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TYSON: The kingdom of
matter stores it treasures
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00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:07,033
on my many levels.
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Until recently, we
thought there was only one.
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We had no idea
there were others.
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When we strike a match, a
chemical reaction liberates
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energy stored in
the molecules.
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Old chemical bonds break
and new ones are forged.
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00:00:29,066 --> 00:00:32,133
Now, the adjacent molecules
begin to move faster and the
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temperature increases.
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Soon, the process
becomes self-propagated,
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00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,433
a kind of chain reaction.
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The energy represented by
a flame has been locked,
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perhaps for many years, in
chemical bonds between atoms.
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Mediated by the electrons that
revolved around their core.
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When we make a fire,
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we release this hidden
chemical energy.
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But there is a deeper
level of matter that
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houses another kind of energy.
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Inside the heart of
the atom, its nucleus.
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This hidden treasure was
forged billions of years ago
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in distant stellar furnaces.
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Long before Earth was formed.
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It's what powers the stars.
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Wresting this
knowledge from nature
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is a cosmic rite of passage.
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The beings of any possible
world clever enough to travel
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this deep into nature's
labyrinth better take care.
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The secret of starlight
is nothing to fool with.
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Like fire, it can bring a
civilization to life and it
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can burn it to the ground.
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(theme music plays)
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♪ ♪
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♪ ♪
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What is an atom?
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What are they made of?
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How are they joined together?
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How could something
as small as an atom
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contain so much power?
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Where do atoms come from?
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The same place we do.
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When we seek the
origin of atoms,
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we are searching for
our own beginnings.
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This quest takes us to the
depths of space and time.
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I want to tell you a
tale of two atoms.
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Come with me.
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Long ago, before
there was an Earth,
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there was a wisp
of cold thin gas.
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It was made of
the simplest atoms.
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And they were gravitationally
attracted to one another.
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So, the cloud grew.
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The atoms contained small,
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but heavy particles
in their nuclei.
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The hydrogen had protons, the
helium had neutrons as well.
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They both had a skittering
veil of electrons
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in orbit around them.
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The atoms in the interior of
the cloud moved ever faster
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as gravity pulled them
ever closer together.
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Until the whole thing
collapsed in on itself.
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This collapse raised
the temperature so high,
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that the cloud became a
natural fusion reactor.
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In other words, a star.
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Atoms operating according
to the laws of physics met
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and fused in the
unbroken darkness.
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And then there was light.
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In this froth of
elementary particles,
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the nucleus of
one of the atoms,
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a helium atom, was formed.
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After billions of years,
the star is now elderly.
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Having converted
all of its available
hydrogen fuel to helium.
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Now that it's time
for the star to die,
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it resumes the turning
inward of its infancy.
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Can you find our helium atom?
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It joined with two others
to become one of our heroes,
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a carbon atom.
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That's what in the
hearts of stars.
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Soon, our carbon atom
will tumble out of this
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red giant star into the
interstellar ocean of space.
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We've tinted this atom
blue so you can find it
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in the vastness.
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Meanwhile, in another
part of the galaxy.
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Similar processes were
unfolding as stars were
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born and died.
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The other atom of our tale
was formed in the heart
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of this dying star.
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In the catastrophic
process of going supernova,
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226 protons and neutrons
became fused to a carbon atom.
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Turning it into
a uranium atom.
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We've tinted our
other hero atom red,
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so that you could
follow it on its odyssey
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through space and time.
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As chance would have it,
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after wandering the
vast Milky Way galaxy,
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our two atoms both
happened on the fiery birth
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of a small solar system.
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Ours.
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Our carbon atom has
traveled far to become
part of a small planet.
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After billions of years, it
joined an extremely complex
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molecule, which has the
peculiar property of a making
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virtually identical
copies of itself.
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The carbon atom plays its tiny
role in the origin of life.
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Through all its incarnations,
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our carbon atom has
had no self-awareness.
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No free will.
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It is merely an extremely
minor cog in some vast
cosmic machinery,
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working in accord
with the laws of nature.
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And that other atom?
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The uranium atom
made in the supernova?
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What has become of it?
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Our world was born in fire.
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And this tiny atom
was drawn to it.
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Maybe it rode the
explosive wave of a supernova.
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Or perhaps, it was attracted
by the gravity of our sun and
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pulled down deeper and
deeper into the interior,
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which was even more of a hell.
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The Earth's
surface soon cooled,
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but the interior
remained molten.
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The magma slowly circulating
and our uranium atom found
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itself carried over the
ages, from the deep interior,
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back all the way
up to the surface.
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Despite the high temperatures
and pressures deep within the
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Earth, our atom's integrity
was never threatened.
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Atoms are small,
old, hard and durable.
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Everything is made of
atoms, including us.
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But until the last
years of the 19th Century,
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we didn't know about
the frenzied activity
inside the atom.
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And this is where our two
atoms from opposite ends of
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the Milky Way
galaxy finally met.
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It happened in Paris.
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♪ ♪
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TYSON: Our carbon atom became
part of the retina of one of
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the world's
greatest scientists.
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This was just a few years
after the discovery of x-rays.
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Marie Curie and her
husband and research partner,
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Pierre, wanted to know how a
piece of matter could make it
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possible to see
through skin and even walls.
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The knowledge that there were
rare places in the world where
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rocks, rich in uranium,
possess these strange
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properties inspired Marie
on her scientific quest.
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The dull brown ore, still
mixed with pine needles,
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came from the part of
Eastern Europe that is
now the Czech Republic.
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But this material was very rare.
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And even to distill a
tiny amount of it required
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the most lengthy and
labor intensive efforts.
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She was later to write,
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"we lived in our single
occupation, as in a dream."
