On July 16, 1945, researchers working on the Manhattan Project had a chance to see the results of their top-secret wartime efforts for the United States government when they were invited to participate in the first test of an atomic bomb called the Trinity. Was. Near his laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
One researcher refused to go – Polish-Jewish mathematician Stanisaw “Stan” Ulam. Although he became a center for the development of thermonuclear weapons, Ulam’s work on the bomb troubled him for a long time. Their story is shared in a new film, “Adventures of a Mathematician,” directed by German filmmaker Thor Klein.
“The original question was, would you build an atomic bomb if you knew Hitler was building it?” Klein told The Times of Israel on Zoom. “Most of us, including me, would agree with that scenario, that this is something we must do. Then the war ends, the world turns, and we move on. [After that] It gets more complicated. Why are you making a hydrogen bomb? It’s a more complicated discussion.”
Klein sees parallels with ethical challenges today: “You think of artificial intelligence, all of the biotechnology, all of that,” he said. “It’s not just a moral dilemma here, it’s a story of people, relationships … that’s all I wanted to explore in the film.”
When Ulam worked on the bomb, nearly his entire family was trapped in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe—except for his younger brother, Adam, whom he had sent to live with his uncle in New York. In Los Alamos, Ulm could only turn to two people for support—his wife, Francois, and his friend and Manhattan Project collaborator, John “Johnny” von Neumann.
Inspired by Ulam’s autobiography of the same name, the film recently released in the US, France and Russia and has been on the festival circuit since last year. Klein was able to show the finished version to Ulam’s daughter, Claire Ulam, before she died last year.
“It was truly a gift I will be forever grateful for,” he reflected.
some handwriting
More than a decade ago, Klein first wrote about the mathematician “Who’s Got Einstein’s Office?” in his hometown library in southwestern Germany. Learned through book. by Ed Regis. He not only read about Einstein’s work at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, but also about two other researchers working there – Ulm and von Neumann. Like Einstein, both were Jewish immigrants from Europe – Ulm from Poland, von Neumann from Hungary.
Klein described both as “people who grew up in a very particular time, grew up in a particular way, the Belle era in Western Europe, widely educated, very cultured people.”
Filmmaker Thor Klein. (courtesy dragonfly films)
The film owes Ulam two significant achievements. The Taylor–Ulam design (which also honors his Los Alamos colleague Edward Teller) has underpinned thermonuclear weapons since their creation, while the Monte Carlo method has been used not only for research into bombs, but also for computers and biology. has also become useful. Its name reflects its creator’s longstanding interest in gambling. A quote from Ulam reflects his amusement on the impact of his ideas: “It is still an endless source of wonder to me how a few scribbles on a blackboard or sheet of paper can change the course of human affairs.”
A still from ‘Adventures of a Mathematician’ by filmmaker Thor Klein. (courtesy dragonfly films)
Klein himself wanted to be a mathematician when his literature teacher suggested that he be more interested in the stories behind mathematics than in mathematics. As a filmmaker, he draws storytelling inspiration from past greats such as Stanley Kubrick, as well as the more contemporary Darren Aronofsky, whose film “Pie” also looks at math through the lens of the stock market.
Klein’s interest in the story of Ulm has been going on for years. In film school, he read the mathematician’s autobiography—which contained more details about his friendship with von Neumann—and eventually got the green light to turn the book into a film.
When the original leading man had to drop out, Polish actor Filip Toczynski got involved in a solemn casting call.
“He started reading in front of the camera and I knew it was him,” Klein said. “I had a really strong feeling that this was the right person for Stan.”
French actress Esther Garrell played the role of François and Polish actor Fabian Kosicki played the role of Johnny. Shooting took place primarily in Germany and Poland, although some of it was done at Ghost Ranch, near Los Alamos, the former home of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, who knew Ulm. Klein worked on editing the film closer to home in his living room with French editor Mathieu Taponier, whose credits include “Son of Saul”.
A still from ‘Adventures of a Mathematician’ by filmmaker Thor Klein. (courtesy dragonfly films)
The original screenplay spanned 150 pages and included many additional characters, “even Enrico Fermi, a good friend of Stan’s,” Klein said. “At some point, I had to abbreviate.”
He focused on Ulm’s journey from the east coast to the western US, describing it as an immigrant story. When the film begins, Ulam is on a fellowship at Harvard. He lives with his teenage brother, Adam, and makes increasingly desperate phone calls to Poland, begging the operator to keep trying to connect him to his family.
“Every day took a toll,” Klein said.
difficult decisions
Life becomes more complicated for Ulm after he falls in love with François Aron, a French Jew studying at Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts. He proposes a marriage that relies more on logic than romance, yet he ultimately succeeds. Then von Neumann convinced him to join a mysterious project on the other side of the country. He sends Adam to live with his uncle, which damages the brothers’ relationship.
“Stan was the older brother, more or less the only parent — or the person who could be the parent — left,” Klein said. “At the same time, he had to leave for Los Alamos. That didn’t make their relationship any easier. These were very formative years for a teenager.”
A still from ‘Adventures of a Mathematician’ by filmmaker Thor Klein. (courtesy dragonfly films)
In Los Alamos, Ulm joins an eclectic group of scientists, ranging from the brilliant but temperamental Taylor to a conscience-stricken American John Calkin to the German. klaus fuchs, who is spying for the Soviets. Robert Oppenheimer, their goal – at least initially – is to bomb the Nazis. Yet they keep working after VE Day.
When the Ulam finds a way to make a hydrogen bomb, he tells it to François, but wonders if he should share it with Los Alamos. His misgivings throughout the project are reflected by his absence from the Trinity Trial.
“It surprised me, his decision not to go to the Test,” Klein said.
The viewer doesn’t even notice the explosion – something the director intended.
“I think, first of all, everyone has seen the sight of the mushroom cloud,” Klein said. “It has become a symbol of pop culture, Einstein’s head and mushroom cloud. The image has no value anymore. It distracts from the message.”
Yet the tension behind the making of the bomb is ubiquitous.
“It was very layered, very complex, something always there, sometimes outspoken, sometimes not outspoken,” Klein said.
Scientists engage in heated discussions, with arguments both for the bomb (that it will protect their children) and against (that it will cause the deaths of soldiers and civilians).
A still from ‘Adventures of a Mathematician’ by filmmaker Thor Klein. (courtesy dragonfly films)
Jewish theme
For Ulm and von Neumann, there were more complications.
“These people were from Central and Eastern Europe,” Klein said. “The Jewish theme hung over them.”
He said, “Since 1943, [people] Knew there were death camps,” although not necessarily the full extent.
Stan, Adam and François Ulam all lost their families in the Holocaust.
,[Stan] Could hide his pain better than Adam,” Klein said. “In Adam’s case, it was the result of the survivor’s guilt. For him, he was alone [in their immediate family], except for Stan, to survive. I think he has been troubled by this for the rest of his life.”
Stan Ulam holding the FERMIAC, an analog computer invented by his colleague Enrico Fermi. (public domain)
Adam Ulm became a prominent Soviet scientist at Harvard.
“Never die between bond and love” [him and Stan],” Klein said. “I wanted to show, at the same time, the unresolved conflict.”
A different kind of unresolved conflict shadowed Ulm and von Neumann after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“They found themselves in a situation where bombs were used and people were killed,” Klein said. “Even if you look at it in the Cold War equation – we have to do this to keep everyone safe – certainly it has done something for them as people.
“In Stan’s case, he used humor to deal with it in difficult situations. Jokes were such a distinctive element to him. It wasn’t an antidote, it was like a drug, it was the use of jokes and humor. But It could never resolve the contradictions of his life.”