Accordingly, the Americans were preparing for World War III. Together with the national Chinese and Japanese, they intend to use atomic bombs to crush the People's Liberation Army of China. Stalin made it clear to Kovalev that the United States was not yet ready for a great war.
On July 9, the first reception of the Chinese delegation led by the second highest party figure Liu Shaochi was held at Stalin's dacha. The second conversation, which is of particular interest to us, began on the evening of July 11 in the Kremlin. Liu Shaochi asked Stalin if he wanted to help the People's Liberation Army land in Taiwan. Stalin denied it. Liu then raised the question of how great Stalin considered the danger of World War III. The dictator acted calmly. The “imperialists” are not yet sufficiently armed to resist the Soviet Union at any moment.
Liu then asked permission to visit Soviet nuclear laboratories. This request was no doubt agreed with Mao, who was familiar with and interested in nuclear weapons. Mao kept his intentions secret from the public, calling the atomic bombs "paper tigers". However, Stalin did not want to show the guests the nuclear laboratories and instead invited them to watch the film. An atomic bomb exploded. The tests, as Stalin Liu said, took place in the far north of the Soviet Union, in a deserted area near the Arctic Circle.
Strangely enough, the screening of the film took place a few weeks before August 29, 1949, the first successful Soviet atomic bomb test in Semipalatinsk. Two key actors independently confirmed the fact of the film: Kovalev, Stalin's expert on China, reported it in his memoirs, as did Shi Zhe, Mao's translator.
What drove Stalin to this bluff? His attempt to oust the Western Powers from West Berlin failed. Worse, the Berlin crisis contributed to the merger of many Western European countries and the United States into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949. America's nuclear arsenal, though small, was growing, and the Soviet Union did not yet have an atomic bomb. In Europe, Stalin was on the defensive. His attention, therefore, more than ever, was focused on Asia, where the centre of the world’s revolutionary movement had moved. Despite some reservations about Mao, Stalin saw the Chinese Communists as strategic allies. It must therefore be important for him to look as strong as possible. Nothing could illustrate this better than possessing an atomic bomb.
German film?
My guess is going in a different direction. Perhaps the film was found somewhere in Germany after the end of the war. What at first sounds like a wild conspiracy thesis is confirmed by documents I found in the inventory of sources of the archive of modern Russian history in Moscow, which lists hundreds of files of German mining. In addition to the files, films were also recorded. Most of them were rocket launches. The contents of one roll of film are described as follows: "The film about the launch of Fau-2 and the detonation of an atomic bomb". This designation of the name appears to have been literally translated from the German film into Russian.
The film was handed over to the vice-chairman of the Special Committee on Missile Construction (Committee No. 2) Ivan Grigorievich Zubovich in May 1946. There is no way to prove whether these are indeed recordings of a nuclear fission bomb test. They are more likely to test a hybrid bomb consisting of a large amount of explosives and a small amount of fissionable and thermonuclear material. Only the original films or other archival materials that have not yet been discovered can provide information about this.
Democrat revision history
no real history basing on facts@@tomhenry897
Imo he did a great job balancing out the power. No one should have a monopoly on anything.
Even though espionage is generally a bad thing, I think we can agree that it is so much better that there isn't a monopoly of nuclear weapons. That would be catastrophic.
I guess that's what his motivation was.
I don’t think the US would have had an monopoly on atomic weapons. The scientists knew about it, the scientific community knew about it, and physicists all over the world were trying to figure it out. Just as Trueman thought that Russia was never going to get the bomb, that was obviously incorrect. It only took them 4 years after the US had theirs. Sure, he may have shaved off a few years, but the cat was out of the bag once the paper that Fermi and Einstein was published in 39’.
Simon ‘s point is well taken but with spies so well intertwined into the societies in which they work it seems an impossible task to make them and their political feelings open to the masses. How do we assess whether they are right or wrong? It’s a very daunting task. Can we say without question whether they are right or wrong?
FBI fault!
J.Edgar was to busy dressing like a women and feeling pretty!
You who barely alive are trying to understand the eyes of another ……please dont go off just the facts …..thats all you can do well
TH-cam censorship is a joke!
