The Odd Couple and the Bomb; November 2000; Scientific American Magazine; by William Lanouette; 6 Page(s)

On the eve of World War II, European physicists Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard both moved into the King's Crown Hotel, near Columbia University in New York City. Although they had previously exchanged letters, they met by chance at the hotel in January 1939. The encounter led to one of the more colorful-and contentious-partnerships in the history of science.

Each man was a refugee from European fascism, and each possessed essential pieces to the puzzle that would ultimately release the energy of the atom. They quickly realized, however, that a joint effort would require them to overcome deep differences in their worldviews, work styles and basic personalities. Had Fermi and Szilard failed to persevere in their often uncomfortable collaboration, the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction would not have been developed by 1942, and the Manhattan Project would not have built the first atomic bombs by 1945. As Szilard later reflected, "If the nation owes us gratitude-and it may not-it does so for having stuck it out together as long as it was necessary."