Editing Leo Szilard (section)

==After the war==
[[File:Szilard and Hilberry.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Szilard and [[Norman Hilberry]] at the site of [[Chicago Pile-1|CP-1]], at the [[University of Chicago]], some years after the war. The building was demolished in 1957.]]
In 1946, Szilard secured a research professorship at the University of Chicago that allowed him to research in biology and the social sciences. He teamed up with [[Aaron Novick]], a chemist who had worked at the Metallurgical Laboratory during the war. The two men saw biology as a field that had not been explored as much as physics and was ready for scientific breakthroughs. It was a field that Szilard had been working on in 1933 before he had become subsumed in the quest for a nuclear chain reaction.{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|pp=377–378}} The duo made considerable advances. They invented the [[chemostat]], a device for regulating the growth rate of the [[microorganism]]s in a [[bioreactor]],<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://users.mat.unimi.it/users/naldi/chemostat.pdf |title=Nonlinear population dynamics in the chemostat |first=Jean-Philippe |last=Grivet |journal=Computing in Science and Engineering |issn=1521-9615 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=48–55 |date=January 1, 2001 |doi=10.1109/5992.895187 |bibcode=2001CSE.....3a..48G }} The chemostat was independently invented the same year by [[Jacques Monod]].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |issn=0036-8075 |date=December 15, 1950 |first1=Aaron |last1=Novick |author-link=Aaron Novick |first2=Leo |last2=Szilard |title=Description of the Chemostat |volume=112 |issue=2920 |pages=715–716 |doi=10.1126/science.112.2920.715 |bibcode = 1950Sci...112..715N |pmid=14787503}}</ref> and developed methods for measuring the growth rate of bacteria. They discovered [[feedback inhibition]], an important factor in processes such as growth and metabolism.{{sfn|Hargittai|2006|pp=143–144}} Szilard gave essential advice to [[Theodore Puck]] and [[Philip I. Marcus]] for their first cloning of a human cell in 1955.{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|pp=395–397}}

===Personal life===
Before his relationship with his later wife Gertrud "Trude" Weiss, Leo Szilard's life partner in the period 1927–1934 was the kindergarten teacher and opera singer [[Gerda Philipsborn]], who also worked as a volunteer in a Berlin asylum organization for refugee children and in 1932 moved to India to continue this work.<ref>{{cite web |first=Gene |last=Dannen |title=Physicist's Lost Love: Leo Szilard and Gerda Philipsborn
| publisher=dannen.com |date=January 26, 2015| url=http://www.dannen.com/lostlove |access-date=January 24, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Blumberg-Kason |first=Susan |date=2024-08-19 |title="Jamia's Aapa Jaan: The Many Lifeworlds of Gerda Philipsborn" by Margrit Pernau |url=https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/jamias-aapa-jaan-the-many-lifeworlds-of-gerda-philipsborn-by-margrit-pernau/ |access-date=2024-09-17 |language=en-US}}</ref> Szilard married Trude Weiss,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb0684494r|title=Trude Weiss Szilard interviewed by Harold Keen at the Jewish Community Center|year=1980}}</ref> a physician, in a civil ceremony in New York on October 13, 1951. They had known each other since 1929 and had frequently corresponded and visited each other ever since. Weiss took up a teaching position at the [[University of Colorado Denver|University of Colorado]] in April 1950, and Szilard began staying with her in [[Denver]] for weeks at a time when they had never been together for more than a few days before. Single people living together was frowned upon in the conservative United States at the time and, after they were discovered by one of her students, Szilard began to worry that she might lose her job. Their relationship remained a long-distance one, and they kept news of their marriage quiet. Many of his friends were shocked, having considered Szilard a born bachelor.{{sfn|Esterer|Esterer|1972|p=148}}{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|pp=334–339}}

