“Nuclear Fission: Reaction to the Discovery in 1939”, 1986-06-01 (; similar):
A large body of literature exists on the scientific and political history of nuclear weapons. There is little, however, concerning the reaction in 1939 to news of the discovery of nuclear fission.
This study is a detailed examination of worldwide views during the preceding 4 decades about “harnessing the energy of the atom”, a brief survey of the scientific accomplishments of 1939, a close look throughout that year at the thoughts, hopes, fears, and actions that fission inspired, primarily in America, and an analysis of why the discovery came as such a surprise, and why it generated relatively little moral or ethical introspection.