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(thunder, raining)
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They worked under the
worst possible conditions to
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purify the ore into a
mineral called pitchblende,
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which was 50 to 80% uranium.
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This was quite an achievement,
but Marie and Pierre were
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hunting for
something far more rare.
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It took them three years
to process tons of ore.
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To isolate a mere tenth
of a gram of a substance
she named radium.
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Marie and Pierre had discovered
a completely new element.
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The Curies showed that
the radium was entirely
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unaffected by
extreme temperatures.
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That was strange.
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Most things subjected to
such intense heat would
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change drastically.
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And, there was something else.
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It spontaneously
emitted energy.
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Not through
chemical reactions,
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but through some
unknown mechanism.
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Marie Curie called this new
phenomenon radioactivity.
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She and Pierre calculated
the energy that spontaneously
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flowed from a lump of radium
would be much greater than
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burning the same
amount of coal.
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Radioactivity, to
their astonishment,
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was millions of times more
potent than chemical energy.
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The difference between
liberating the energy that
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resides in molecules and
the far greater power
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stored deeper down.
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Between Marie, Pierre,
little Irene and the man
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she would later marry,
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the family would win five
Nobel prizes in science.
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(fire crackling)
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The bottles, tubes and
flasks of pitchblende that
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they had refined, left a
residue of radium particles.
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They were so potent, that
they lit up the lab at night.
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As Marie wrote years later,
"they were like Earthly stars,
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these glowing tubes
in that poor rough shack."
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Marie leapt to the
correct conclusion that the
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luminescence was due to
something happening inside
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the nuclei of radioactive atoms.
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For thousands of years, it had
been thought that atoms were
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the smallest unit of matter.
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Curie's earthly stars were
evidence that within the atom
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was a possible world
where even smaller
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particles were interacting.
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100 years after
this magical night,
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00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,934
Marie Curie's cookbooks still
glowed with the exquisite
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00:14:00,066 --> 00:14:03,533
radioactivity she
had discovered.
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But it took a little time
for the darker implications of
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this deeper understanding of
nature to dawn in the mind of
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00:14:10,700 --> 00:14:14,166
a visionary
named H.G. Wells.
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A writer, who was a
genius at turning the
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00:14:17,367 --> 00:14:20,000
new revelations of
science into stories
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00:14:20,133 --> 00:14:22,600
that captivated the world.
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And foreseeing as no one else,
their gravest consequences.
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00:14:33,433 --> 00:14:36,033
TYSON: The writer H.G. Wells,
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00:14:36,166 --> 00:14:39,300
who first imagined time
machines and alien invasions
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00:14:39,433 --> 00:14:42,400
had a nightmare of a
future world where atoms
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00:14:42,533 --> 00:14:43,734
were weaponized.
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00:14:43,867 --> 00:14:47,266
In his book called The World
Set Free written in 1913,
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00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:49,967
he coined the
phrase atomic bombs.
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00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:53,734
And loosed them on
helpless civilian populations.
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00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,400
He set his vision of a nuclear
war between England and
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00:14:57,533 --> 00:15:02,567
Germany in the impossibly
distant future of the 1950's.
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00:15:11,767 --> 00:15:18,333
♪ ♪
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00:15:18,467 --> 00:15:21,266
(explosion)
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00:15:30,100 --> 00:15:33,300
In 1933, the
Hungarian physicist,
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00:15:33,433 --> 00:15:37,967
Leo Szilard, was contemplating
becoming a biologist.
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00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:39,367
(knocking)
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00:15:39,500 --> 00:15:41,166
MAID: Dr. Szilard?
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00:15:41,300 --> 00:15:43,300
Are you quite all
right in there?
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00:15:43,433 --> 00:15:47,233
TYSON: He read Wells' novel
and it started him thinking.
217
00:15:48,633 --> 00:15:51,800
(chatter)
218
00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:56,633
TYSON: Szilard knew that
atoms are made of protons and
219
00:15:56,767 --> 00:15:58,700
neutrons on the inside.
220
00:15:58,834 --> 00:16:02,200
And a skittering veil of
electrons on the outside.
221
00:16:02,333 --> 00:16:05,266
Suddenly, awaiting for
the light to change at this
222
00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:09,467
intersection in London, he
was struck by the thought,
223
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,133
if he could find a
sufficiently large amount of
224
00:16:12,266 --> 00:16:16,367
an element that would emit two
neutrons when it absorbed one,
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00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:20,333
it would sustain a
nuclear chain reaction.
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00:16:21,233 --> 00:16:23,767
Two would produce four,
four would produce eight
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00:16:23,900 --> 00:16:25,567
and so forth.
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00:16:25,700 --> 00:16:29,000
Until enormous amounts of
energy in the nucleus itself
229
00:16:29,133 --> 00:16:31,734
could be liberated.
230
00:16:31,867 --> 00:16:35,033
Not a chemical reaction,
but a nuclear one.
231
00:16:35,166 --> 00:16:36,033
(gasping)
232
00:16:36,166 --> 00:16:38,500
(air raid alarm)
233
00:16:38,633 --> 00:16:40,834
(explosion)
234
00:16:41,834 --> 00:16:44,000
(honking)
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00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:46,400
(grunts)
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00:16:46,533 --> 00:16:50,800
TYSON: This was the
moment our world changed.
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00:16:54,734 --> 00:16:58,233
Leo Szilard also knew the
power of exponentials and
238
00:16:58,367 --> 00:17:01,166
if a neutron chain reaction
could be triggered down there
239
00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:03,600
in world of the
atom's nucleus,
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00:17:03,734 --> 00:17:06,233
then something like Wells'
imaginary atomic bomb
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00:17:06,367 --> 00:17:08,066
might be possible.
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00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,433
He shuddered at the thought of
this destructive capability.
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00:17:11,567 --> 00:17:14,367
It was just the latest
development on a continuum
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00:17:14,500 --> 00:17:18,667
of violence that began
long long before.
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00:17:23,433 --> 00:17:25,367
50,000 years ago,
246
00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:29,333
all humans were roving
bands of hunter-gatherers.
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00:17:29,467 --> 00:17:32,133
They communicated
over limited areas by
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00:17:32,266 --> 00:17:34,266
calling to one another.
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00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:36,600
That is, at the
speed of sound.
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00:17:36,734 --> 00:17:39,667
Around 750 miles per hour.
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00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,734
But over longer distances,
they could communicate only
252
00:17:42,867 --> 00:17:45,133
as fast as they could run.
253
00:17:45,266 --> 00:17:47,967
Around 12,000 years ago,
about the same time as the
254
00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:50,934
invention of agriculture,
they developed the power to
255
00:17:51,133 --> 00:17:53,633
kill at a longer distance.
256
00:17:53,767 --> 00:17:56,967
The kill radius expanded
to the arc of an arrow
257
00:17:57,100 --> 00:17:58,934
launched by a bow.
258
00:17:59,066 --> 00:18:02,533
And they could kill one
person with a single arrow.
259
00:18:02,667 --> 00:18:05,633
Our ancestors were not
particularly warlike because
260
00:18:05,767 --> 00:18:08,700
there was so few people and
so much room back then that
261
00:18:08,834 --> 00:18:12,100
moving on was
preferable to armed conflict.
262
00:18:12,233 --> 00:18:15,567
Their weapons were used
almost entirely for hunting.
263
00:18:15,700 --> 00:18:18,734
Their identification
horizon was likely small.
264
00:18:18,867 --> 00:18:21,000
Only with the other
members of their band of
265
00:18:21,133 --> 00:18:23,233
50 or 100 people.
266
00:18:23,367 --> 00:18:27,934
But their time
horizon took a giant leap.
267
00:18:31,467 --> 00:18:34,467
They worked long and hard
planting crops in the here and
268
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:39,066
now, so several months later,
they could harvest them.
269
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,400
They postponed
present gratification
for later advantage.
270
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:50,166
They began to
plan for the future.
271
00:18:52,533 --> 00:18:56,967
By about 2,500 years ago,
there was a new kind of war.
272
00:18:57,100 --> 00:18:59,800
The conquered territories
of Alexander stretched from
273
00:18:59,934 --> 00:19:02,467
Macedonia to the Indus Valley.
274
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,967
There were now many on planet
Earth who owed allegiance to
275
00:19:06,100 --> 00:19:08,900
groups composed of millions.
276
00:19:09,033 --> 00:19:10,700
Over long distances,
277
00:19:10,834 --> 00:19:13,200
maximum speed of both
communication and transportation
278
00:19:13,333 --> 00:19:16,333
was the speed of the
sail and the horse.
279
00:19:16,467 --> 00:19:19,200
Archidamus III,
King of Sparta,
280
00:19:19,333 --> 00:19:22,266
was famed for his
unflinching courage.
281
00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,433
He relished taking
part in hand to hand
combat with the enemy.
282
00:19:26,567 --> 00:19:30,400
It is said that when he first
saw a projectile hurled by a
283
00:19:30,533 --> 00:19:33,767
Balista, he cried
out in anguish.
284
00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:38,433
"Oh Hercules!
The valor of man is lost!"
285
00:19:38,567 --> 00:19:41,200
(screaming)
286
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,567
(groaning)
287
00:19:48,233 --> 00:19:50,400
Both the kill range
and the kill ratio
288
00:19:50,533 --> 00:19:53,133
had increased exponentially.
289
00:19:53,266 --> 00:19:57,467
Now, ten corpses lay
where one would have been.
290
00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,300
And the soldier who released
the lever on the siege engine
291
00:20:00,433 --> 00:20:03,133
never even saw their faces.
292
00:20:03,266 --> 00:20:06,133
He remained far removed from
the carnage on the other side
293
00:20:06,266 --> 00:20:08,934
of the city wall.
294
00:20:11,500 --> 00:20:14,934
Today, the maximum speed of
transportation is the escape
295
00:20:15,066 --> 00:20:16,934
velocity from Earth.
296
00:20:17,066 --> 00:20:19,500
25,000 miles per hour.
297
00:20:19,633 --> 00:20:22,767
The speed of communication
is the speed of light.
298
00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:26,533
The identification horizons
have also expanded enormously.
299
00:20:26,667 --> 00:20:29,400
For some, it's a
billion or more.
300
00:20:29,533 --> 00:20:32,233
For others, it's
our whole species.
301
00:20:32,367 --> 00:20:36,100
And for a few, it's
all living things.
302
00:20:36,233 --> 00:20:39,166
The kill radius, in
the worst case scenario,
303
00:20:39,300 --> 00:20:42,734
is now our
global civilization.
304
00:20:44,667 --> 00:20:47,033
How did we get here?
305
00:20:47,166 --> 00:20:51,633
It was the result of a
deadly embrace between
science and state.
306
00:20:51,767 --> 00:20:55,000
And there was one scientist
for whom no amount of
307
00:20:55,133 --> 00:20:57,834
destructive power was enough.
308
00:20:57,967 --> 00:20:59,700
(distant explosion)
309
00:20:59,834 --> 00:21:03,934
(air raid alarm)
310
00:21:14,533 --> 00:21:16,900
TYSON: It's hard to pinpoint
the precise moment when the
311
00:21:17,033 --> 00:21:19,633
first nuclear war began.
