Obituary

Robert Serber

Robert Serber, who helped to create the atomic bomb, died on June 1st, aged 88

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AT THE start of his lecture, Robert Serber said, “The object of the project is to produce a practical military weapon in the form of a bomb in which the energy is released by a fast-neutron chain reaction . . .” His audience comprised an awesome concentration of scientific minds from the United States, Britain and other European countries. They had been brought to Los Alamos in New Mexico to work out a way to make an atomic bomb. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-67) was the director of the project. Mr Serber was his first lieutenant.

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