Harold Urey TLS, Adopting German Scientist

Great letter from Urey, an American physical chemist whose pioneering work on isotopes earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934 for the discovery of deuterium. He played a significant role in the development of the atom bomb, but may be most prominent for his contribution to theories on the development of organic life from non-living matter.Nice fountain pen signature on this letter, size 8"x11" and in fine condition, one small tape stain not affecting lettter or signature.

During World War II Urey turned his knowledge of isotope separation to the problem of uranium enrichment. He headed the group located at Columbia University that developed isotope separation using gaseous diffusion. The method was successfully developed, becoming the sole method used in the early post-war period. After the war, Urey became professor of chemistry at the Institute for Nuclear Studies.

This lettr written to another scintist in Phiscs named Rudolph Ladenburg in rference to adopting German Scientis for his program and if Ladenburg had any suggestions. After the war the US was very intrested in recruiting German scientis. One Operation called ,Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II (1939–45). It was conducted by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), and in the context of the burgeoning Cold War (1945–91), one purpose of Operation Paperclip was to deny German scientific expertise and knowledge to the USSR, the UK, and the newly-divided East and West Germanies themselves.

Although the JIOA's recruitment of German scientists began after the Allied victory in Europe on 8 May 1945, US President Harry Truman did not formally order the execution of Operation Paperclip until August 1945. Truman's order expressly excluded anyone found "to have been a member of the Nazi Party, and more than a nominal participant in its activities, or an active supporter of Nazi militarism". However, those restrictions would have rendered ineligible most of the leading scientists the JIOA had identified for recruitment, among them rocket scientists Wernher von Braun, Kurt H. Debus and Arthur Rudolph, and the physician Hubertus Strughold, each earlier classified as a "menace to the security of the Allied Forces".

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