This Week in Science: Sameera Moussa, the Egyptian Mother of Nuclear Energy

Sameera Moussa 1917–1952 was an influential figure in the history of nuclear science and physics.

On August 5, 1952, the car came to pick up Sameera Moussa in Berkeley, California. An Egyptian native, she had come to the University of California to study with some of the “luminaries” as Oppenheimer called them at Berkeley to learn about their latest atomic research. During the war, the team had partnered with the University of Chicago and other laboratories on the Manhattan Project, in the race to be the first to complete the bomb. Even though the war was over, the specter of Communism was a new threat that spread across the nation and fueled the race to split the atom.

The driver opened the door for the thirty-five year old, her hair in that typical post-war style, curled at the top, with a kind of bob around her shoulders. She sat in the backseat as they left the city and headed along the California coast to her evening invitation. She had completed her research and was preparing to return to Egypt; but she had received an invitation for a dinner. So she had agreed and prepared for the trip.

Driving along the curved cliffs of the Pacific Coast, the car suddenly swerved and plummeted 40 feet over the edge.

Sameera Moussa was born March 3, 1917 in Gharbia Governorate, a region of northern Egypt. Since the 19th century, it was an important site in the Egyptian cotton and textile industry. Her father was a political activist in the region, and her mother died of cancer. When she was still young, she and her father moved to Cairo; and he ensured that Sameera attended school.

Sameera excelled and entered the Cairo University, studying radiation. She graduated in 1939 and started teaching soon after. She completed her study in England, where she made two great contributions to the history of physics.

Medical Contributions

First, in England, she worked on making the medical applications of nuclear technology, such as X-rays cheaper. X-ray technology was credited to the German physicist Wilhelm Rontgen, who studied this particular electromagnetic radiation. And it was quickly adopted by physicians to identify broken limbs and other ailments; but the technology was still clumsy and incurred numerous costs. The war had halted some progress in advancing the technology. By the end of the war, some of the problems that still needed to be solved at this time included: a need for shorter exposure times, easier fluoroscopic procedures, improving the flexibility of x-ray beams, decreasing patient exposure, and increased mobility. Sameera said, “I’ll make nuclear treatment as cheap as aspirin.”

She discovered an equation to access the nuclear energy for other metals, such as copper. This technology paved the way to create cheaper nuclear bombs. Because of this work, she was invited to the University of California at Berkeley on a Fulbright Fellowship. She worked with the nuclear team there, and she became the first foreign individual to work US nuclear technology.

I’ll make nuclear treatment as cheap as aspirin.

Atoms for Peace

However, she also played an important role in creating safe nuclear energy. With the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world was more afraid than ever about the dangers of nuclear technology. The Soviets acquired the bomb in 1949; and by November 1952, just a few months after her death, the United States would successfully detonate the hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands, devastating the atoll more than 100 times more powerful than the bombs in Japan.

Despite the real threat, politicians and scientists also knew the potential for positive applications for the technology. Sameera helped organize the “Atomic Energy for Peace” conference when she was in England. This movement sought to offer the positive elements from the science. For instance, she volunteered with hospitals in developing cancer treatments. In addition, the conference called on governments to create advisory councils to regulate the industry to protect against safety hazards.

One year later, President Dwight Eisenhower would echo this refrain in his famous “Atoms for Peace” speech. Although the United States had created an Atomic Energy Commission in 1946, the Commission prioritized nuclear bombs, more than other types of energy. In his speech, Eisenhower said, “The more important responsibility of this atomic energy agency would be to devise methods whereby this fissionable material would be allocated to serve the peaceful pursuits of mankind. Experts would be mobilized to apply atomic energy to the needs of agriculture, medicine and other peaceful activities. A special purpose would be to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world.” Thereafter, the Commission played a more direct role in the development of nuclear energy as an energy source, until the 1970s when the organization was largely shelved and allocated to various other departments.

Death

The death of Sameera is shrouded in mystery, and that the car accident was no accident. Instead, that she was targeted by Mossad to prevent Egypt from acquiring knowledge of nuclear technology.

The primary evidence in this story is that the driver was not found at the crash when the police arrived. However, we cannot know for sure what happened.

All we know is that the life of a brilliant young physicist was cut short on that fateful evening.