Anglo colony gaza Nasi Bank 😂
Was für ein Fuchs
Need to add Oppenheimers wife and girl friend
Oppie told Tatlock nothing..... And because of her high profile and years of hearings, I doubt they had anything on Oppenheimer's wife.
Be careful not to mispronounce his last name
No scientific discovery or invention should ever be privatised, monatised or nationalised. Science and all of the universe’s secrets belong to all of mankind…
Patents offer inventers a government-protected monopoly on their ideas, but for only a short period of time. And they have to disclose the inventions in public documents. Works extremely well. The poorest American today receives better health care for free than was available to the richest American a century ago at any price. That's market capitalism.
Uh huh. Let’s spend billions researching and developing drugs, hybrid seeds, fusion, etc., and then tell China how it was done so they can use it for “mankind”.
The Day The Earth Stood Still was a great fable. I suspect mankind's inability to manage its own affairs is why appeal to Aliens, AI & the return of Jesus is all the rage.
@@grumpy9478 Jesus is coming and boy is he pissed.
far too late to the job... he's fired.@@crimony3054
I am 91. I was about 13 yo at the end of WW2. I see the role of Klaus Fuchs differently now than I did back then.
Since the end of WW2, the Presidents and congresses of my country, the USA, have behaved as aggressive war criminals worldwide. The rulers of my country, an imperial, militarized oligarchy, have replaced democratic, legally elected governments with ruthless dictators in, for example, Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Chile (1972), and in many other countries. It has sent arms to regimes so that they could exterminate their own native populations: Indonesia under Sukarno, and many regimes in Central America. It has committed aggression in many countries, e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria. The list of USA's war crimes is too long for me to offer here. The USA is now engaged in a war against Russia, using Ukraine as a proxy. That war began in 2014, when the neutral government of Ukraine was toppled by a USA coup in favor of a fascist regime in Kiev that would sacrifice Ukrainian lives to try to weaken Russia.
I now realize, as I did not at the time Klaus Fuchs was discovered to be an "atomic spy", that if the USA had been the world's only nuclear power, it would have been even more criminally aggressive than it has been.
Da comrade
Thank you. I’m 65, and each day grow more weary and disgusted with US government’s actions. War Mongers for $ profit. Disgusting.
your pov is named "presentism" by historians. on a personal level, it is a type of "near / far" problem... one is most sensitive to that which is closest to them. I sympathize w/ your outlook. I wonder how things would look had you (or anyone, including myself) lived their life in the SU or China. being the global hegemon is a heavy load. it may dissolve any nation that wears the crown. however, America's self-righteousness & hypocrisy (excused as youthful hubris or an article of faith?) is a flaw if not resolved may indeed be the disease that ruins the American Experiment.
I wish more Americans were as unbiased and open to interpretations of this. It's quite eye opening once you realize your own country aren't the actual good guys as we may have thought. In fact we are in a very gray area.
Such a power in the hands of a agressive country! 😢
All spy’s should suffer the same fate, they should be X’ed!
Including the ones for your country?
How stupid could they be, hiring a German Scientist for something so vital to the war effort.
Most of the scientists were European
USA not exactly an intellectual powerhouse before the war.
We had enough good Scientists at our Ivy League Universities to run one project.@@mvonwalter6927
@@mvonwalter6927 Not much has changed since.
It just demonstrated how weak the west was for his crimes he should never have been able to leave prison alive.
A hero to us in Russia..... We in the intellectual community will not forget him.
A hero to others as well.
America got fuched!
Oppenheimer was not the father of the Atomic Bomb. Please correct your history.
real hero😎😎
Klaus Fuchs looks like John Mulaney 😂
Few details if he babysat where are they asking about his parents and siblings at work and cross checking that he wasn't British s Man and or was he a Nai. and or could you have been more. ... INCLUSIVE OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY BARRISTER ROBERT. DOC. ITALIAN LAW N LAWRENCE WITH OTHERS LESLIE FOR UK N STRAUSS
Yes it’s well known
… deeply religious - roman catholic? lutheran? mennonite? So, ethical - is that what you mean by saying that? …
Lutheran. His father was a pastor.
