Our friend the atom

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Movie
German title Our friend the atom
Original title Our Friend the Atom
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1957
length 53 minutes
Rod
Director Hamilton Luske
script Milt Banta (TV play)
production Walt Disney
for Walt Disney Productions
music Oliver Wallace
camera Walter Castle
cut Lloyd L. Richardson
occupation

Our Friend the Atom (Original title: Our Friend the Atom ) is an American documentary television film by Hamilton Luske from 1957 .

action

The documentary begins with Jules Verne's story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the writer's vision of how usefully atomic energy could be used. In fact, years later, submarines were powered by nuclear power and nuclear technology was born. Under the sign of the atom they wanted to show what is possible and planned an exhibition in Disneyland that should show how nuclear power works. The way to get there is described in this film.

Dr. Heinz Haber reports how the book accompanying this exhibition was created. The authors found that the story of the atom is like a fairy tale of 1001 nights : the fisherman and the demon (analogous to Aladin and the magic lamp ). Just as the fisherman frees the demon from the lamp, so the scientists were able to liberate the power of the atom in uranium . With a Geiger counter , Haber demonstrates that the demon is actually trapped in the rock. The history of the atom begins in Greece, 400 years before Christ, when it was believed that all things would consist of the four basic elements (fire, water, earth, air) and even then Democritus assumed that these elements could be broken down into smaller ones Components could disassemble. He gave these particles the name Atomos , which means "indivisible". However, Aristotle contradicted him , who shook this theory by saying that air cannot consist of small particles because it would then have to fall to the ground. And so Aristotle's way of thinking dominated humanity for the next two millennia and the idea of ​​the atom was lost again. In the 17th century people went beyond mere thinking and began to act according to the motto: "Seeing is believing". He invented the telescope with which he could see to the moon and discovered the planets . He discovered space in its infinite expanse. He also discovered the microscope that enabled him to decipher a micro-world and see the most hidden details of things. Drops of water revealed themselves as living worlds, filled with thousands of tiny animals and plants. Man also discovered the world of crystals and the atoms hidden behind them that create the structures. However, he could not see this with this early microscope, he could only guess. One of the first to scientifically research the atomic world was John Dalton . He was followed by the Italian Amadeo Avogadro , who discovered the molecules.

Haber explains that atoms are constantly in motion, which increases when heated. Molecules do not burn when they are heated up, they only regroup. With this knowledge and the harnessing of the power of water vapor, the age of technology was ushered in. Steam engines were built and, among other things, electricity was generated. In order not to burn the precious coal and sacrifice these reserves for energy generation, the scientists researched an alternative. Henri Becquerel discovered the radioactivity in uranium, which Pierre and Marie Curie took up and discovered a new element: radium . This element, which apparently emits energy continuously, remained a mystery for a long time until it was recognized that lead can shield the radioactive elements and direct their power in a certain path. Through Ernest Rutherford's research into the atomic nucleus, the entire structure of atoms was deciphered and it was found that the radioactivity is due to the fact that some elements harbor so many protons in their atomic nucleus that it becomes unstable and individual protons leave this nucleus and go outside as radiation penetrate. Although each atom can only give off a proton once, there are so many atoms that the radiation can last for a very long time. In order to use this energy, the scientists found the possibility of splitting atomic nuclei, which continues in a pyramid scheme, thus triggering a chain reaction.

When it was first used, humans unleashed the "demon" and used atomic energy as a bomb . Then he tried to tame the force and succeeded in making atomic fission more controllable and using it as an energy source. The power is tamed in a nuclear reactor and can be used peacefully.

It was planned to use atomic energy to generate electricity and to build nuclear-powered ships and aircraft. Atomic energy would be clean, noiseless and productive. Radioactivity should also be used for medicine and research.

Dr. At the end of the documentary, Heinz Haber appeals that the “demon of the atom” should always remain our friend. It is up to us to make wise use of the atom's treasures.

production

The film was produced on behalf of the US government in order to improve the image of nuclear physics . He appeared on January 23, 1957 as part of the Disney television series Disneyland . Originally this documentary should run under the title Adam to Atom , but since this title did not fit the Disneyland show, the film was renamed.

The film was accompanied by a book entitled The Walt Disney Story of Our Friend the Atom , which was developed by Walt Disney and Heinz Haber .

reception

The journalist Rainer Hank wrote in 2011 about the film and the context in which it was made:

“It's worth watching the Walt Disney film today […] to get an idea of ​​how drunk the post-war era was with the blessing of the atom. Anyone who had called nuclear power “just” a “ bridging technology ” would have been laughed at by the majority of contemporaries. Using them to generate energy was the lowest level of the atomic blessing: cars, submarines, airplanes, basically all of life, should be powered by the atom. The dream of the peaceful nuclear industry is the 'integration ideology of the fifties', writes the historian Joachim Radkau in 1983 in his […] standard work on the 'rise and crisis of the German nuclear industry'. "

The satirical magazine extra 3 of the NDR parodied the film in 2007 in several episodes under the title “ No fear of the atom! ", In which" Atomi "the ignorant and worried" Dr. Schmidt ”cynically points out the harmlessness of atomic energy.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Hank: Germany and nuclear power: Our friend, the atom . In: FAZ . March 27, 2011 ( faz.net [accessed December 5, 2019]).
  2. ^ Joachim Radkau: Rise and Crisis of the German Nuclear Industry 1945–1975. Replaced Alternatives in Nuclear Technology and the Origin of the Nuclear Controversy . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-499-17756-0 .
  3. ↑ NDR: No fear of the atom (2007). Retrieved December 5, 2019 .