How influential was Einsteins letter to Roosevelt?
Einstein’s letter was delivered to the President by Alexander Sachs on 11 October 1939. Following the meeting Dr Lyman Briggs, director of the Bureau of Standards, was ordered to set up a committee to investigate. The first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Uranium was held at the Carleton Hotel, Washington on 21 October. At the meeting, the committee awarded Szilard and Fermi $6,000 to purchase the graphite they needed to continue their work on the chain reaction and the development of the first nuclear reactor.
