Trinity - the science and treachery of Klaus Fuchs: the most dangerous spy in history

by Prof. Frank Close (Oxford)

Wednesday 1 Mar 2023, 13:00 → 14:00 Europe/Berlin

Zoom (DESY Zeuthen)

"Trinity" was the codename for the test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on 16 July 1945. Frank Close's best-selling book - "Trinity" - tells the story of the bomb's metaphorical father, Rudolf Peierls; his intellectual son and assistant, the atomic spy Klaus Fuchs; and the ghosts of the security services in Britain, the USA and USSR. Today's talk will focus on Fuchs the scientist and spy, his relationship with Peierls - two Germans of very different backgrounds but with a common hatred of fascism that brought them together in what became like a Shakespearean tragedy. The talk reveals Fuchs’ previously secret role in developing the H bomb and the United Kingdom’s own atomic bomb, both of which were an open secret in Moscow thanks to Fuchs’ espionage. After his arrest in 1950 he was released from prison in 1959 and settled in Dresden, in what was then East Germany. The talk reveals that the KGB hoped that Fuchs would be their agent in the DDR!

 

This is a VIDEO COLLOQUIUM!

Connection details at https://desy.zoom.us/j/99616528733

Meeting ID: 996 1652 8733 
Meeting Password: 733220

FrankClose_colloquium.mp4