Patent registration for nuclear bomb

A nuclear bomb is a man-made object created during the years of war, demonstrating one of the world’s most destructive powers, the pinnacle of human civilization. However, if it was man-made, it means that someone invented the nuclear bomb. So, who invented the nuclear bomb? If invented, would the nuclear bomb ever be patented?

The essence of the nuclear bomb is fission. Nuclear fission is a reaction discovered before the birth of the nuclear bomb.

Nuclear fission of heavy elements was discovered by Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann on December 17, 1938. Accordingly, this is a discovery, not an invention.

The fission reaction is a natural phenomenon. Similar to electrons, gravity, or other elements of nature, this reaction has existed in nature before and until it is discovered, the discoverer will be considered the ‘discoverer’ of the reaction, not the inventor.

The atomic bomb is a fission reaction. However, to create such a highly destructive weapon, does the head of the nuclear bomb project – Mr. Leo Szilard have important credit for changing the nature of a fission reaction?

In fact, Mr. Szilard had the idea of ​​building a prototype bomb based on the explosion, releasing atomic energy six years before fission was officially discovered, in the year 1932.

Accordingly, on July 4, 1934, Leo Szilard applied for a patent for an atomic bomb, or more precisely, for a nuclear fission reactor. In his application, Szilard described the basic concept of using a neutron-induced chain reaction to create an explosion.

In 1936, he was granted a patent.

At the end of 1939, Leo Szilard wrote a letter (Szilard-Einstein letter) and at the end of the letter signed by Albert Einstein and mailed to then-US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning him and the US Government of the possibility that Nazi Germany was on the track of nuclear weapons production. In the letter, they advised that the United States should go ahead with the nuclear war, and thereby, the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb was officially launched.

Invention of the nuclear bomb

Regarding his invention, Szilard said that he did not register the invention for personal use, to protect his rights, or to profit from it.

He did this in an effort to prevent other companies or other countries around the world from using the idea to create weapons of war. However, the essence of patenting is to make the content of the invention public to the whole world. Accordingly, understanding that the law in one country will not be valid for the whole world, especially for hostile organizations, Szilard delayed the patent publication time.

Under section 30 of the Patents and Designs Act (1907, UK), Szilard could assign the patent to the British Admiralty to ensure its confidentiality. As a result, his patent was not published until 1949 when the relevant parts of the Patent and Design Act 1907 were repealed by the UK Patent Act 1949.

***Other Articles***

– You could check Required documents of filing trademark in USA here.

– You could see What needs to be done after registering a trademark in US? here.

– You could visit here to see What is use in commerce of filing trademark in USA.

– You could also check here to see Procedure of Trademark in USA.

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