Work and Get Paid - Take the Cash but Get the Credit
Someone deserves the renown associated with thermonuclear weapons ...
and to the general public another person's name is associated with the
credit. To see how this plays out, look over the
Biographical Information, where a key excerpt reads:
Ulam, Stanislaw M. (1909 - 1984)
Stanslaw Ulam played a major role in the development of the hydrogen
bomb at
Los Alamos. Born in Lemberg, Pol., Austrian Empire [now Lviv, Ukraine],
Ulam
received a doctoral degree (1933) at the Polytechnic Institute in Lvov
(now
Lviv). At the invitation of John von Neumann, he worked at the Institute
for
Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., in 1936, and lectured at Harvard
(1939-40) and the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1941 to 1943).
Los Alamos
In 1943 he became an American citizen and was recruited to work at Los
Alamos on the development of the atomic bomb. He remained at Los Alamos
until 1965 and taught at various universities thereafter. Ulam had a
number
of specialties, including set theory, mathematical logic, functions of
real variables, thermonuclear reactions, topology, and the Monte-Carlo
theory.
Fusion Bomb
Working with physicist Edward Teller, Ulam solved one major problem
encountered in work on the fusion bomb by suggesting that compression
was
essential to explosion and that shock waves from a fission bomb could
produce the compression needed. He further suggested that careful design
could focus mechanical shock waves in such a way that they would promote
rapid burning of the fusion fuel. Teller suggested that radiation
implosion,
rather than mechanical shock, be used to compress the thermonuclear
fuel.
This two-stage radiation implosion design, which became known as the
Teller-Ulam configuration, led to the creation of modern thermonuclear
weapons.
Monte Carlo Method
Ulam's work at Los Alamos had begun with his development (in
collaboration
with von Neumann) of the Monte-Carlo method, a technique for finding
approximate solutions to problems by means of artificial sampling.
Through
the use of electronic computers, this method became widespread, finding
applications in weapons design, mathematical economy, and operations
research. Ulam also improved the flexibility and general utility of
computers and wrote a number of papers and books on aspects of
mathematics.
The latter include A Collection of Mathematical Problems (1960),
Stanislaw
Ulam: Sets, Numbers and Universes (1974), and Adventures of a
Mathematician
(1976).
A special issue of Los Alamos Science, 1987, no.15 is devoted to Ulam.
This is how Stan Ulam looked:
Publish a paper. Write or contribute to a successful proposal. Both are ways of ensuring some form of credit or cash.
