| Description | 'Tube Alloys' was the code-name for the British atom bomb project during the Second World War. Its origins sprung from the MAUD Committee (another code-name) which had been formed after a memorandum by Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls (from March 1940) had suggested the feasibility of producing an atomic bomb.
Simon's involvement with the project was mainly concerned with the practical aspects of isotope separation. It was Simon's report on the separation of uranium isotopes by the gaseous diffusion method dated late 1940 (a copy of which is contained in this file) which contained the first realistic proposal for a sizeable separation plant.
The vital roles of Frisch, Peierls and Simon in the project, illustrate the importance foreign-born scientists to the UK's atomic research during the Second World War.
The two files in this section were originally catalogued as such and this order has been maintained. They consist of a copy of Simon's report on the feasibilty of a sizeable uranium isotope separation plant and of a more looser collection of papers on uranium isotope separation both during and after the Second World War |