Template:Did you know nominations/Frisch–Peierls memorandum

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:45, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

Frisch–Peierls memorandum

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  • ... that the authors of the 1940 Frisch–Peierls memorandum were assigned to research nuclear weapons because, as enemy aliens, they could not work on secret military projects? Source: "Neither Frisch nor Peierls was British citizen. In fact, they were classified as enemy aliens, which meant that they could not work on any secret military program including radar." [1]

Improved to Good Article status by Hawkeye7 (talk). Self-nominated at 21:19, 24 December 2017 (UTC).

  • - Length, Date, Cite, QPQ, and Earwigs check. Mifter (talk) 08:30, 25 December 2017 (UTC)
The hook makes no sense: nuclear weaponry was a secret military project. Also, the cited source tells a more complex story; it says "Frisch and Peierls were informed that as “enemy aliens” they were to have nothing further to do with the matter" after their memorandum was received, but later "Both Frisch and Peierls went to Los Alamos as part of the British delegation." Antony–22 (talkcontribs) 02:51, 29 December 2017 (UTC)
That's what makes the hook interesting. The was no secret project until Frisch and Peierls reported in their memorandum that an atomic bomb was possible. Afterwards they became naturalised British citizens, and so were no longer enemy aliens. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 03:49, 29 December 2017 (UTC)
  • Replacing tick as the nuclear investigation project was not yet secret at the time they were assigned to it. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 06:45, 25 January 2018 (UTC)