Arnold Kramish
Encyclopedia
Arnold Kramish was an American nuclear physicist and author who was associated with the Manhattan Project
. While working on the project, he was nearly killed in an accident at the Philadelphia Naval Yard where a prototype thermal diffusion isotope separation device was being constructed. (See Timeline of the Manhattan Project, 1944, September 2.) The priest of the Philadelphia Naval Yard offered last rites to Kramish, who refused, as he was Jewish. After World War II, he wrote numerous books on nuclear issues. He is perhaps best known for his book The Griffin - the greatest untold espionage story of World War II, about Paul Rosbaud
, who passed important scientific and military information from Germany to the Allies.
. He moved on to Harvard University
, where he majored in physics and was awarded a master's degree in 1947.
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
, Los Alamos National Laboratory
in Los Alamos, New Mexico
and at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. While working on a test in Philadelphia on September 2, 1944, Kramish was critically injured in the explosion of uranium enrichment equipment. Two chemists were killed immediately and two soldiers received severe burns in the accident, which occurred while they were trying to unclog an enrichment device which exploded, releasing steam laced with uranium hexafluoride
and hydrofluoric acid
. Kramish would later call the blast "perhaps then the largest release in history of radioactive materials".
Severely injured and losing consciousness, Kramish declined the assistance of a priest who was offering to administer Last Rites
. While recuperating from the severe burns from the incident at a Philadelphia naval hospital, his mother came to visit him by train from Denver, carrying with her a jar of chicken soup
on the three-day trip, which she fed him upon her arrival at the hospital, which Kramish would credit for his unexpected recovery. Despite wartime censorship of any details of the incident and secret classification after the war ended, Kramish lobbied the government to memorialize the victims of the accident.
as a liaison to the Central Intelligence Agency
providing intelligence estimates on Soviet nuclear capabilities and worked with Edward Teller
on the design and development of the Hydrogen bomb. Physicist Samuel Cohen
credited Kramish with being one of the first to obtain accurate information about Soviet efforts and making his best efforts to pass on that knowledge to senior officials. He assisted in the interrogation of David Greenglass
, who was one of the atomic spies
for the Soviet Union
together with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
. He was later employed as a nuclear weapons research strategist by the RAND Corporation.
During the 1970s, Kramish was an adviser to the United States Department of State
in Paris
, and during the 1980s he served as the chair of a study for the Reagan administration that recommended pursuing the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative
as a means to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. He was also an advisor to UNESCO
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
on nuclear arms control and security issues.
Kramish became a historian of the atomic era, writing The Griffin - The greatest untold espionage story of World War II, about a spy who passed information to the British about the German nuclear energy project
to develop an atom bomb for Nazi Germany
, using information he gathered from some 500 interviews. In a review of the book, The Washington Post
reviewer expressed his regret that "it is an ironic tribute to this bookish spy's mastery of his trade that the Griffin remains a surprisingly shadowy figure". Though he was frequently contacted as a source for history about the Manhattan Project and the history of the nuclear arms race
, Robert Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council
regretted that he was not "more forthcoming and generous in sharing what he knew".
, Kramish died at age 87 on June 15, 2010, at George Washington University Hospital
due to normal pressure hydrocephalus
. He was survived by his wife, Vivian Raker, a daughter, a son, a sister, and four grandchildren.
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. While working on the project, he was nearly killed in an accident at the Philadelphia Naval Yard where a prototype thermal diffusion isotope separation device was being constructed. (See Timeline of the Manhattan Project, 1944, September 2.) The priest of the Philadelphia Naval Yard offered last rites to Kramish, who refused, as he was Jewish. After World War II, he wrote numerous books on nuclear issues. He is perhaps best known for his book The Griffin - the greatest untold espionage story of World War II, about Paul Rosbaud
Paul Rosbaud
Paul Rosbaud , was a metallurgist and scientific adviser for Springer Verlag in Germany before and during World War II....
, who passed important scientific and military information from Germany to the Allies.
Education
Kramish was born on June 6, 1923, in Denver and received his undergraduate degree in 1945 from the University of DenverUniversity of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
. He moved on to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he majored in physics and was awarded a master's degree in 1947.
