David Eli Lilienthal Quotes
Atomic energy bears that same duality ... expressed in the Book of Books thousands of years ago: "See, I have set before thee life and good, and death and evil ... therefore choose life" [see Deuteronomy 30:15, 19].
David Eli Lilienthal, 1899-1981, Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority, Chairman, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, This I Do Believe, 1949
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Biblical verse often cited by anti-abortion activists
Rutherford had been the first to split the atom in 1919.
Nuclear fusion is different from nuclear fission that currently powers atomic power plants. Fusion is the process the sun uses to generate all its power. Scientists understand exactly how fusion works—it’s much simpler than fission, but actually creating a way of doing it on earth has been a very difficult challenge. The National Ignition Facility has been trying to produce a fusion reaction for a number of years with no success.
The lecture was on radium and the radioactivity that scientists had recently discovered. This appears to be the first time a scientist suggested the possibility of using atomic energy to produce a powerful weapon. At the same time, note that he also mentioned the possible destruction of the earth. “Heavy matter” referred to the elements—many of which had not yet been discovered—that had larger atomic numbers than radium like uranium.
David Eli Lilienthal was an American attorney and public administrator, best known for his Presidential Appointment to head Tennessee Valley Authority and later the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He had practiced public utility law and led the Wisconsin Public Utilities Commission.
