Einstein's most regretful thing

Einstein's actions indirectly caused hundreds of thousands of deaths after the atomic bombings. The famous theoretical physicist always regretted his decision.

On August 2, 1939, a month before the outbreak of World War II, the famous physicist Albert Einstein wrote a two-page letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The letter brought America into a nuclear arms race, forever changing the balance of world power.

Einstein was in the United States at the time. He fled Germany when the Nazi Party came to power. He then knew that German scientists had discovered nuclear fission, the process of separating an atom's nucleus to release energy.

Albert Einstein around 1939. On the right is a nuclear explosion in Polynesia, France in October 1971.(Photo: Getty Images).

The letter he wrote warned Roosevelt "powerful bombs" could be created after this discovery. They have the ability to destroy an entire port with only one explosion.

The letter that Einstein later called his "big mistake" urged Roosevelt to accelerate Uranium research in the United States.

Einstein's warning was read to Roosevelt by a man named Alexander Sachs. The New York Times said that he was the same person who read other warnings about the atomic bomb to the US president.

Einstein, originally Jewish, was persuaded by Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard that Germany could use the newly discovered technology to create weapons.

The letter Einstein sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.(Photo: AHF).

Szilard and two other Hungarian physicists, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner are refugees. They both told Einstein about their concerns.

In fact, Szilard wrote the letter, but Einstein signed it himself, because they believed his words were the most important to the US President.

Cynthia Kelly, president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation, said that Einstein's famous discovery of energy and mass created a premise for the most terrifying destructive weapon in human history. However, Einstein certainly did not think that his theory was used to make weapons.

A photograph of July 1945 shows the mushroom cloud of the world's first atomic explosion, at the Trinity test area near Alamogordo, New Mexico.(Photo: AP).

Einstein did not give any details about the technique of exploiting nuclear energy."I do not consider myself the father of liberating atomic energy. My part in it is quite indirect," he said.

Einstein's letter takes effect. Roosevelt established the Uranium Advisory Committee in October 1939, the same month he received a letter from Einstein. At that time, World War II broke out, although the US was not involved.

The commission later joined the Manhattan Project, secretly developing two atomic bombs dropped on Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities in 1945, killing about 200,000 people. A few days after the bombing, Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II.

Einstein and Leo Szilard recreated the signing of their letter to Roosevelt, warning that Germany might be building an atomic bomb.(Photo: Getty Images).

The Nazis have never succeeded in making nuclear weapons. Einstein also did not participate in making bombs. He was not allowed to work on the Manhattan Project, because it was considered a great security risk, both as a German and a left-wing political activist. When he heard that the nuclear bomb was used in Japan, he lamented: "Woe to me."

"If I knew the Germans were not successful in developing atomic bombs, I would not do anything," Einstein warned, "We will face many upcoming disasters."

A letter published in 2005 revealed that Einstein wrote to a friend in Japan: "I always condemn the use of atomic bombs in Japan, but nothing can be done to prevent that fateful decision." .

Writing for a Japanese magazine in 1952, Einstein said he was "well aware of the terrible danger for all mankind, if nuclear experiments were successful". However, he concluded: "I have not found another way out."

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