Hello Steamkitty-ga,
Thank you for your question.
The October 1944 issue of the “Astounding Science Fiction” magazine
published the information on creating an atom bomb.
Below you will find references in order to verify that this is the
correct information.
“The year was 1944. (…) Mr. Campbell, editor and publisher of
"Astounding Science Fiction", had been publishing memorable science
fiction stories. (…)One month, the magazine published a story that
centered around the creation of an atom bomb on a distant planet. The
story involved the search for a part needed to build a trigger that
would detonate radioactive material inside the bomb.”
“It was a good story, but not one that struck Campbell as especially
unusual. Until, one hot summer day, two FBI agents marched into his
office.”
“Their question – Who leaked the atomic bomb information?
"Who told you how to build an atom bomb? It is a matter of national
security. Someone must have told you what's going on at Los Alamos.
How else could such highly classified information turn up in your
magazine?"
“Campbell couldn't help but laugh.”Sirs, anyone with a basic
understanding of physics knows the structure of an atomic bomb.
They've known and written about it for years.”
Source: The Story net
http://www.thestorynet.com/archive/bomb_fiction.htm
“The lesser of the two, Cleve Cartmill's "Deadline'" a routine
melodrama, entered SF lore because Cartmill’s incidental description
of an atomic bomb was close enough to the design under development at
Los Alamos to earn both Cartmill and Campbell visits from intelligence
officers after the story appeared in Astounding's October 1944 issue.”
DePauw University: Science Fiction Studies
http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/18/berger18art.htm
Search Criteria:
magazine build an atom bomb first published
1944 "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine atom bomb
I hope this helps!
Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
bobbie7-ga
on
30 Apr 2003 09:12 PDT
Steamkitty-ga,
I located two more references stating that the story is from the March
1944 Astounding Science Fiction magazine issue. It appears that March
is the correct date and not October.
CARTMILL, CLEVE. "Deadline." IN: Astounding Science Fiction, Vol.
XXXIII, No. l, pp. 154-178. 178 pages. Illustrated. 8vo, pictorial
wrappers. New York: Street & Smith, March 1944.
Source:
History of Atomic Energy Collection
Catalogue of Holdings
http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/Special_Collections/subpages/atomic/catalog/section15.htm
“A crisis of sorts was reached in the publication of pre-Hiroshima
atomic war fiction with the appearance in Astounding, March 1944, of
Cleve Cartmill's "Deadline," containing a description of an atomic
bomb accurate enough to cause FBI agents to call on both Cartmill and
editor Campbell.”
Source: The History of Nuclear War in Fiction
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/nuclear/1chap.htm
Thanks
Bobbie7
|
