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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of planes does Germany use to bomb England?

2. How does Hans Bethe learn of his dismissal from Tubingen University?

3. What is the subject of Leo Szilard's Ph.D. thesis?

4. What Russian-Jewish biochemist is later elected first president of Israel?

5. When does Rutherford discover a radioactive gas emanating from thorium?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the first direct contact between nuclear physicists and the U.S. government occur?

2. What city does General Groves remove from the target list for the atomic bomb and why?

3. In 1939-1940, what does Robert Oppenheimer do that makes Robert Oppenheimer a true genius in the eyes of the author?

4. How does Bohr's memorandum regarding the nuclear arms race to come and the post nuclear war get to President Roosevelt?

5. In the mid 1930's, what scientist does Leo Szilard team up with and what is the subject of their experiments?

6. Why is the neutron important to nuclear physics?

7. Why or how does Bohr get to Manchester?

8. What instrument does Rutherford and Hans Gieger work on together and why?

9. Why does Lise Meitner leave Austria and go to Copenhagen?

10. What is the character of Budapest in the early 1900's?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the Japanese determination never to surrender. Give examples from the war in the Pacific. What role does this play in the use of the atomic bomb?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Robert Oppenheimer's role in the making of the atomic bomb. Be sure to Include his scientific accomplishments and his role at Los Alamos. Is the bomb built without him?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how the United States government becomes involved in the atomic bomb. Discuss the roles of scientists and non-scientists, including Vannevar Bush, Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, Albert Einstein, Alexander Sachs, Lyman Briggs. What is the government's initial response? Does everyone in the government have the same attitude?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 706 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample