July 1942

Ted Knight walked into a room at the University of Chicago. An Army general, who had been seated at the desk in the room, rose to greet him.

"Welcome, Mr. Knight. I'm General Leslie Groves. It's a real pleasure to meet you!"

"Thank you general. I'm pleased to meet you as well. Can you tell me why I'm here? Your invitation mentioned a secret government project, but I'm still in the dark about the purpose of the project."

"Mr. Knight, on behalf of the United States government and the War Department, we would like you to act as a consultant to the Chicago Atomic Energy Research Project. Are you interested?"

Ted's eyes lit up! "You bet! Atomic energy is a favorite interest of mine. But why are you asking me? I'm not a physicist and I've never published any papers on the subject."

"Several reasons, Mr. Knight. To begin with, you are certainly aware that the War Department has taken an interest in many of your recent inventions and developments."

Ted certainly was. The War Department had asked him to discontinue work on several of his pet projects, claiming that if the Axis was to get hold of Ted's technology, it could be used against the Allies. Ted could see the logic of this, and had agreed to table certain projects until after the war. But he was no fan of government suppression of research and development, regardless of the reasons.

"We think that your talent as an inventor can be put to good use by the Project." In the meantime, Ted added mentally, it will allow you to keep a closer eye on what I'm doing.

"Second, we know that while you don't have an advanced degree, you do have an intense interest in stars and the nuclear processes that go on inside them. So intense, in fact, that you have hired tutors in advanced mathematics and advanced physics to help you understand the latest theories. Your friend Albert Einstein says that you understand what goes on inside stars as well as any man alive. A recommendation from Einstein carries a lot of weight with us."

"Finally, President Roosevelt recommended you to the project. He didn't give any reasons, but then, he often does things without explaining. I've always found that he has good reasons for whatever he does." Ted was sure that the President's recommendation must have something to do with Starman.

"General, I'm honored by the offer and flattered to hear that Albert and the President think so highly of me. Why don't you tell me more about what you have in mind?" and the two got down to some serious negotiations.

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January 1943

Ted worked on many of the instruments, devices and mechanisms that made the first atomic pile successful. He improved the accuracy and sensitivity of the Geiger counter, and helped build the failsafe device that would shut down the reactor if the atomic reaction started to get out of control. Usually, the project members would tell him what they wanted, and he would go back to his own laboratory to build the new devices. Coincidentally, this allowed him to continue his career as Starman, and his exploits are well chronicled elsewhere. But it turned out that his most important contribution to the project was theoretical.

Atomic theory at the time predicted that once initiated, a self-sustaining atomic reaction would continue to grow until the release of energy was so great that it exploded. What wasn't clear was what would happen afterward the explosion. Conventional theory predicted that the release of radiation from an atomic explosion would be so great that it would initiate fission in any matter that happened to be nearby. The energy released by this secondary fission would cause more nearby matter to fission in a self-sustaining nuclear explosion that would consume the entire world, perhaps in as little as only a few minutes. Many researchers, including Ted, were unhappy with the math behind this theory.

Ted worried at the math in his spare time, and eventually made significant changes to it. Today he was presenting his results to General Groves and the other members of the atomic energy project. Before the meeting, he had covered both sides of a half dozen movable blackboards with complex equations.

Indicating 3 of the boards, Ted began. "Gentlemen, here is the conventional theory. Note that in this step, we substitute an approximation for this term" he circled a term on the second board "to transform to the next step. Under low energy conditions, this approximation is valid, but I've calculated that during the ultra-high energy conditions in a self-sustaining reaction, the approximation fails."

Ted pointed to the equations at the top of the fourth blackboard.

"I've redone the analysis, starting at the point where the substitution was made. Instead the approximation, I've used the exact expression." Ted moved to the next blackboard. "You can see that in the high-energy environment of the self-sustaining nuclear reaction, the expansion of the original term introduces a factor that we have totally ignored up until now. As you can see, here and here" again Ted circled terms on the 6th board "expansion of this new factor introduces a dampening effect, which confines the reaction to the original fissionable materials."

The scientists applauded. They quickly began talking among themselves, and an excited buzz filled the room as they discussed the implications of this change to the widely accepted theory. Enrico Fermi jumped out of his chair, practically ran up to Ted, and vigorously shook his hand. "Congratulations on magnificent work, Ted!" he heartily clapped Ted on the back. "I also was uneasy with that approximation. But I've been so busy with monitoring the safety of the Pile recently that I haven't had time to do theoretical work." The 'Pile' was the first atomic reactor ever built. Everyone knew that Enrico was a fanatic about safety.

General Groves stood up as well. "Well, gentlemen, can someone tell me, in practical layman's terms, what all this excitement means?"

The room immediately became silent. Everyone in the room knew what the General had on his mind. Robert Oppenheimer responded, his voice quavering with tension. It was clear to everyone that he really didn't want to say what he had to say. "General, it means that we can finally build and use the atomic bomb without worrying anymore that it will destroy the whole planet."

Through unspoken consent, the meeting quickly broke up. Several scientists approached Ted to shake his hand and quietly offer congratulations. It wasn't every day that such an important theory was amended in such a significant way. And yet the apprehension about the atomic bomb development, which now seemed inevitable, was clearly affecting everyone.

Ted was devastated. He refused to do any further development work on the bomb. On the one hand, his country was at war, and he knew that any new weapons that were developed would help the Allies win the war. Winning the war was a goal Ted felt strongly about! But he also knew that his breakthrough contribution to atomic theory would soon lead to the construction of the most terrible, deadly weapons every created.