E. Amaldi, C. Dilworth, G.P.S. Occhialini on F.G. Houtermans

Abstract

In the Occhialini-Dilworth Archives of the University of Milan are preserved four typescripts by E. Amaldi, dealing with F.G. Houtermans, German physicist, who fled to the USSR to escape the Nazis. During a Stalinist purge he was arrested. The typescripts were sent to the two Milanese physicists so that they might give a judgement. G.S. Occhialini and C. Dilworth, in fact, had personally met Houtermans in 1934 and in 1950. The scenario is that of the role of nuclear physicists during the WW2. The exchange of letters between Amaldi and the two Milanese physicists will be analysed in order to identify possible influences on Amaldi. I will highlight Dilworth's contribution, which found room in a chapter of Amaldi's biography of Houtermans.