Jewish scientists were indeed crucial players in the Manhattan Project, but Mr Zahur omits the reason. It was due to Hitler's relentless persecution of Jews, and the brutality of the "Final Solution," that this phenomenon came about.

In the early 1900s, Germany was the world-leader in Science. From 1901 to 1932, German scientists won 33% of all Nobel science prizes. German-Jewish scientists dominated Physics, and Nazi sympathizers called Quantum Theory the "Jewish Science." After Hitler came to power, 20% of physicists, chemists, and biologists were fired from university posts because they were Jewish (the modern-day parallel is Pakistan's persecution of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, for being Ahmadiyya). Many other scientists (including non-Jews) left Germany to express opposition to Hitler.

As hundreds fled Germany, British scientists formed the "Academic Assistance Council" to help relocate refugee scientists. These refugees included world-famous names like Erwin Schrodinger (wave mechanics), Hans Krebs (Krebs cycle), Edward Teller (father of "H-bomb"), Enrico Fermi (who split the atom) and, most famously, Albert Einstein.

The only famous scientists who stayed behind were Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg. Heisenberg went on to lead Hitler's A-bomb program, and there are theories that he deliberately slowed the project down (delicately explored in Pulitzer-winning play "Copenhagen").

The horror of Nazi rule forced Einstein to finally drop his long-standing pacifism. In 1939, Einstein, Szilard and Wigner, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, warning him that Germany was developing the bomb. This finally pushed Roosevelt to begin the Manhattan Project. Einstein, however, could not join the project because he was denied security clearance due to leftist politics.

The final refugee from Nazi rule, Nobel laureate Nils Bohr, joined the Manhattan Project in 1943, adding to a stellar team of nobel-winning scientists. Bohr was the final link and two years later the Atom bomb was born.

Before Einstein fled Germany, he once made a reference to German anti-semitism by saying: "If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew."