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Yukawa received a Nobel Prize in 1949 for predicting the pi meson but while in Japan he published his theory which explained the interaction between protons and neutrons in 1935. What work did he do during the war years?

I assume his work was not needed by the United States to complete the A-Bomb but did Japan keep it secret since he worked in Japan ?

If it was published I am wondering what the U.S. reaction was considering the U.S. had banned any mention of atomic physics in any form be stripped from any publications in the United States and this also included the press as well as scientists in the U.S.

Sedumjoy
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    Kyoto University Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics on Dec. 21, 2017 released the journals kept by Yukawa during the second world war. The Japanese site Mainichi provides some interesting, non-technical details. – nwr Sep 11 '18 at 04:57
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    The article you site is very interesting . It says the "F research " , I assume that stands for fission , was early in 1945. Now since Leo Szilard conceived of a chain reaction in 1933 one must wonder that the idea for this possibility was well known throughout the scientific community not only Germany , Britain and the United States. – Sedumjoy Sep 11 '18 at 14:48
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    According to the Wikipedia page on Japan's nuclear programme the Japanese army and navy each has separate programmes: Ni-Go was the army research programme, while F-Go was the navy research programme. Yukawa worked on F-Go under Arakatsu. Perhaps the two programmes were collectively referred to a "F Research". Also, the wiki article states that F-Go started in 1943 following feasibility studies by the Japanese navy undertaken between July'42 and Mar'43. – nwr Sep 11 '18 at 17:03
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    ... the wiki article also mentions cooperation with the German nuclear programme. – nwr Sep 11 '18 at 17:05
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    Do you think the Japanese were specifically trying to see if it would be possible to make a bomb from a fission reaction or was the program more of a research effort with no clear objectives ? I am trying to pin down who was the first scientist to realize that a fast chain reaction could be used to create a bomb. If Szilard thought of the idea in 1933 I don't know that he actually published anything so the F-Go and Ni-Go may have come up with the idea independently ? – Sedumjoy Sep 12 '18 at 19:20
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    The article Japanese Atomic Bomb Project notes that the theory behind fission was published and widely available before the war. It describes the Japanese efforts as "small and ultimately fruitless". The article states : "Historians generally cite a report from October 1940, penned by Tatsusaburo Suzuki, as the beginning of the Japanese atomic bomb research effort.". The article includes more technical details of the Japanese programmes. .... – nwr Sep 13 '18 at 00:32
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    ... Regarding the publication of details, the wikipedia article on the Manhattan Project states: "The discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938, and its theoretical explanation by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch, made the development of an atomic bomb a theoretical possibility." – nwr Sep 13 '18 at 00:34
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    wow "Japanese Atomic Bomb Project" is not well known history. This is very interesting , I was not aware the Japanese even had that level of knowledge concerning the atomic bomb – Sedumjoy Sep 13 '18 at 02:03
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    Yes, I found the article very interesting as well. It's not a subject that I am familiar with. Interesting question and an interesting subject. – nwr Sep 13 '18 at 02:11
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    There seem to be a number of comments here which should be posted as answers. @NickR, for example: your links , perhaps with some quoted material, should make a good answer – Carl Witthoft Sep 17 '18 at 12:50
  • @Carl Witthoft I listened to the entire Furman interview on NickR's link from Atomic Heritage Museum and it is a wonderful historic piece given that Furman passed away he recorded his entire experience with General Groves and included the work he did researching how far Japan was on their A-bomb projects. – Sedumjoy Sep 17 '18 at 13:42
  • @CarlWitthoft You're right. I should have posted an answer once I found the Atomic Heritage site. I am presently occupied with a number of unrelated things. Please feel free to summarise the linked material in an answer if you wish. – nwr Sep 18 '18 at 02:57

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