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Re: [ATM] Dobson
Guy I am more sure of his envolvement in the Manhattan Project
than I am of his discipline there. Most of this is from a memory
of that TV bio and that was easily 15 years ago and suspect to
the effects of dead brain cells and neurons with low voltage.
What gave it credibility then (and now) was that he was doing the
talking. What he has done for and to people is what matters. I
listened to the him as he spoke to a bunch of amateur ATM's. They
came there to make mirrors and in the process came away with some
remarkably enlightening insights. The rest is interesting but
really doesn't concern me much. It's just inconsistent behavior
with others I have known who have shared similar spiritual paths.
It's a puzzle I loose no sleep over.
Art
> Are you sure he was involved in the Manhattan Project?
> I seriously doubt that. I also don't think he knows
> nearly as much physics as you seem to think.
> According to the 'Biographical Sketch of John Dobson'
> in his book "How and Why to Build a Sidewalk
> Telescope", Dobson graduated from HS in 1934, and went
> to UCalBerkeley "determined to be a biochemist for the
> sole purpose of finding out how to keep Einstein
> alive." (!!!) "He felt that Einstein was the best
> chance to get the cosmos figured out. 'I never knew
> I'd inherit the job.' After 2 years at Cal, he saw
> that the curriculum didn't suit him, so he quit in the
> middle of a semester and stayed out for 2 years "...
> (that's on page 2)
>
> Then he joined a dance group and grew long hair (about
> 1937 - an early Beat or Hippie?) that did dances
> supporting the 1937 Longshoremen's strike in San
> Francisco, among other things.
>
> He then went back to UCalBerkeley for a semester after
> a leg injury, then quit again for 2 more years, and
> "went back again at Swami Ashokanada's suggestion and
> graduated in chemistry and mathematics in 1943."
> (still all on page 2).
>
> Now, do you seriously think that somebody who had just
> graduated from college in 1943 in chemistry and math
> would be a central or even a peripheral figure in the
> Manhattan Project? I doubt it.
>
> On page 3:
>
> "Swami Ashokananda sent Dobson back to UC to finish.
> By then World War II was on, and to avoid going to the
> Front he would need a war-related job like teaching
> chemistry. [...] he knew that when he graduated he had
> to have a war job the very next day. [...] He
> graduated in 1943. The very next day, he took a job
> for Caltech. It was a war-work job in Berkeley and was
> later transferred from Caltech to the University of
> California there. it involved a great deal of field
> work around California. When the boss of that job was
> killed in a chemical accident, Dobson re-applied at
> the Berkeley Radiation Lab, where he worked till he
> joined the monastery in 1944." (page 4 now.)
>
> (May 8, 1944, it says a bit later on.)
>
> (I don't know about you, but in 1944, had I been
> alive, I would have been doing anything in my power to
> defeat the Nazis and the Japanese Empire!)
>
> Also, his story of his leaving the monastery is very
> different from the story you relate. In general, most
> of what you wrote is very much at odds with John
> Dobson's own written biographical sketch of himself. I
> wonder where you heard those stories? From John
> himself? Hmmmm...
>
> Guy
> --- artbianconi@blast.net wrote:
>
> > Dobson was NOT kicked out of the monastery for
> .....
> > Dobson is a physicist and was a key figure in the
> > theoretical
> > dialogue that was taking place at the Manhattan
> > Project in the
> > early 40's and whose intent was to build the first
> > nuclear
> > weapon.
> >
> > I am a little distracted by the fact that a
> > monastically inclined
> > spirit of his caliber would knowingly contribute to
> > the
> > development of such a device. I am not suggesting
> > that such
> > weapons are evil; I am just perplexed that a man of
> > such
> > spiritual temperament would help build one.
> >
> > By contrast, Enrico Ferme was not, in public, nearly
> > as obvious a
> > man of deep spiritual convictions as a Dobson. Yet,
> > when the
> > first successful nuclear pile was taken critical
> > under his watch,
> > Fermi is said to have seen it's potential as a
> > weapon of mass
> > destruction. He withdrew from any further
> > experiments and ceased
> > contributing to the project. Dobson has spoken
> > relatively little
> > on his own activity during that period, choosing
> > instead to focus
> > on his first love, astronomy. Is it avoidance of a
> > difficult
> > moral issue or simply a priority of passion? I don't
> > know.
> ....
>
>
> =====
> Guy Brandenburg
> Washington, DC
> My home page:
> http://home.earthlink.net/~gfbranden/GFB_Home_Page.html
>
>
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