The University of Birmingham (UoB) has a unique place in history for its contribution to one of humanity’s most devastating weapons: the atomic bomb.
During the Second World War, physicists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls conducted groundbreaking research that laid the foundation for nuclear weapons. Their memorandum revealed that a small amount of uranium 235 could produce an explosion of extraordinary measure.
This discovery convinced the British government to prioritise nuclear weapons research, leading to the creation of the Tube Alloys project, the UK’s early nuclear weapons programme.
The research conducted at UoB ultimately merged with the US Manhattan Project, responsible for creating the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These bombs caused over 200,000 immediate deaths. Many others suffered from radiation-related illnesses for decades.
The scientific breakthroughs developed on Birmingham’s campus directly contributed to these atrocities. But what is striking is the pride UoB has taken in this legacy. Far from reflecting on its complicity, the institution has openly celebrated its role.
On its website, the university highlights its historical contributions to defence technologies, emphasising its role in war research and military innovation.
In a section dedicated to the history of its physics department, Birmingham proudly references the work of Frisch and Peierls as a pivotal scientific achievement.
This complicity is not merely historical. Research produced in British universities, including Birmingham, has contributed to the destruction of Palestinian lives in Israel’s genocidal war, and their ongoing oppression.
British universities frequently collaborate with companies supplying arms to Israel. Thus technologies developed in academic settings are now used to maintain systems of surveillance, displacement, and the military systems that sustain the occupation of Palestine.
Despite being public services, universities like UoB do not operate outside of the capitalist system – they are deeply embedded within it.
Funding allocations for research are often dictated by big business, while university managers receive ridiculous salaries to defend capitalist interests.
The ruling class would rather waste academic potential and resources on developing technologies for destruction, rather than on anything socially useful.
The atomic bomb and the oppression of Palestinians are both products of a system where scientific progress serves the interests of imperialism and militarism.
UoB’s role in the creation of the atomic bomb is not just a historical footnote – it is a chilling example of how institutions of learning can contribute to destruction under capitalism.
