The material in this book falls into two categories: (1) a popular
version in terms understandable to the layman of technical data
published in scientific literature in this country and abroad, and
widely known among scientists everywhere; and (2) technical conclusions
reached by deduction based on these published facts and theory, for
which I assume the sole responsibility. In doing so, I wish to make it
emphatically clear that I have had no access to any classified
information on the current hydrogen-bomb program, and also that whatever
access I had to H-bomb information during my stay at Los Alamos in the
spring and summer of 1945 was strictly limited to the somewhat vague and
general discussions carried on there in 1945 and earlier.
I hereby take the opportunity to express my profound appreciation to Dr.
James G. Beckerley, Director of Classification, Atomic Energy
Commission, Washington, D. C., and to Mr. Corbin Allardice, Director,
Public Information Service, of the AEC’s New York Operations Office, for
their generous cooperation in clearing this manuscript for publication.
It must be strictly understood that any such clearance merely means that
the AEC has “no objection to publication” on the grounds of security. It
does not in any way vouch for the accuracy or correctness of the book’s
contents.