Federation of American Scientists

The Federation of American Scientists appears in the book as the archival home of records documenting a public response by Los Alamos scientists to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In particular, its records preserve material from the Association of Los Alamos Scientists’ radio series for station KOB, connecting the Federation to the historical record of scientists’ efforts to report on the bomb’s human consequences.

Documentary Connection

The evidence identifies the Federation of American Scientists through its records, which contain transcripts from the Association of Los Alamos Scientists’ KOB radio series. This establishes a specific documentary relationship: the Federation’s holdings preserve accounts of the scientists’ public communications, rather than demonstrating that the Federation itself organized or broadcast the series.

Reporting on Hiroshima

One item in the series is Phil Morrison’s radio talk, identified as report number three and titled “Death of Hiroshima.” The cited transcript documents a scientist addressing the bombing’s aftermath through radio, extending the discussion beyond the laboratory and into public communication. The material places the Federation’s records in the history of how scientists sought to convey the consequences of the weapon they had helped create.

Historical Context

The radio material belongs to a wider record of unease among scientists at Los Alamos. As the war approached its end, some discussed whether continued bomb development and its eventual use could be justified; later accounts describe both informal conversations and organized meetings about the weapon’s effects and place in world politics. The KOB series provides evidence of a public-facing strand of this response, distinct from those internal deliberations.

Evidentiary Limits and Significance

The book’s evidence supports the Federation’s importance here as a repository through which these broadcasts and transcripts can be traced. It does not specify when the Federation acquired the records, explain its institutional structure, or establish that it directed the Association of Los Alamos Scientists’ broadcasts. Its documented significance is narrower but concrete: preserving material that allows the scientists’ post-Hiroshima reporting to remain part of the historical record.