312
00:21:19,767 --> 00:21:22,700
Some might trace it all the
way back to that arrow sailing
313
00:21:22,834 --> 00:21:24,667
over the treetops.
314
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,400
Others might say it
started much later,
315
00:21:27,533 --> 00:21:30,633
with three messages.
316
00:21:38,934 --> 00:21:42,567
In 1939 on Adolf
Hitler's birthday,
317
00:21:42,700 --> 00:21:45,100
one of his
brightest young scientists,
318
00:21:45,233 --> 00:21:49,633
Paul Harteck, had a special
gift in mind for his Führer.
319
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,133
Harteck wrote a letter
to the Nazi war office,
320
00:21:54,266 --> 00:21:57,734
he wished to inform them that
the latest developments in
321
00:21:57,867 --> 00:22:01,633
nuclear physics would make it
possible to produce an explosive
322
00:22:01,767 --> 00:22:05,500
exponentially more powerful
than conventional weapons.
323
00:22:06,834 --> 00:22:11,633
He was trying to give an
atomic bomb to Adolf Hitler.
324
00:22:12,066 --> 00:22:15,367
But Hitler would never get
his hands on a nuclear weapon,
325
00:22:15,500 --> 00:22:18,400
he had murdered, imprisoned
or exiled many of the great
326
00:22:18,533 --> 00:22:20,867
physicists in his territories.
327
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,900
Those who happened to
be Jews or liberals and
328
00:22:24,033 --> 00:22:27,166
many who were both.
329
00:22:29,467 --> 00:22:32,100
Exactly a month
before the war began,
330
00:22:32,233 --> 00:22:35,166
Leo Szilard made a pilgrimage
to the house Albert Einstein
331
00:22:35,300 --> 00:22:37,467
was renting on Long Island.
332
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,000
The physicist who usually
chauffeured Leo Szilard on
333
00:22:40,133 --> 00:22:45,233
trips out of Manhattan
was unavailable that
August day in 1939.
334
00:22:45,367 --> 00:22:50,066
So, Szilard enlisted
the services of a fellow
Hungarian emigrate,
335
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:54,233
a young scientist
named Edward Teller.
336
00:22:54,367 --> 00:22:56,934
Persecution in Budapest
sent him and his family to
337
00:22:57,066 --> 00:22:59,133
take refuge in Munich,
338
00:22:59,266 --> 00:23:02,200
where he lost his right foot
in a traffic accident.
339
00:23:02,333 --> 00:23:05,567
In the early 1930s, Teller
and his family were forced
340
00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:08,300
to flee once again.
341
00:23:08,433 --> 00:23:11,800
Just as Harteck felt it
his duty to inform Hitler.
342
00:23:11,934 --> 00:23:14,867
Szilard wanted President
Franklin Roosevelt to know
343
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,066
the awesome power
of such a weapon.
344
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,200
There was no scientist on
Earth whose prestige and
345
00:23:21,333 --> 00:23:24,667
influence was
comparable to Einstein's.
346
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,600
Einstein's nightmare was
imagining Hitler with a
347
00:23:27,734 --> 00:23:30,667
nuclear weapon
at his disposal.
348
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,033
But what would be the
long-term consequences of
349
00:23:33,166 --> 00:23:35,200
this dangerous new knowledge?
350
00:23:35,333 --> 00:23:39,467
Which, once unleashed,
could never be taken back.
351
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,133
Einstein would take
no role in the U.S.
352
00:23:42,266 --> 00:23:44,433
effort to build
the atomic bomb,
353
00:23:44,567 --> 00:23:47,266
which became known as
"The Manhattan Project."
354
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,200
But he did alert the President
to the potential use of
355
00:23:50,333 --> 00:23:53,367
atomic nuclei in warfare.
356
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,767
After the war was over, he
told a reporter that if he had
357
00:23:58,900 --> 00:24:01,533
known the Germans would fail
in developing in an atomic
358
00:24:01,667 --> 00:24:05,100
bomb, he never would
have signed the letter.
359
00:24:05,233 --> 00:24:08,100
But Edward Teller had
no such ambivalence.
360
00:24:08,233 --> 00:24:13,200
He couldn't wait to get
started on weaponizing the atom.
361
00:24:14,233 --> 00:24:19,066
The Russian physicist,
G.N. Flyorov had tried for
years to alert his leader,
362
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,633
Joseph Stalin, to the possible
military applications of a
363
00:24:22,767 --> 00:24:24,900
nuclear chain reaction.
364
00:24:25,033 --> 00:24:28,400
But the Soviet Union was
under siege by the Germans.
365
00:24:28,533 --> 00:24:32,934
And an atom bomb
project was likely to
take years to complete.
366
00:24:33,066 --> 00:24:35,033
With their backs
against the wall,
367
00:24:35,166 --> 00:24:38,100
it seemed too impractical
to even think about.
368
00:24:38,233 --> 00:24:39,433
(coughing)
369
00:24:39,567 --> 00:24:43,367
In 1942, Flyorov had
published a scientific paper
370
00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:45,567
on nuclear physics.
371
00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:48,934
Now, he was excited to see
what the eminent physicists
372
00:24:49,066 --> 00:24:52,767
in Europe and the United
States had to say about it.
373
00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:54,867
Flyorov was puzzled.
374
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,333
None of the physicists of
the International Scientific
375
00:24:57,467 --> 00:25:01,100
Community thought his
paper worthy of comment.
376
00:25:01,233 --> 00:25:05,467
At first, he was hurt, but
then he realized what was
377
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,433
really happening.
378
00:25:08,567 --> 00:25:12,333
American and German scientific
journals were being scrubbed
379
00:25:12,467 --> 00:25:16,400
of any nuclear physics papers
as both nations secretly
380
00:25:16,533 --> 00:25:18,700
worked on building the bomb.
