Genius in the Shadows Quotes

“What we call disorder or chaos might actually be order, if order is seen as a random distribution and not as a static, idealized condition.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“I believe that many children are born with an inquisitive mind, the mind of a scientist, and I assume that I became a scientist because in some ways I remained a child.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Your knowledge and wisdom determine who you are. In our society, there is a market for skills and knowledge. But I have some doubts if there is much of a market for wisdom.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“. . . the most important thing to remember about science is the fact that it is supposed to be fun. . . . Doing nothing—in a pleasant sort of way—was always considered in Europe a perfectly respectable way of spending one’s time,” he said, voicing his own predilection. “Here in America you are expected to keep busy all the time—it does not matter so much what you are doing as long as you are doing it fast.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“an expert is a man who knows what cannot be done.” Szilard found that last paragraph “rather irritating because how can anyone know what someone else might invent?”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Szilard and Fermi disagreed about how to report their own recent experiments; Szilard and Teller insisted that all uranium work must be kept secret, Fermi condemned censorship as unscientific. But, living in a democracy now, he proposed a vote, lost to the Hungarians two to one, and when back at Columbia, advocated censorship.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Szilard explained that the chain reaction might be possible and asked to borrow some money—he was nearly broke—for experiments to confirm this. “How much money do you need?” Liebowitz asked. “Well, I’d like to borrow $2,000,” Szilard said. Liebowitz took out his checkbook. This was the first American money spent on the chain-reaction concept, and it is no exaggeration to say that this small loan helped change the fate of the world.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Keeping his chain-reaction patent a secret was one way for Szilard to prevent Germany from realizing fission’s military potential. Another way was to urge fellow scientists to censor their own research.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“What began as Szilard’s personal crusade to harness the nuclear chain reaction would eventually become the federal government’s $2 billion program to make atomic bombs: the Manhattan Project.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Although Szilard would not learn about uranium fission for another month, once he did, the despair of that bleak December turned to exhilaration. Then to new fear. The coming year would bring a frenzy of scientific and political activity. Indeed, during 1939, Szilard would almost single-handedly lead the physics community and the US government to join forces in atomic energy research.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“He credits this decision to three people: H. G. Wells, who showed Szilard “what the liberation of atomic energy on a large scale would mean”; and Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie, the French nuclear scientists who at about this time demonstrated that radioactivity could be created artificially and need not depend on nature’s elemental design.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“He credits this decision to three people: H. G. Wells, who showed Szilard “what the liberation of atomic energy on a large scale would mean”; and Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie, the French nuclear scientists who at about this time demonstrated that radioactivity could be created artificially and need not depend”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“And while living on his savings, Szilard had no other scientific or academic burdens and deadlines. No family. No close friends. No household chores. No pets. No hobbies. When he wanted to think about the chain reaction, he could. And did. For days and nights at a time.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“From his intense and exuberant child-hood in Budapest’s elegant Garden District he gained the means to be a”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Leo’s real problem,” Trude once told Puck, “is that he doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Leo said that his function was to head up the Happiness Committee,” Lerner recalled. “He said a university ran on the happiness of the faculty, and he wanted to be the one to think up ways of keeping them happy.” See that they are well paid, Szilard said, that their offices are comfortable, their graduate assistants are bright and eager, and that the faculty club food is appetizing. Then you will have a first-rate university!”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“imagination is the tool which has to be used if the impossible is to be accomplished.”74”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“he mentioned that The Tragedy of Man by Madách had “influenced my whole life.” The moral he recalled from it was that no matter how gloomy the human condition, we must maintain a “narrow margin of hope” and take action.60”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Allison gave the reporters something more stirring to write about. “Scientist Drops A-Bomb: Blasts Army Shackles,” the Chicago Tribune reported about his remarks. “We are determined to return to free research, as before the war,” he said, warning that if military regulations hampered the free exchange of scientific information, researchers in America “would leave the field of atomic energy and devote themselves to studying the color of butterfly wings.”1”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Adamson scoffed. It generally takes two wars to develop a new weapon, he said; besides, it was “morale,” not research, that led to victory. Shifting in his chair, the formal and ever-polite Wigner could not contain his impatience. “Perhaps,” he told Adamson in a high-pitched but steady voice, enunciating every syllable, “it would be better if we did away with the War Department and spread the military funds among the civilian population. That would raise a lot of morale.”49”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Honor children. Listen reverently to their words and speak to them with infinite love.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Recognize the connections of things and the laws of conduct of men so that you may know what you are doing.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“It is hard to be right and be a pessimist,” Szilard concluded.24”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Those insights in science that have led to a breakthrough were not logically derived from preexisting knowledge: The creative processes on which the progress of science is based operate on the level of the subconscious.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb

“Let your acts be directed toward a worthy goal but do not ask if they will reach it; they are to be models and examples, not means to an end.”
― William Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb