"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details." - Albert Einstein

	Albert Einstein Old Grove Road Nassau Point Peconic, Long Island August 2nd, 1939
F.D. Roosevelt, Presdient of the United States, White House Washington, D.C.
Sir:     Some recent work by E. Fermi and L.Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of thesituation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations:     In the course of the last four months it has been made probable - through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America - that it may be possible to set upa nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium,by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.     This new phnomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is concievable - though much less certain - that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by a boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air.

-2-     The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and the former Czechoslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is Belgian Congo.     In view of this situation you may think it desireable to have some permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on chain reaction in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust with this task aperson who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an unofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:     a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, andput forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States;     b) to speed up the experimental work,which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the co-operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary equipment.     I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. The she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, Von Weizs�cker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is being repeated.

Yours very truly, (Albert Einstein)

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Time-Line

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1879.Mar.14		Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in W�rttemberg, Germany
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1894		Albert Einstein\'s family moves to Milan - he remains in Munich
1896		Albert Einstein renounced German citizenship
1897.Mar.14		Birth of the physicist Albert Einstein at Ulm, W�rttemberg, Germany
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1899		Albert Einstein applies for Swiss citizenship
1900		Albert Einstein graduates as a teacher of mathematics and physics
1901		Swiss citizenship granted to physicist Albert Einstein
1902		Albert Einstein employed in temporary position as technical expert third class at the patents office in Bern
1903		Marriage of Albert Einstein to Mileva Maric They had a daughter and two sons
1904		Albert Einstein\'s position as technical expert third class at the patents office in Bern made permanent
1905		Albert Einstein recieves doctorate from University of Zurich for his thesis On a new determination of molecular dimensions
1905		Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity
1905		Albert Einstein shows that mass and energy are equivalent
1906		Albert Einstein promoted to technical expert second class at the patents office in Bern
1908		Albert Einstein becomes lecturer at the University of Bern after submitting his thesis Consequences for the constitution of radiation following from the energy distribution law of black bodies
1909		Albert Einstein ends his employed as technical expert at the patents office in Bern
1909		Albert Einstein becomes professor of physics at the University of Zurich
1911		Albert Einstein appointed professor at the Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague
1912		Albert Einstein moves from Prague to Zurich to take up a chair at the Eidgen�ssische Technische Hochschule
1914		Albert Einstein returns to Germany He accepted research position in the Prussian Academy of Sciences together with a chair at the University of Berlin. He was offered the directorship of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics
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1915		Albert einstein publishes his theory of general relativity
1919		British solar eclipse expeditions confirm Albert Einsteins theory of relativity Einstein is idolised by the popular press
1920		Albert Einstein\'s lectures in Berlin are disrupted by demonstrations which are almost certainly anti-Jewish, although this is officially denied
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1921		Albert Einstein\'s first visit to the US to raise funds for the planned Hebrew University of Jerusalem He receives the Barnard Medal and lectures several times on relativity
1921		Albert Einstein recives the Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect (1905)
1922		Albert Einstein visits Paris
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1923		Albert Einstein visits Palestine
1924		Albert Einstein makes his last major scientific discovery; the association of waves with matter
1925		Albert Einstein visits South America
1925		Albert Einstein receives the Copley Medal of the Royal Society
1925		Albert Einstein starts as governor of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
1928		Albert Einstein collapses through over-work
1928		Albert Einstein resigns as governor of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
1930		Albert Einstein visits the USA
1932		Albert Einstein makes 3rd visit to the USA He is offered of a post at Princeton
1932.Dec		Albert Einstein moves to USA to take up post at Princeton
1933		Albert Einstein travels to Oxford, Glasgow, Brussels and Zurich and is offered positions at Jerusalem, Leiden, Oxford, Madrid and Paris
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1933		Albert Einstein refuses post at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, critical of its administration
1935		Albert Einstein applies for US citizenship
1935		Albert Einstein recieves the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute
1936		Death of Elsa L�wenthal, second wife of Albert Einstein
1939.Aug.02		Physicist Albert Einstein signs a letter urging President Roosevelt to create an atomic weapons research program
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1940		Albert Einstein granted USA citizenship He retained his Swiss citizenship
1944		Albert Einstein hand-writes his 1905 paper on special relativity putting it up for auction as a contribution to the war effort It raised $6-million and is now in the Library of Congress
1949		Albert Einstein spends a spell in hospital
1950		Albert Einstein draws up his will
1952		Albert Einstein refuses Israeli government\'s offer of the post of second president of the country
1955.Apr.18		Death of the physicist Albert Einstein at Princeton, New Jersey, USA Cremated the same day, his ashes are scattered at an undisclosed location

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