Quitting The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project is among the most significant events in world history. There were those who came and went in the quest to create the first atomic bomb, but only one physicist quit for moral reasons: Józef Rotblat.

The Strangest Dream is an entire documentary devoted to Rotblat’s decision to step away from the Manhattan Project. After Rotblat quit, he was accused of being a communist spy before proving a set of so-called incriminating documents were forged. Unfazed by these accusations, however, Rotblat went back to the UK to study the effects of nuclear fallout on subjects and wound up winning a Nobel Peace Prize. This document not only recounts Rotblat’s tribulations, but meditates on the use of nuclear technology in weapons.

You can watch the whole documentary online by heading over to the website for Canada’s National Film Board, or by clicking play below. [NFB]