381
00:25:18,834 --> 00:25:21,233
It was this absence
of published data,
382
00:25:21,367 --> 00:25:24,433
the dogs that did not
bark, that moved Flyorov to
383
00:25:24,567 --> 00:25:27,467
re-double his efforts to
convince Stalin to start his
384
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,500
own nuclear weapons program.
385
00:25:30,633 --> 00:25:34,000
In all three cases,
it was the scientists,
386
00:25:34,133 --> 00:25:36,467
not the generals or
the arms dealers,
387
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,700
who informed their leaders
that a huge increase in
388
00:25:39,834 --> 00:25:42,066
kill ratio was possible.
389
00:25:44,066 --> 00:25:46,066
The U.S. Department of War
390
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,367
chose the remote location
of Los Alamos, New Mexico
391
00:25:49,500 --> 00:25:53,266
as the headquarters for the
atomic bomb research project.
392
00:25:54,500 --> 00:25:57,900
It had been recommended
by the project's director,
393
00:25:58,033 --> 00:26:01,066
physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer,
394
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,033
who had recuperated there
from an illness as a teenager.
395
00:26:05,166 --> 00:26:09,433
But for Edward Teller, an
atomic bomb wasn't big enough.
396
00:26:09,567 --> 00:26:12,467
He dreamed of even
greater lethality.
397
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,533
A weapon in which the atomic
bomb was nothing more than a
398
00:26:15,667 --> 00:26:19,100
match to light a
fuse to the nucleus.
399
00:26:19,233 --> 00:26:21,800
A thermal nuclear weapon.
400
00:26:21,934 --> 00:26:25,734
What Teller affectionately
called, the super.
401
00:26:25,867 --> 00:26:29,834
If Edward Teller had a
polar opposite in the
scientific community,
402
00:26:29,967 --> 00:26:32,800
it would have been
Joseph Rotblat.
403
00:26:32,934 --> 00:26:36,066
Rotblat was born in
Warsaw to a wealthy family,
404
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,834
who like Teller's,
had lost everything.
405
00:26:39,967 --> 00:26:43,900
In the summer of 1939, just
before the Nazis invaded,
406
00:26:44,033 --> 00:26:47,200
he was invited to England to
take a research position at
407
00:26:47,333 --> 00:26:49,700
the University of Liverpool.
408
00:26:49,834 --> 00:26:52,000
At the last minute
before his departure,
409
00:26:52,133 --> 00:26:56,800
his beloved wife, Tola had
an emergency appendectomy.
410
00:26:56,934 --> 00:26:59,233
She was forced to remain
behind until she was
411
00:26:59,367 --> 00:27:01,433
well enough to travel.
412
00:27:01,567 --> 00:27:05,734
Tola insisted that
Joseph go on ahead to
prepare their new home.
413
00:27:05,867 --> 00:27:09,333
It would just be a matter
of weeks, she told him.
414
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,834
The challenge, was to
find a chemical fuse that
415
00:27:16,967 --> 00:27:19,300
would light the
nuclear chain reaction,
416
00:27:19,433 --> 00:27:22,767
first imagined by
Leo Szilard in London.
417
00:27:22,900 --> 00:27:25,900
The scientists and engineers
told themselves that they
418
00:27:26,033 --> 00:27:29,400
would be averting a grave
danger by building a bomb
419
00:27:29,533 --> 00:27:32,433
of unprecedented
destructive power.
420
00:27:32,567 --> 00:27:35,166
Their government
could be trusted.
421
00:27:35,300 --> 00:27:37,734
They would never use
such a weapon in an act of
422
00:27:37,867 --> 00:27:41,333
aggression, not like
those other governments.
423
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,166
These atomic scientists
were the first to see
424
00:27:45,300 --> 00:27:49,700
building nuclear weapons as
a deterrent to using them.
425
00:27:50,900 --> 00:27:54,133
The fear of Hitler with an
atomic bomb was the driving
426
00:27:54,266 --> 00:27:57,033
rationale for the
Manhattan Project.
427
00:27:57,166 --> 00:28:01,166
And yet, when
Germany surrendered
and Hitler was no more,
428
00:28:01,300 --> 00:28:04,300
of the thousands of scientists
who worked on the bomb,
429
00:28:04,433 --> 00:28:07,600
only one resigned.
430
00:28:07,734 --> 00:28:10,266
It was Joe Rotblat.
431
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,834
In the years that followed,
whenever he was asked about
432
00:28:12,967 --> 00:28:16,166
his decision, he always
rejected any suggestion that
433
00:28:16,300 --> 00:28:19,967
he had done so out
of moral superiority.
434
00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:23,567
He would just smile and
say, the truth was that he
435
00:28:23,700 --> 00:28:26,734
desperately missed his wife,
who had been prevented from
436
00:28:26,867 --> 00:28:31,200
leaving Warsaw and lost to
him in the chaos of the war.
437
00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:33,633
With its end in Europe
438
00:28:33,767 --> 00:28:36,867
came his chance to go
and search for her.
439
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,500
But, he never found her.
440
00:28:39,633 --> 00:28:43,367
Except as a name on
a list of the dead.
441
00:28:43,500 --> 00:28:46,333
Tola had perished
in the Holocaust.
442
00:28:46,467 --> 00:28:49,734
Exterminated at the
Belzec concentration camp.
443
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,166
Although he lived
another 60 years,
444
00:28:53,300 --> 00:28:56,133
Rotblat never remarried.
445
00:28:56,266 --> 00:28:58,800
(explosion)
446
00:28:58,934 --> 00:29:01,066
Of the three nations that
pursued wartime research
447
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,200
into building the bomb,
448
00:29:03,333 --> 00:29:06,767
only the U. S. succeeded
before the war's end.
