First blog in our series is dedicated to works of one of the EMBL founding fathers, Leo Szilárd, after whom the library has been named of.
It is only when one begins to read Leo Szilard’s works that one can get an impression of how fascinating, versatile and unique scientist Szilárd was. In addition, Leo Szilárd was deeply concerned with world peace and with efforts to create what he called “a more livable world”. And with the picture of the world in 2024, Leo Szilard’s legacy is perhaps more important than ever as an example of what we should all strive for.
Among other, in our Special collection Leó Szilárd can be found:
By William Lanouette with Bela Silard
Well-known names such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller are usually those that surround the creation of the atom bomb. One name that is rarely mentioned is Leo Szilard, known in scientific circles as “father of the atom bomb.” The man who first developed the idea of harnessing energy from nuclear chain reactions, he is curiously buried with barely a trace in the history of this topic.
Edited by Bernard T. Feld and Gertrud Weiss Szilard
Leo Szilard’s work ranged from physics to biology; he crossed over with ease from the world of neutrons to that of neurons, from the nuclei of atoms to the nuclei of cells.
Edited by Spencer R. Weart and Gertrud Weiss Szilard
The title of this book derives from an anecdote: Szilard once contemplated writing a history of the atomic bomb project, including some disturbing incidents, and told a colleague he was going to write down the facts, not for publication, just for the information of God. When the colleague remarked that God might know the facts, Szilard replied, “Not this version of the facts”. (From a review by Melba Phillips, published in Science & Society Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 87-89 1980)
By Leo Szilard
Science fiction book that includes five stories, dating from 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1960.
By Jim Ottaviani
The focus of Fallout is on scientists, in particular J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leo Szilard, whose lives offer a cautionary tale about the uneasy alliance between the military, the government, and the beginnings of “big science.” Jim Ottaviani is not only a comics writer, he also has a master’s degree in nuclear engineering.