A 🐁 story
He was never a spy
Thank god for Klaus Fuchs
All Europeans are brothers, as Americans like to say when they leave the western hemisphere. The Soviet nuclear weapons program started in 1936 and lasted till 1945, and building of the atom bomb were delayed by a few dissident scientist there. The drawings of the Soviet atom bomb were smuggled to the White House itself by 1941 or 1942. The drawings of the atom bomb, along with air blast calculations and materials lists were ready by 1941 at the Soviet nuclear weapons research center. Soviet Union had the best nuclear scientists, with a human tough and humane mentality. At the time the focus of the United States was in radio waves. So, right after the Soviet drawings of the atom bomb and air blast calculations were smuggled to the office of President Roosevelt, President Roosevelt initially put together a rag tag team with G. Marconi, the inventor of the radio, in charge of the American nuclear program in 1942 - 1943. Soon someone mentioned to him that the United States too had a bright scientist trained in nuclear physics who was in a scientific company somewhere else in the USA. In 1942 or so, Oppenheimer called back the White House: he needed two months notice, at the very least. He told officials in 1942 to let Marconi continue, and that he had to give two months notice to his current employers in 1941 or 1942. Robert Oppenheimer and President Roosevelt were both very impressed with the Soviet papers of the Soviet atom bomb, as these were accompanied by extensive airblast calculations . president Roosevelt commented that even he could understand the air blast calculations ND the Soviet design papers, despite being a history major. Their brilliant nuclear scientists decided to have a go slow approach till a Slav (East European) is selected as the Secretary general of the Soviet Union in place of Joseph Stalin. These were smuggled out of the Soviet Union by a few dissident nuclear scientists of the Soviet Union on to the White House in 1941 or 1942. the dissident nuclear scientists of the Soviet Union didn't like the idea of a communist country like their county building the first atom bomb. original atom bomb drawings and materials lists and air blast calculations were prepared in a nuclear bomb research center in the Soviet Union by a team of nuclear physicists, led by Egor Kurchatov. In his younger days, Mr. Kurchatov looked like a handsome man. Soviet chief scientist and project manager of the Soviet atom bomb program looked more like a white beach boy on a surfboard and more like a slim fraternity member an any college in the USA. Later, he started looking more like a mad scientist with age. During the initial successes of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Kurchatov and his team of dissident nuclear scientists decided to smuggle out the papers of the Soviet nuclear weapon to the United States. and atom bomb including the original drawings and materials lists and formulas and air blast calculations. These were were smuggled out of the Soviet nuclear weapons research center by two real Europeans:: The two smugglers were two academic scientists from central Europe, actually western Europe. The duo who reached the United States also reached the White House in 1942, give or take 6 month, along with the Soviet designs of the atom bomb were from one or two central / west European countries, either Holland or Denmark or a similar country. came from Igor Kurchatov lead scientist of the atom bomb research center. The rest is history. He almost didn't respond to the President's invitation. He was working in a company working or wired signals and other radio signals. Oppenheimer was the only knowledgeable authority in nuclear scientist in the western hemisphere, unlike the Soviet Union and Germany. Initially he told the White Science he had forgotten nucear science even he had studied nuclear science.
That's new.. & interesting too..
Its a bunch of nonsense about this alleged group of “dissident nuclear scientists of the USSR” or that someone smuggled their papers and delivered to the White House. Complete fabrication.
What the hell, did nobody vet the backgrounds of these scientists working on a top secret project?
So much for "security" at Los Alamos.
Later, Nazi scientists were recruited to work on the top secret rocketry used to deliver the bombs, but that's OK, they fought against Russia.
True
But not a lot of choices
No because they were all Nazi’s. If they did background checks the bomb wouldn’t have been built. We probably wouldn’t have made ICBM’s to deliver them or have gotten to the moon as fast as we did either.
Related to Biden?
Probably related to Trump taking top secret files to show and tell in Florida so whenever he needs more dough he has money in the bank.
The greatest act of the 20th century, in terms of sustainability of humanity
And your Truman who used it against Japan is more criminal than Stalin
post your scorecard.
At least Truman wasn't murdering his own people.
Putin sure has threatened to use them against a neighbor whome he defiantly started a war with and would use them if he thought he'd get away with it. He wants to bring back the good old days when Russians were afraid to say or do anything against the government/mobsters.
He did great work…I know it sounds weird . But if he didn’t do it then the world would have become a unipolar world. His work made the multipolar.
I’m always on the side of Spies