It is a sort of rainy and gloomy morning here at The Baldpate Inn, so I have decided to focus on a key with a darker context- the key to the laboratory in which the first atomic bomb was worked on.
The atomic bomb's origins go all the way back to the year 1932, when James Chadwick discovered the neutron- an atomic particle with mass but no charge. By 1941, atomic research and work was being done in 12 American universities, one of them being the University of Chicago, where our key for the day comes from. Enrico Fermi's team at Chicago was able to create a sustained chain reaction of fission for the first time.
Stated on the letter below, Wayne Whittaker says, "Let's hope that this key symbolizes more than the terrifying atom bomb; that nuclear science will eventually give us a happier, healthier world." This can be considered a very controversial statement, as nuclear science and the invention of the atomic bomb are already extremely touchy topics. Whittaker also says that this world includes an "old-fashioned friendliness" that "reigns supreme" at the Baldpate Inn.
We could go on all day about debates regarding the atomic bomb, but that is where I will leave the topic for today. Come join us for some hot Baldpate soup on this gloomy day, and enjoy the rest of your afternoon!
Signing off,
Hunter
