"Such a weapon goes far beyond any military objective and enters the range of very great natural catastrophes. By its very nature it cannot be confined to a military objective but becomes a weapon which in practical effect is almost one of genocide. It is clear that the use of such a weapon cannot be justified on any ethical ground which gives a human being a certain individuality and dignity even if he happens to be a resident of an enemy country... The fact that no limits exist to the destructiveness of this weapon makes its very existence and the knowledge of its construction a danger to humanity as a whole. It is necessarily an evil thing considered in any light."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of very few physicists to excel in both theoretical physics and experimental physics. Fermi was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on i
13 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Enrico Fermi →
Related Quotes
"There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi."
"Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that…"
"He was simply unable to let things be foggy. Since they always are, this kept him pretty active."
"MAJORANA: There are scientists who 'happen' only once in every 500 years, like Archimedes or Newton. And there are sc…"
"As astronomer Carl Sagan thought about what Fermi said Fermi paradox], he began to be alarmed. ...This could only mea…"
"If Fermi had been born a few years earlier, one could well imagine him discovering Rutherford's atomic nucleus, and t…"
"Although the problem of transmuting chemical elements into each other is much older than a satisfactory definition of…"
"Where are they?"
"I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence."
"I hope it won't take long."