===Writings===
In 1949 Szilard wrote a short story titled "[[My Trial as a War Criminal]]" in which he imagined himself on trial for crimes against humanity after the United States lost a war with the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/why-the-world-needs-more-leo-szilards/ |journal=[[Scientific American]] |title=Why the world needs more Leo Szilards |first=Ashutosh |last=Jogalekar |date=February 18, 2014 |access-date=May 29, 2015 }}</ref> He publicly sounded the alarm against the possible development of [[salted bomb|salted thermonuclear bombs]], explaining in a University of Chicago Round Table radio program on February 26, 1950,<ref name = Radio /> that a sufficiently big thermonuclear bomb rigged with specific but common materials, might annihilate mankind.{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|pp=317, 366}}  His comments, as well as those of [[Hans Bethe]], [[Harrison Brown]], and  [[Frederick Seitz]] (the three other scientists who participated in the program), were attacked by the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]'s former Chairman [[David Lilienthal]], and the criticisms plus a response from Szilard were published.<ref name = Radio>{{cite journal|journal = [[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]|title = The Facts About the Hydrogen Bomb|first1 = Hans|last1 = Bethe|author-link1 = Hans Bethe|first2 = Harrison|last2 = Brown|author-link2 = Harrison Brown|first3 = Frederick|last3 = Seitz|author-link3 = Frederick Seitz|first4 = Leo|last4 = Szilard|year = 1950|volume = 6|issue = 4|pages = 106–109|doi = 10.1080/00963402.1950.11461233|bibcode = 1950BuAtS...6d.106B}}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' compared Szilard to [[Chicken Little]]<ref name = Time>{{cite magazine|magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url = http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,828877,00.html|title = Science: fy for Doomsday|date = November 24, 1961|url-access = subscription|url-status = live|archive-date = March 14, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160314102436/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,828877,00.html}}</ref> while the AEC dismissed his ideas, but scientists debated whether it was feasible or not; the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' commissioned a study by [[James R. Arnold]], who concluded that it was.<ref>{{cite journal|journal = [[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]|title = The Hydrogen-Cobalt Bomb|first = James R.|last = Arnold|author-link = James R. Arnold|year = 1950|volume = 6|issue = 10|pages = 290–292|doi = 10.1080/00963402.1950.11461290|bibcode = 1950BuAtS...6j.290A}}</ref>  Physicist W. H. Clark suggested that a 50&nbsp;[[Megatonne|megaton]] [[cobalt bomb]] did have the potential to produce sufficient long-lasting radiation to be a [[doomsday weapon]], in theory,<ref>{{cite journal|first = W. H.|last = Clark|title = Chemical and Thermonuclear Explosives|journal = [[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]|year = 1961|volume = 17|issue = 9|pages = 356–360|doi = 10.1080/00963402.1961.11454268|bibcode = 1961BuAtS..17i.356C}}</ref> but was of the view that, even then, "enough people might find refuge to wait out the radioactivity and emerge to begin again."<ref name = Time />

In 1961 he proposed the idea of "Mined Cities", an early example of [[mutually assured destruction]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Szilard |first=Leo |date=December 1, 1961 |title=The Mined Cities |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00963402.1961.11454283 |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |language=en |volume=17 |issue=10 |pages=407–412 |doi=10.1080/00963402.1961.11454283 |bibcode=1961BuAtS..17j.407S |issn=0096-3402}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Horn |first=Eva |title=The apocalyptic fiction: shaping the future in the Cold War |date=November 1, 2016 |url=https://academic.oup.com/manchester-scholarship-online/book/30396/chapter/257463086 |work=Understanding the Imaginary War |pages=30–50 |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Matthew |access-date=September 3, 2023 |publisher=Manchester University Press |doi=10.7228/manchester/9781784994402.003.0002 |isbn=978-1-78499-440-2 |editor2-last=Ziemann |editor2-first=Benjamin}}</ref>

