Trinity – Klaus Fuchs and the Security Services, from A bomb to Z pinch

Event Date:
2019-09-26T16:00:00
2019-09-26T17:00:00
Event Location:
Hennings 201
Speaker:
Frank Close (University of Oxford)
Related Upcoming Events:
Intended Audience:
Undergraduate
Local Contact:

Douglas Scott

Event Information:

Trinity was the codename for the test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on 16 July 1945. Frank Close tells the story of: the bomb's metaphorical father, Rudolf Peierls (Prof. Close's one time mentor in Oxford); his intellectual son, the atomic spy Klaus Fuchs; and the ghosts of the security services in Britain, the USA and USSR. Frank will reveal new insights from MI5 files in the British National Archives, and documents of the FBI and KGB. He has also overthrown a misconception lasting 60 years that J Edgar Hoover was central to Fuchs' exposure: the real hero was probably Britain's GCHQ. Documents that Fuchs sent to the USSR about the atomic and hydrogen bombs 70 years ago are still classified secret in the UK but access to these has become possible (in one case from Russia itself!), revealing new insights into Fermi's ideas about the hydrogen bomb and supporting a claim that Fuchs was the "grandfather" of the H bomb in the USA, UK and USSR.

Add to Calendar 2019-09-26T16:00:00 2019-09-26T17:00:00 Trinity – Klaus Fuchs and the Security Services, from A bomb to Z pinch Event Information: Trinity was the codename for the test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on 16 July 1945. Frank Close tells the story of: the bomb's metaphorical father, Rudolf Peierls (Prof. Close's one time mentor in Oxford); his intellectual son, the atomic spy Klaus Fuchs; and the ghosts of the security services in Britain, the USA and USSR. Frank will reveal new insights from MI5 files in the British National Archives, and documents of the FBI and KGB. He has also overthrown a misconception lasting 60 years that J Edgar Hoover was central to Fuchs' exposure: the real hero was probably Britain's GCHQ. Documents that Fuchs sent to the USSR about the atomic and hydrogen bombs 70 years ago are still classified secret in the UK but access to these has become possible (in one case from Russia itself!), revealing new insights into Fermi's ideas about the hydrogen bomb and supporting a claim that Fuchs was the "grandfather" of the H bomb in the USA, UK and USSR. Event Location: Hennings 201