Szilard petition
E96397
The Szilard petition was a 1945 document signed by Manhattan Project scientists urging the U.S. government to demonstrate the atomic bomb’s power before using it on Japanese cities, reflecting early ethical concerns about nuclear weapons.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Szilard petition canonical | 1 |
| Szilárd petition | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T797296 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Szilard petition Context triple: [Leo Szilard, organized, Szilard petition]
-
A.
Einstein–Szilard letter
The Einstein–Szilard letter was a 1939 letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, drafted by Leo Szilard and signed by Albert Einstein, warning about the potential for Nazi Germany to develop atomic weapons and urging the United States to begin its own nuclear research.
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B.
Frisch–Peierls memorandum
The Frisch–Peierls memorandum was a pivotal 1940 document by physicists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls that first outlined the feasibility of a small, practical uranium-based atomic bomb, helping to catalyze British and later Allied nuclear weapons research.
-
C.
Russell–Einstein Manifesto
The Russell–Einstein Manifesto is a 1955 public statement by leading scientists warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons and urging world leaders to seek peaceful conflict resolution.
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D.
MAUD Committee
The MAUD Committee was a British scientific advisory group during World War II that conducted pioneering research into the feasibility of an atomic bomb, helping to spur the later development of the Manhattan Project.
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E.
MAUD Report
The MAUD Report was a secret 1941 British scientific assessment that concluded an atomic bomb was feasible and helped spur the U.S. Manhattan Project.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Szilard petition Target entity description: The Szilard petition was a 1945 document signed by Manhattan Project scientists urging the U.S. government to demonstrate the atomic bomb’s power before using it on Japanese cities, reflecting early ethical concerns about nuclear weapons.
-
A.
Einstein–Szilard letter
The Einstein–Szilard letter was a 1939 letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, drafted by Leo Szilard and signed by Albert Einstein, warning about the potential for Nazi Germany to develop atomic weapons and urging the United States to begin its own nuclear research.
-
B.
Frisch–Peierls memorandum
The Frisch–Peierls memorandum was a pivotal 1940 document by physicists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls that first outlined the feasibility of a small, practical uranium-based atomic bomb, helping to catalyze British and later Allied nuclear weapons research.
-
C.
Russell–Einstein Manifesto
The Russell–Einstein Manifesto is a 1955 public statement by leading scientists warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons and urging world leaders to seek peaceful conflict resolution.
-
D.
MAUD Committee
The MAUD Committee was a British scientific advisory group during World War II that conducted pioneering research into the feasibility of an atomic bomb, helping to spur the later development of the Manhattan Project.
-
E.
MAUD Report
The MAUD Report was a secret 1941 British scientific assessment that concluded an atomic bomb was feasible and helped spur the U.S. Manhattan Project.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Manhattan Project document
ⓘ
anti-nuclear weapons document ⓘ historical document ⓘ petition ⓘ |
| addressedTo |
President Harry S. Truman
ⓘ
surface form:
Harry S. Truman
President of the United States ⓘ |
| archivedAt |
Library of Congress
ⓘ
National Archives and Records Administration ⓘ
surface form:
U.S. National Archives
|
| callsFor |
avoidance of surprise nuclear attack on cities
ⓘ
consideration of moral responsibility ⓘ non-combat demonstration of the atomic bomb ⓘ warning to Japan before atomic bomb use ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| createdAt |
Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory
ⓘ
surface form:
Metallurgical Laboratory
University of Chicago ⓘ |
| date |
1945-07-03
ⓘ
1945-07-17 ⓘ |
| expressesConcernAbout |
future of humanity under nuclear weapons
ⓘ
killing of civilians ⓘ moral precedent of first atomic bomb use ⓘ |
| handledBy |
Leslie R. Groves Jr.
ⓘ
surface form:
General Leslie Groves
Secretary of State James F. Byrnes ⓘ
surface form:
James F. Byrnes
|
| hasAlternativeName |
A Petition to the President of the United States
ⓘ
Szilard petition ⓘ
surface form:
Szilárd petition
|
| hasAuthor |
Leo Szilard
ⓘ
surface form:
Leó Szilárd
|
| hasFullTextAvailableAt |
Atomic Heritage Foundation website
ⓘ
U.S. National Archives website ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
early ethical critique of nuclear weapons use
ⓘ
early organized protest by nuclear scientists ⓘ |
| influenced |
debates on scientists' social responsibility
ⓘ
later anti-nuclear movements ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| numberOfSignatories | 70 ⓘ |
| opposes | unannounced atomic bombing of Japanese cities ⓘ |
| placeOfOrigin |
Chicago, Illinois, United States
ⓘ
surface form:
Chicago, Illinois
|
| recipientDecision | not shown to President Truman before Hiroshima bombing ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Hiroshima
ⓘ
Manhattan Project ⓘ Nagasaki ⓘ World War II ⓘ atomic bomb ⓘ nuclear weapons ethics ⓘ |
| signedBy |
Leo Szilard
ⓘ
surface form:
Leó Szilárd
Manhattan Project scientists ⓘ scientists at the Metallurgical Laboratory ⓘ |
| topic |
civilian casualties
ⓘ
demonstration of atomic bomb ⓘ international control of nuclear weapons ⓘ use of atomic bombs against Japan ⓘ |
| year | 1945 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Szilard petition Description of subject: The Szilard petition was a 1945 document signed by Manhattan Project scientists urging the U.S. government to demonstrate the atomic bomb’s power before using it on Japanese cities, reflecting early ethical concerns about nuclear weapons.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Szilárd petition