Ten fun facts about Leo Szilard

Fact 1
Though he was drafted by the Austro-Hungarian Army, he contracted the Spanish Influenza and was sent home to the hospital.

Fact 2
When he changed schools, he began studying physics, taking classes from Albert Einstein and Max Planck.

Fact 3
He received top honors for his thesis on thermodynamics titled "On The Manifestation of Thermodynamic Fluctuations" in 1922, and received his doctorate a year later.

Fact 4
During the 1920's, he developed a refrigerator with moving parts with Albert Einstein.

Fact 5
When he contracted bladder cancer in 1960, they used the method of cobalt therapy using a treatment regimen he designed himself.

Fact 6
He worked as part of the Manhattan Project, but was dismissed by the military head because he was suspected to have Russian sympathies.

Fact 7
Since he survived the Hungary economic devastation, he was said to have passion for human life and freedom.

Fact 8
He is responsible for the Manhattan Project altogether, since he wrote a letter to President Roosevelt warning him of nuclear weapons the Nazis were working on.

Fact 9
It wasn't until 1943 that Szilard became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Fact 10
He was one of the scientists who, in 1962, helped found the Council for a Livable World, which helps keep the public aware of the threat of nuclear war.

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