449
00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:09,533
And historians believe that
was because America had
450
00:29:09,667 --> 00:29:12,934
taken in so many immigrants.
451
00:29:13,066 --> 00:29:15,467
Of the leading figures
in the Manhattan Project,
452
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,266
only two were native born.
453
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,834
And only one got
his PhD in the U.S.
454
00:29:23,734 --> 00:29:26,266
Atomic bombs were dropped
on the Japanese cities of
455
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:31,233
Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
ending the second World War.
456
00:29:31,367 --> 00:29:34,266
Two months later, President
Truman invited Oppenheimer
457
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,734
for congratulations
in the Oval Office.
458
00:29:37,867 --> 00:29:39,767
But to Truman's dismay,
459
00:29:39,900 --> 00:29:43,200
Oppenheimer was in
no mood to celebrate.
460
00:29:43,333 --> 00:29:47,333
OPPENHEIMER: Mr. President,
I feel like I have blood
on my hands.
461
00:29:47,467 --> 00:29:49,300
TRUMAN: Don't be a fool.
462
00:29:49,433 --> 00:29:51,500
If anyone has blood on
their hands, it's me.
463
00:29:51,633 --> 00:29:53,567
And it doesn't
bother me at all.
464
00:29:55,066 --> 00:29:57,433
OPPENHEIMER: How long do you
think it will be before the
465
00:29:57,567 --> 00:29:59,834
Russians get the bomb?
466
00:29:59,967 --> 00:30:01,667
TRUMAN: Never!
467
00:30:04,734 --> 00:30:07,767
Don't you ever let that
cry baby scientist anywhere
468
00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:10,633
near me again, do you hear?
469
00:30:10,767 --> 00:30:13,033
TYSON: Less than
four years later,
470
00:30:13,166 --> 00:30:16,133
the Russians exploded
their own atomic bomb.
471
00:30:16,266 --> 00:30:18,900
And shortly after, both
nations went on to create
472
00:30:19,033 --> 00:30:23,166
supers: thermonuclear
hydrogen bombs.
473
00:30:23,900 --> 00:30:26,734
The nuclear arms race begun
by those three letters from
474
00:30:26,867 --> 00:30:31,633
scientists was off to
a terrifying start.
475
00:30:32,333 --> 00:30:35,900
After the war, Teller's dreams
of greater and greater killing
476
00:30:36,033 --> 00:30:38,633
power were to come true.
477
00:30:38,767 --> 00:30:41,767
The early 1950s, when the
Communist witch hunts began
478
00:30:41,900 --> 00:30:44,800
in the United States, he
was perfectly happy to hint
479
00:30:44,934 --> 00:30:47,934
that Robert Oppenheimer,
his former boss,
480
00:30:48,066 --> 00:30:50,767
who had brilliantly run
the Manhattan Project,
481
00:30:50,900 --> 00:30:53,166
should be stripped of
his security clearance,
482
00:30:53,300 --> 00:30:56,333
thereby ruining
Oppenheimer's career.
483
00:31:16,500 --> 00:31:20,934
Despite dramatic reductions
in nuclear arsenals,
484
00:31:21,066 --> 00:31:24,967
the specter of nuclear
war haunts us still.
485
00:31:26,266 --> 00:31:28,567
How can we sleep so soundly
486
00:31:28,700 --> 00:31:33,100
in the shadow of
a smoking volcano?
487
00:31:36,266 --> 00:31:38,633
In another time, there
were others who faced a
488
00:31:38,767 --> 00:31:43,266
grave danger as if
immobilized in a dream.
489
00:31:54,133 --> 00:32:00,500
♪ ♪
490
00:32:04,700 --> 00:32:07,200
TYSON: Let me
tell you a story.
491
00:32:07,333 --> 00:32:09,667
Two men walk into a bar.
492
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,567
♪ ♪
493
00:32:14,700 --> 00:32:16,166
And they got into a fight.
494
00:32:16,300 --> 00:32:17,900
(glass breaking)
495
00:32:18,033 --> 00:32:20,667
(grunting)
496
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,000
(grunting)
497
00:32:26,133 --> 00:32:28,266
(gasps)
498
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:29,900
SOLDIERS: Allez!
499
00:32:30,033 --> 00:32:31,700
(grunts)
500
00:32:34,100 --> 00:32:37,266
TYSON: Louis-Auguste Cyparis
was arrested and taken to the
501
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,967
Saint Pierre Prison, where
he was locked in the dungeon.
502
00:32:44,867 --> 00:32:47,500
(grunting)
503
00:32:51,300 --> 00:32:53,633
TYSON: This all happened on
the French colonial island of
504
00:32:53,767 --> 00:32:57,467
Martinique in the
Caribbean in 1902.
505
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,633
In the midst of an
election campaign.
506
00:33:04,934 --> 00:33:09,433
On this April morning,
Fernan Cleric stepped outside
507
00:33:09,567 --> 00:33:11,767
to admire the view.
508
00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:14,600
He was master of
all he surveyed.
509
00:33:14,734 --> 00:33:18,000
The factories that turned the
island's trees into furniture.
510
00:33:18,133 --> 00:33:21,166
And the fields of
sugar cane and coffee.
511
00:33:22,133 --> 00:33:23,834
That's strange.
512
00:33:23,967 --> 00:33:27,633
Why would there be frost on
such a sunny warm morning?
513
00:33:27,767 --> 00:33:31,433
But it wasn't frost, it
was ash from the volcano,
514
00:33:31,567 --> 00:33:33,500
Mount Pelée.