Szilard published a book of short stories, ''The Voice of the Dolphins'' (1961), in which he dealt with the moral and ethical issues raised by the [[Cold War]] and his own role in the development of atomic weapons. The title story described an international biology research laboratory in Central Europe. This became reality after a meeting in 1962 with [[Victor Frederick Weisskopf|Victor F. Weisskopf]], [[James D. Watson|James Watson]] and [[John Kendrew]].<ref name=EMBL_history>{{cite web|title=Brief History |publisher=European Molecular Biology Laboratory |url=http://www.embl.de/aboutus/general_information/history/ |access-date=February 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413125139/http://www.embl.de/aboutus/general_information/history/ |archive-date=April 13, 2014 }}</ref> When the [[European Molecular Biology Laboratory]] was established, the library was named The Szilard Library and the library stamp features dolphins.<ref name=EMBL_library>{{cite web | title=Szilard Library | publisher=European Molecular Biology Laboratory | url=http://www.embl.de/services/library/ | access-date=February 22, 2011 }}</ref> Other honors that he received included the [[Atoms for Peace Award]] in 1959,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/research/collections/collections-mc/mc10.html |title=Guide to Atoms for Peace Awards Records MC.0010 |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] |access-date=May 19, 2015 |archive-date=August 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150805013236/http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/research/collections/collections-mc/mc10.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[American Humanist Association|Humanist of the Year]] in 1960.<ref name=Humanist>{{cite web|title=The Humanist of the Year |url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/AHA/Humanists_of_the_Year |publisher=American Humanist Association |access-date=May 29, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114082408/http://www.americanhumanist.org/AHA/Humanists_of_the_Year |archive-date=January 14, 2013 }}</ref> A [[Szilard (crater)|lunar crater]] on the far side of the Moon was named after him in 1970.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5799 |title=Szilard |publisher=[[United States Geographical Survey]] |access-date=May 29, 2015 }}</ref> The [[Leo Szilard Lectureship Award]], established in 1974, is given in his honor by the [[American Physical Society]].<ref name=Awardees>{{cite web|title=Leo Szilard Lectureship Award |url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/awards/szilard.cfm |website= American Physical Society|access-date=March 25, 2016}}</ref>

===Cancer diagnosis and treatment===
In 1960, Szilard was diagnosed with [[bladder cancer]]. He underwent [[cobalt therapy]] at New York's [[Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital]] using a cobalt 60 treatment regimen that his doctors gave him a high degree of control over. A second round of treatment with an increased dose followed in 1962. The higher dose did its job and his cancer never returned.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lanouette, William.|title=Genius in the Shadows : a Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb.|date=2013|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc|isbn=978-1-62873-477-5|location=New York|oclc=857364771}}</ref>

===Last years===
[[File:Salk Institute (5).jpg|thumb|upright|Salk Institute]]
Szilard spent his last years as a fellow of the [[Salk Institute for Biological Studies]] in the [[La Jolla]] community of [[San Diego, California]], which he had helped create.{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|pp=400–401}} Szilard founded [[Council for a Livable World]] in 1962 to deliver "the sweet voice of reason" about nuclear weapons to Congress, the White House, and the American public.<ref>{{cite web|title=Founding|url=http://livableworld.org/about/founding/|publisher=Council for a Livable World |access-date=April 7, 2020}}</ref> He was appointed a non-resident fellow there in July 1963, and became a resident fellow on April 1, 1964, after moving to San Diego in February.<ref name="Papers" /> With Trude, he lived in a bungalow on the property of the [[Hotel del Charro]]. On May 30, 1964, he died there in his sleep of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]]; when Trude awoke, she was unable to revive him.{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|p=477}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=1964-05-31 |title=Leo Szilard Dies; A-Bomb Physicist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/31/archives/leo-szilard-dies-abomb-physicist.html |access-date=2025-01-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Union-Tribune |first=Gary Robbins {{!}} The San Diego |date=2014-02-25 |title=UCSD remembers father of A-bomb |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2014/02/25/ucsd-remembers-father-of-a-bomb/ |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> His remains were cremated.{{sfn|Lanouette|Silard|1992|p=479}}

His papers are in the library at the [[University of California, San Diego]].<ref name="Papers">{{cite web |url=http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/findingaids/mss0032.html |title=Leo Szilard Papers, 1898 – 1998 MSS 0032 |publisher=[[University of California in San Diego]] |access-date=May 29, 2015}}</ref> In February 2014, the library announced that it received funding from the [[National Historical Publications and Records Commission]] to digitize its collection of his papers, ranging from 1938 to 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/materials_documenting_birth_of_nuclear_age_to_be_digitized |title=Materials Documenting Birth of Nuclear Age to be Digitized |first=Dolores |last=Davies |access-date=May 29, 2015}}</ref>