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Leo Szilard: the physicist who envisaged nuclear weapons but later opposed their use

24 Jan 2023

Born 125 years ago, the Hungarian–American physicist Leo Szilard is best remembered for being the first scientist to call for atomic bombs to be developed – before later demanding they be stopped. But as Istvan Hargittai explains, this was not the only occasion when his views evolved in unexpected directions

Safety in numbers Photographed after the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic (fission) bomb in 19

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