515
00:33:37,734 --> 00:33:40,467
(eruption)
516
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,200
(gasps)
517
00:33:58,166 --> 00:34:00,333
TYSON: When the
ash began to fall,
518
00:34:00,467 --> 00:34:02,867
Claire Apprentice, wife
of the American Council
519
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,200
considered going
home to Massachusetts.
520
00:34:06,333 --> 00:34:08,467
No, but that was
out of the question.
521
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,266
There was the gala she planned
for the following week,
522
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,600
postponing it was unthinkable.
523
00:34:19,166 --> 00:34:22,834
And there were many who were
too poor to leave their meager
524
00:34:22,967 --> 00:34:26,166
possessions and flee the
city of Saint Pierre for a
525
00:34:26,300 --> 00:34:29,066
safer part of the island.
526
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,467
Others, with the
means to do so,
527
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,567
departed on boats.
528
00:34:40,633 --> 00:34:43,300
Mayor Fouché worked
late into the evening,
529
00:34:43,433 --> 00:34:47,633
drafting detailed plans for the
Ascension Day Banquet and Ball.
530
00:34:47,767 --> 00:34:49,600
Meanwhile, below...
531
00:34:49,734 --> 00:34:52,734
Servants cleaned ash
from the banquet hall
532
00:34:52,867 --> 00:34:56,033
in preparation for the event.
533
00:35:01,333 --> 00:35:04,367
The closest thing to a scientist
on the island of Martinique
534
00:35:04,500 --> 00:35:08,967
was an elementary school
teacher named Gaston Landes.
535
00:35:09,900 --> 00:35:12,266
Landes actually made a
pilgrimage to the newly
536
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,734
awakened volcanic crater and
shared his observations of
537
00:35:15,867 --> 00:35:18,867
heightened activity
in the newspaper.
538
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,767
But Landes was more
concerned about his
539
00:35:20,900 --> 00:35:23,100
forthcoming trip to Paris.
540
00:35:23,233 --> 00:35:26,200
He was to display samples of
the island's plant life along
541
00:35:26,333 --> 00:35:29,667
with the lecture he
had been asked to give.
542
00:35:31,266 --> 00:35:33,900
But, with the ash
falling at this rate,
543
00:35:34,033 --> 00:35:36,400
his specimens
would all be ruined.
544
00:35:43,533 --> 00:35:48,233
Mayor Fouché mustered enough
resolve to create a new poster.
545
00:35:48,367 --> 00:35:51,567
"Fellow citizens, be not afraid.
546
00:35:51,700 --> 00:35:54,633
No lava flows could reach
the city in the near future.
547
00:35:54,767 --> 00:35:58,333
We have seven kilometers
between us and the volcano.
548
00:35:58,467 --> 00:36:01,567
The amount of lava would
have to be impossibly huge
549
00:36:01,700 --> 00:36:04,900
to cross the two immense
valleys and the swamp
550
00:36:05,033 --> 00:36:07,834
between us and Mount Peleé."
551
00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:14,867
(coughing)
552
00:36:15,834 --> 00:36:18,400
In the early hours of May 7th,
553
00:36:18,533 --> 00:36:22,233
the people Saint Pierre awoke
to thundering seismic tremors
554
00:36:22,367 --> 00:36:26,400
and volcanic lightning near the
mouth of the hellish volcano.
555
00:36:27,433 --> 00:36:31,700
Now, mass panic began to spread.
556
00:36:31,834 --> 00:36:35,433
Troops were dispatched to
try and calm the public.
557
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:38,800
And then...
558
00:36:38,934 --> 00:36:41,233
Just before the dawn
of Thursday morning.
559
00:36:41,367 --> 00:36:42,834
May 8th.
560
00:36:42,967 --> 00:36:45,934
The volcano
became utterly calm.
561
00:36:46,066 --> 00:36:48,533
The air was cool and fresh.
562
00:36:48,667 --> 00:36:52,166
And the sea like glass.
563
00:36:53,367 --> 00:36:55,300
(eruption)
564
00:36:55,433 --> 00:36:56,800
(screaming)
565
00:36:56,934 --> 00:36:59,333
TYSON: When Mount Pelée
erupted at 8:02 AM on
566
00:36:59,467 --> 00:37:04,033
May 8th, 1902, the explosion
produced a sound so loud
567
00:37:04,166 --> 00:37:08,500
it was heard 500 miles
away, in Venezuela.
568
00:37:10,767 --> 00:37:13,033
The massive pyroclastic flood,
569
00:37:13,166 --> 00:37:15,700
a death cloud of
super-heated gasses,
570
00:37:15,834 --> 00:37:19,900
crossed the valleys
to the city in minutes.
571
00:37:24,633 --> 00:37:27,266
The explosion was the
equivalent of just one
572
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:31,133
strategic nuclear warhead.
573
00:37:32,834 --> 00:37:35,066
Three days after the eruption,
574
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:37,066
men from the other
part of the island,
575
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:40,500
combed the still smoking
streets of Saint Pierre.
576
00:37:40,633 --> 00:37:44,467
To collect the bodies and burn
what the volcano had failed
577
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:46,667
to consume completely.
578
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:48,600
(grunting)
579
00:37:49,100 --> 00:37:52,433
(calling)
580
00:38:02,367 --> 00:38:04,400
TYSON: Few have ever
experienced what
581
00:38:04,533 --> 00:38:08,834
Louis-Auguste Cyparis
endured and lived to tell.
582
00:38:09,533 --> 00:38:12,467
When the volcano erupted,
he heard the screams of his
583
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:17,467
captors briefly before
a terrifying silence.
584
00:38:18,667 --> 00:38:21,100
And then, a fierce heat
came blasting through the
585
00:38:21,233 --> 00:38:23,567
tiny vent in his cell.
586
00:38:23,700 --> 00:38:25,700
He hopped and jumped
around to avoid it,
587
00:38:25,834 --> 00:38:28,533
but was still severely
burned up to his shoulders.
588
00:38:29,500 --> 00:38:32,200
For three days he
suffered in agony with
589
00:38:32,333 --> 00:38:36,633
no other sustenance
than the moisture on
the walls of his cell.
590
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,000
His sentence to solitary
confinement in the thick
591
00:38:40,133 --> 00:38:43,700
walled dungeon
had saved his life.
592
00:38:43,834 --> 00:38:47,600
He was one of only
two survivors of the
593
00:38:47,734 --> 00:38:52,266
30,000 citizens of Saint Pierre.
594
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,166
What about us?
595
00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,633
Would we know when
to sound the alarm?
596
00:39:00,767 --> 00:39:02,967
Can we see what's coming?
597
00:39:03,100 --> 00:39:05,734
Can we awaken in time?
598
00:39:18,700 --> 00:39:24,734
(buzzing)
599
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,033
TYSON: We're back on the
trail of one of our two atoms.
600
00:39:32,166 --> 00:39:34,734
The uranium atom.
601
00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:40,467
A uranium atom is
inherently unstable.
602
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:43,033
Sooner or later, it decays.
603
00:39:43,166 --> 00:39:45,433
A particle from its
nucleus breaks away,
604
00:39:45,567 --> 00:39:47,433
transforming the uranium atom
605
00:39:47,567 --> 00:39:49,900
into an entirely
different element.
606
00:39:50,033 --> 00:39:52,500
Thorium.
607
00:39:53,066 --> 00:39:57,000
We're flying through the
crossfire of radioactive decay.
608
00:39:57,133 --> 00:39:59,133
Subatomic particles move
like bullets through the
609
00:39:59,266 --> 00:40:01,433
fine structure of life.
610
00:40:01,567 --> 00:40:04,300
Shearing electrons
from their molecules.
611
00:40:04,433 --> 00:40:10,233
This is how ionizing radiation
affects living things.
612
00:40:14,533 --> 00:40:17,500
Those chromosomes
never had a chance.
613
00:40:17,633 --> 00:40:20,033
This is why atomic weapons
are so much more dangerous
614
00:40:20,166 --> 00:40:22,266
than conventional ones.
615
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,867
Ionizing radiation is all
around us and even inside us.
616
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:28,367
At low levels, it
poses no threat.
617
00:40:28,500 --> 00:40:31,734
But at higher levels,
it's a different story.
618
00:40:33,867 --> 00:40:37,467
In the near term, exposure to
lethal levels of radiation can
619
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:40,400
cause a runaway reaction
of the cell that makes it
620
00:40:40,533 --> 00:40:43,300
multiply exponentially.
621
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:45,734
Cancer.
622
00:40:45,867 --> 00:40:50,967
But its power to harm can also
echo down the corridors of time.
623
00:40:52,467 --> 00:40:54,867
When the radiation tore
into the chromosomes of the
624
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,133
butterfly, it left a trail of
destruction in its wake that
625
00:40:59,266 --> 00:41:03,433
changed the destiny of the
butterfly's unborn offspring.
626
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,567
A mutation in its genes.
627
00:41:09,300 --> 00:41:12,033
We have a lot in
common with butterflies.
628
00:41:12,166 --> 00:41:15,166
Any change in the DNA
architecture will be copied
629
00:41:15,300 --> 00:41:18,767
over and over again in
succeeding generations.
630
00:41:18,900 --> 00:41:21,133
The damage is passed on.
631
00:41:21,266 --> 00:41:23,633
Vandalizing our future.
632
00:41:23,767 --> 00:41:27,633
We are made of atoms that were
born in stars thousands of
633
00:41:27,767 --> 00:41:32,133
light years away in space and
billions of years ago in time.
634
00:41:32,266 --> 00:41:35,467
The search for our own
origins has carried us
635
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:38,433
far from our epoch in our world.
636
00:41:38,567 --> 00:41:41,367
We are star-stuff,
deeply connected with
637
00:41:41,500 --> 00:41:43,633
the rest of the universe.
638
00:41:43,767 --> 00:41:47,233
The matter we are made of
was generated in cosmic fire.
639
00:41:47,367 --> 00:41:51,800
And now, we, ambulatory
collections of seven billion
640
00:41:51,934 --> 00:41:55,233
billion billion atoms
intricately assembled over
641
00:41:55,367 --> 00:42:00,100
eons has devised a means
to tap that cosmic fire,
642
00:42:00,233 --> 00:42:03,066
hidden in the heart of matter.
643
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,033
We cannot unlearn
this knowledge.
644
00:42:06,166 --> 00:42:11,600
And tragically,
insanity runs in our family.
645
00:42:21,734 --> 00:42:24,066
The letters that the
scientists wrote to begin
646
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,700
this nightmare were
followed by another.
647
00:42:27,834 --> 00:42:30,100
This one, a
letter to the planet,
648
00:42:30,233 --> 00:42:33,200
stating that this new
understanding of physics
649
00:42:33,333 --> 00:42:37,100
demanded a new
way of thinking.
650
00:42:37,233 --> 00:42:42,533
"Shall we choose death because
we cannot forget our quarrels,
651
00:42:42,667 --> 00:42:47,133
we appeal as human
beings to human beings.
652
00:42:47,266 --> 00:42:51,734
Remember your humanity
and forget the rest."
653
00:42:57,533 --> 00:42:59,000
And what of our other atom?
654
00:42:59,133 --> 00:43:01,533
The carbon atom?
655
00:43:01,667 --> 00:43:04,800
It's inside one of you.
656
00:43:52,300 --> 00:43:54,266
Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.