History: Manfred von Ardenne

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

The following appeared in the May 29, 1997,
San Jose Mercury News:

>Manfred von Ardenne, worked on Soviet A-bomb
>
>DRESDEN, Germany (AP) - German physicist Manfred
>von Ardenne, an inventor drafted by the Soviets
>to help develop an atomic bomb after World War II,
>has died at age 90.
>
>...
>
>The Soviets became interested in Mr. von Ardenne for
>his work during World War II developing a cyclotron,
>a particle acclerator used for atom research, in an
>underground Berlin laboratory.
>
>Working in a Soviet lab on the Black Sea, he
>developed a process for splitting isotopes to create
>highly enriched uranium 235 -- key to the Soviets'
>success in creating a nuclear bomb.
>
>Mr. von Ardenne later said the Soviets' bomb helped
>bring parity to the U.S.-Soviet arms race.  "It was
>our contribution to atomic peace," he said.
>
>He began his scientific career as an inventor,
>creating radio television components during the
>pioneering days of communication, and later building
>medical equipment, including lung diagnostic
>equipment and an electronic microscope.
>
>He returned to East Germany in 1955 and established
>a research institute, which with 500 employees was
>the largest in East Germany when the Berlin Wall
>fell.