Szilard, Leo
{sil'-ahrd}

The Hungarian-born American physicist and biologist Leo Szilard, 
b. Feb. 11, 1898, d. May 30, 1964, made significant contributions 
to the development of the atomic bomb. Hearing of Otto Hahn's 
demonstration of uranium fission, Szilard was certain that the 
sustaining of a chain reaction would be possible. He helped draft 
the letter from Albert Einstein to President Franklin Roosevelt 
that ultimately resulted in the decision to proceed with the 
atomic bomb. Szilard later turned his attention toward the 
problems nuclear weapons posed, and he shared the 1959 Atoms for 
Peace Award with E. P. Wigner. His experimental work in molecular 
biology led to theories of mutations and the aging process.

James A. Booth

Bibliography: Esterer, Arnulf K. and Louise A., Prophet of the 
Atomic Age: Leo Szilard (1972); Feld, Bernard T., and Szilard, 
Gertrud Weiss, eds., The Collected Works of Leo Szilard: 
Scientific Papers (1972); Weart, Spencer R., and Szilard, Gertrud 
Weiss, eds., Leo Szilard: His Version of the Facts--Selected 
Recollections and Correspondence (1978).