WORLD CONTROL OF ATOMIC ENERGY 17 



Our cooperation with Russia during the war was limited in general to 

 the field of operations. Many of the difficulties that will probably beset 

 the development of effective world control of atomic energy might have 

 been avoided if England and the United States at an early date had invited 

 Russia to participate in the development of the atomic bomb. 



A TRIP TO RUSSIA 



I was one of sixteen Americans who were invited to attend the 220th 

 anniversary of the founding of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 

 Moscow and in Leningrad during June 1945. We had excellent oppor- 

 tunities to observe Russian scientists at work and to learn of the extensive 

 science program that is being planned. 



The attendance at the meetings, banquets, etc., held in commemoration 

 of this anniversary was about eleven hundred, including about one hun- 

 dred and twenty foreign scientists as guests. The fact that such an elabor- 

 ate program was arranged for a date only about a month after the ending 

 of war in Europe demonstrates that the Soviet Government considers 

 fundamental science to be the foundation upon which they expect to 

 develop their postwar economy. At these meetings it was emphasized that 

 science has always been international in character and this cooperation has 

 been of great benefit to the whole world. The hope was expressed that 

 after the war such cooperation could be extended to other fields. 



We visited many of the institutes of the Academy and everywhere 

 found the greatest friendliness and found that all scientific matters could 

 be discussed with complete freedom. We all hoped that the Russian scien- 

 tists could pay us a return visit. 



Much of the work done in the institutes during the war was of a long- 

 range character that would find application only after the war. It had been 

 possible to defer men from military service for such work — something 

 that would have been impossible in the United States. The universities, of 

 which there are now seven hundred ninety, were training more men than 

 ever during the war, but the courses were reduced in length. I was told, 

 as if it constituted an important educational discovery, that ways had been 

 found to train men from the collective farms to become skilled industrial 

 workers in a far shorter time than had previously been thought possible. 



Some of the older laboratories had equipment much like that of German 

 or British laboratories of twenty years ago, but some were splendidly 

 equipped and had very skillful machinists, glass blowers, etc. Several large 

 new laboratories were in process of construction and were nearing com- 

 pletion ; these are to have excellent equipment. I was shown plans for a 

 new building for the Academy of Sciences about five to ten times larger 

 than the present one. 



