Whichever way you pronounce it, Leo Szilard was a phenomenon. Credited for the creation of the Manhattan Project and the idea of nuclear chain reaction that spawned the atomic bomb, Szilard lived both sides of the arms race, working first to prevent, then to hasten, and finally to outlaw nuclear weapons.
Szilard could see the potential for mass destruction in the wrong hands and became a strong advocate for nuclear arms control and disarmament.
His life and works are the subject of William Lanouette’s book, entitled “Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb.” Lanouette painstakingly details Szilard’s life from information he gathered through research of the Szilard papers archived here at UC San Diego and from interviews and recollections of those that knew him well.
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