A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes

Smyth, Henry DeWolf

Published by U.S. War Department, Washington, DC, 1945

About this Item

Approx. 200, wraps, lithoprinted version, figures, appendices, some soil to covers, pg. VI-12 is blank (xerox copy of missing text laid in). Book is held together with two staples; bottom staple has come loose from front cover through approximately chapter II. There are double copies of five pages: the preface, and pages I-9/I-10, II-3/II-4, IV-9/IV-10, and X-9/X-10. This lithoprint edition was printed and distributed in August 1945 just after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were about 1, 000 copies printed, and they were distributed to the leaders of the Manhattan Project and to reporters covering the story. Henry DeWolf "Harry" Smyth (May 1, 1898 - September 11, 1986) was an American physicist and diplomat. He wrote the Manhattan Project's first public official history, which came to be known as the Smyth Report. Smyth advocated for a comprehensive report to be released to the public following the weapon's use. The report was released to the public on August 12, 1945, just days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9. Smyth was commissioned to write the report by Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., the director of the Manhattan Project. The Smyth Report was the first official account of the development of the atomic bombs and the basic physical processes behind them. It also served as an indication as to what information was declassified; anything in the Smyth Report could be discussed openly. For this reason, the Smyth Report focused heavily on information, such as basic nuclear physics, which was either already widely known in the scientific community or easily deducible by a competent scientist, and omitted details about chemistry, metallurgy, and ordnance. The Smyth Report was on The New York Times best-seller list from mid-October 1945 until January 1946 and was translated into 40+ languages. as is (page VI-12 is blank; xerox of missing text laid in).

Seller Inventory # 1801

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes
• Publisher: U.S. War Department, Washington, DC
• Publication Date: 1945
• Seller catalogs:
  • Atomic Bomb
  • Atomic Energy
  • Plutonium