Progress Report

Washington last week speeded up efforts to padlock the atom. President Truman endorsed the McMahon bill to control atomic energy. The House Naval Affairs Committee moved to make sure that even if foreign observers witness the atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll next May (see ARMY & NAVY), they will get none of its technical results. But during the week, news from four other countries showed that the atom does not stand still.

P: Czech Premier Zdenek Fierlinger vigorously denied a report that the Jachymov mines were being worked by Russians. (The report had also stated that the uranium was being sent to Dresden, in the Russian zone of Germany. Fierlinger did not deny this.)

P: Russia awarded a Stalin Prize to Konstantin Petrzhak and Georgi Flerov for their three-year-old "discovery of the occurence of spontaneous disintegration of uranium." Wired A.P. from Moscow: "Foreigners here have noted an air of Russian confidence regarding atomic research." Said a high Washington source: "The Soviets have been working for years on the atom. There should not be any surprise if they discover its secrets."

P: Australian Labor Leader T. Dougherty told a Sydney conference that the richest uranium deposits in the world have been found in southeastern Queensland.

P: German Nobel Prizewinners Otto Hahn (TIME, Jan. 21) and Werner Heisenberg said that Germany knew the secret of harnessing atomic energy in 1941. Said Heisenberg: "We were unable to apply it because of shortages of manpower and material. ... In June, 1942, we made a report on our progress to Speer [Albert Speer, Nazi munitions boss now on trial at Nuernberg]. At the same time American atom scientists made a similar report in the U.S. Then followed the great difference --America was able to start building the necessary factories. . . . Germany could not even begin work."

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