The Manhattan Project
While still in college, Kramish was assigned to work on the Manhattan Project, working in the special engineering division at the Oak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
in Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...
and at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. While working on a test in Philadelphia on September 2, 1944, Kramish was critically injured in the explosion of uranium enrichment equipment. Two chemists were killed immediately and two soldiers received severe burns in the accident, which occurred while they were trying to unclog an enrichment device which exploded, releasing steam laced with uranium hexafluoride
Uranium hexafluoride
Uranium hexafluoride , referred to as "hex" in the nuclear industry, is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It forms solid grey crystals at standard temperature and pressure , is highly toxic, reacts violently with water...
and hydrofluoric acid
Hydrofluoric acid
Hydrofluoric acid is a solution of hydrogen fluoride in water. It is a valued source of fluorine and is the precursor to numerous pharmaceuticals such as fluoxetine and diverse materials such as PTFE ....
. Kramish would later call the blast "perhaps then the largest release in history of radioactive materials".
Severely injured and losing consciousness, Kramish declined the assistance of a priest who was offering to administer Last Rites
Last Rites
The Last Rites are the very last prayers and ministrations given to many Christians before death. The last rites go by various names and include different practices in different Christian traditions...
. While recuperating from the severe burns from the incident at a Philadelphia naval hospital, his mother came to visit him by train from Denver, carrying with her a jar of chicken soup
Chicken soup
Chicken soup is a soup made by bringing to a boil and then simmering chicken parts and/or bones in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pieces of chicken or vegetables, or with noodles or dumplings, or grains such...
on the three-day trip, which she fed him upon her arrival at the hospital, which Kramish would credit for his unexpected recovery. Despite wartime censorship of any details of the incident and secret classification after the war ended, Kramish lobbied the government to memorialize the victims of the accident.
Post-war activities
After World War II, Kramish worked for the Atomic Energy CommissionUnited States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
as a liaison to the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
providing intelligence estimates on Soviet nuclear capabilities and worked with Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
on the design and development of the Hydrogen bomb. Physicist Samuel Cohen
Samuel Cohen
Samuel Theodore Cohen was an American physicist who invented the W70 warhead, more popularly known as the neutron bomb.-Biography:...
credited Kramish with being one of the first to obtain accurate information about Soviet efforts and making his best efforts to pass on that knowledge to senior officials. He assisted in the interrogation of David Greenglass
David Greenglass
David Greenglass was an atomic spy for the Soviet Union who worked in the Manhattan project. He was the brother of Ethel Rosenberg.-Biography:...
, who was one of the atomic spies
Atomic Spies
Atomic Spies and Atom Spies are terms that refer to various people in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada who are thought to have illicitly given information about nuclear weapons production or design to the Soviet Union during World War II and the early Cold War...
for the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
together with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg and Julius Rosenberg were American communists who were convicted and executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war. The charges related to their passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union...
. He was later employed as a nuclear weapons research strategist by the RAND Corporation.
During the 1970s, Kramish was an adviser to the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and during the 1980s he served as the chair of a study for the Reagan administration that recommended pursuing the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
as a means to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. He was also an advisor to UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...
on nuclear arms control and security issues.
Kramish became a historian of the atomic era, writing The Griffin - The greatest untold espionage story of World War II, about a spy who passed information to the British about the German nuclear energy project
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
to develop an atom bomb for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, using information he gathered from some 500 interviews. In a review of the book, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reviewer expressed his regret that "it is an ironic tribute to this bookish spy's mastery of his trade that the Griffin remains a surprisingly shadowy figure". Though he was frequently contacted as a source for history about the Manhattan Project and the history of the nuclear arms race
Nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
, Robert Norris of the Natural Resources Defense Council
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
regretted that he was not "more forthcoming and generous in sharing what he knew".
Death
A resident of Reston, VirginiaReston, Virginia
Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...
, Kramish died at age 87 on June 15, 2010, at George Washington University Hospital
George Washington University Hospital
The George Washington University Hospital is a hospital in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It opened on On August 23, 2002, with 371 beds in a 400,000 sq. ft. building, housing than $45 million of medical equipment and cost more than $96 million to construct...
due to normal pressure hydrocephalus
Normal pressure hydrocephalus
Normal pressure hydrocephalus , also termed symptomatic hydrocephalus, occurs when there is an increase in intracranial pressure due to an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain, which can cause ventriculomegaly...
. He was survived by his wife, Vivian Raker, a daughter, a son, a sister, and four grandchildren.
External links
- http://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/k/kramish_arnold.html Rand Corporation reports by Kramish.
- Biography
- Manhattan project era letter