JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1848
MANHATTAN PROJECT PHYSICIST, KLAUS FUCHS, ARRESTED FOR ESPIONAGELondon, U.K. (JFK+50) Sixty-six years ago today, February 3, 1950, Klaus Fuchs*, a German-born British atomic physicist who was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, was arrested by officers of Scotland Yard for passing top secret information to the Soviet Union.
Fuchs, who earned his doctorate in Great Britain after fleeing Nazi Germany, came to the United States in 1943 to work on the Manhattan Project. He passed along detailed information to the Soviets while working at Los Alamos in 1945 and 1946.
The American Federal Bureau of Investigation cracked Soviet codes and were able to identify Mr. Fuchs as the source. The FBI shared this information with British intelligence.
Klaus Fuchs admitted everything, plead guilty as charged, and was convicted of espionage on March 1, 1950 in a trial which lasted only 90 minutes. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison but the sentence was later reduced to 9 years.
*Klaus Emil Fuchs (1911-1988) was born in Russelshiem, Germany & joined the Communist Party fleeing to England in 1933. KEF earned a PhD in Physics at the University of Bristol in 1937. He later earned a Doctor of Science degree from Edinburg University.
KEF joined the British atomic bomb research project and became a citizen of Great Britain in 1942. After his release from prison, KEF worked as a scientist in East Germany. He was also a member of the Central Committee of the East Germany Communist Party & of the East German Academy of Sciences.
SOURCES
"Klaus Emil Fuchs (1911-1988)," Atomic Archive, www.atomicarchive.com/
"Klaus Fuchs, Physicist Who Gave Atom Secrets to Soviets, Dies at 76," by Eric Page, January 29, 1988, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/
Klaus Fuchs (1940)
Police Photo
Flickr: Atomic Agent
The National Archives UK
FORMER PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON DIES IN WASHINGTON
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Ninety-two years ago today, February 3, 1924, Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, died here in the Nation's Capital at the age of 67. He suffered a major stroke in 1919 but was able to complete his second term.
The President, born in Virginia, continued to live in Washington after he left office and became the first President to be buried in the National Cathedral.
