On August 2, 1939, just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify uranium-235, which could be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known then only as “The Manhattan Project.” The project went underway and the first atomic bomb was created and tested in New Mexico.At 5:29:45 (Mountain War Time) on July 16, 1945, in a white blaze that stretched from the basin of the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico to the still-dark skies, “The Gadget” ushered in the Atomic Age. The light of the explosion then turned orange as the atomic fireball began shooting upwards at 360 feet per second, reddening and pulsing as it cooled. The characteristic mushroom cloud of radioactive vapor materialized at 30,000 feet. Beneath the cloud, all that remained of the soil at the blast site were fragments of jade green radioactive glass created by the heat of the reaction.
The brilliant light from the detonation pierced the early morning skies with such intensity that residents from a faraway neighboring community would swear that the sun came up twice that day. Even more astonishing is that a blind girl saw the flash 120 miles away.
Upon witnessing the explosion, its creators had mixed reactions. Isidor Rabi felt that the equilibrium in nature had been upset as if humankind had become a threat to the world it inhabited. Robert Oppenheimer, though ecstatic about the success of the project, quoted a not-so-properly remembered fragment from the Bhagavad Gita. “I am Death,” he said, “the destroyer of worlds.”
After viewing the results several participants signed petitions against loosing the monster they had created, but their protests fell on deaf ears. The Jornada del Muerto of New Mexico would not be the last site on planet Earth to experience an atomic explosion. And we know where it exploded next and what havoc it wreaked in the life’s of people then and now.
This atomic bomb was the result of practitioners of science. The ones who made it didn’t know what that bomb could do until it did what it did. Once made and tested they realized it. But it was late. Radhanath Swami says that,”Great mistakes are sometimes orchestrated for the commoner to understand some deeper principles”. But what can a commoner like me learn from this? Radhanath Swami simplifies such incident with a clear and simple understanding of matter of facts of life.
Radhanath Swami explains that the problem is not science, but ignorance. If great things are made on the foundation of ignorance, then it can create lot of disruptions, pollution, loss of lives, etc. Things are made in good faith but they become major disruptors of nature and peace.
Radhanath Swami points out that knowledge and truth should be the foundation of the scientific products. Then they can have wonderful results. Actually, Radhanath Swami adds, ” Science is a neutral thing”. Whether it is going to have a positive or negative effect in the world will be determined by the consciousness of its users. Just like a knife in itself is neutral. When it is in the hands of a doctor at appropriate times, it acts as life-giver and when it is in the hands of a murderer, it acts as a life-taker. The thing is same but the owners were different with different motives and thus the results varied. Similarly, science is like that knife and we are the users – whether we want to be the doctor or the murderer is our choice !!!