OP-ED
Far Rockaway native allegedly spied for the Soviets
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s history.
Born on Oct. 20, 1925, in
Far Rockaway as Theodore
Alvin Holzberg, Theodore
Hall was a physicist noted for
his work in developing the
atomic bombs used during
World War II and for passing
secrets about the weapons to
the Soviet Union.
He was investigated by
the FBI but never charged
with spying, and he spent his
later years as a biophysicist
at the Sloan-Kettering Institute
in New York City and
the University of Cambridge
in England, where he died
in 1999. His older brother,
Edward, developed intercontinental
ballistic missiles for
the United States government
during the Cold War.
Born into a Jewish family
in Far Rockaway, young
Theodore moved to Upper
Manhattan when the Great
Depression severely impacted
his father’s fur business.
During the Depression,
both Holzberg brothers
changed their last name to
Hall to avoid anti-Semitic
discrimination. In spite of
the tough economic conditions,
from an early age the
future physicist showed a
remarkable aptitude in math
and science through tutoring
from his older brother. He entered
Townsend Harris High
School at age 11, and graduated
Harvard University in
1944 at 18.
Soon after graduating, the
Queens native was among
the youngest scientists to
join the Manhattan Project
at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
While working on the Fat
Man and Little Boy atomic
bomb projects toward the
end of World War II, Hall
became concerned about a
fascist government emerging
in America after the conflict
and about the country having
a monopoly on the new
type of weapon.
While on a vacation in
New York City in late 1944, he
visited Communist Party offices
to find a Soviet contact
to pass along information on
the bomb. He soon met a Soviet
journalist in New York
who relayed Hall’s details on
the new lethal devices to Moscow.
Unbeknownst to Hall,
others including Los Alamos
colleague Klaus Fuchs
were also spying for the Soviet
Union at the same time.
Theodore Hall, however, was
the only scientist known to
have provided design details
of the weapon.
Following the war, in
1946 Hall left New Mexico to
continue his studies at the
University of Chicago. While
working toward his Doctoral
Degree in physics, he continued
supplying the Soviets
with nuclear secrets. Around
this time, the FBI decrypted
some Soviet communications
containing evidence about
Hall, and he was questioned
in 1951. The government decided
that the information
they intercepted was hearsay
evidence not admissible in
court, so he was not charged
with any crimes.
After graduating Chicago,
the former nuclear scientist
became a biophysicist. After
pioneering new techniques in
X-ray microanalysis, he eventually
moved to Cambridge,
England, to work in electron
microscopy research. There
he developed the Hall method
of continuum normalization,
used to analyze thin sections
of biological tissue. Theodore
Hall retired in 1984 at age 59.
In 1998, one year before his
death, Hall recounted his spying
for the Russians in an interview
for a Cable News Network
series titled Cold War.
“I decided to give atomic
secrets to the Russians because
it seemed to me that
it was important that there
should be no monopoly,
which could turn one nation
into a menace and turn it
loose on the world as ... Nazi
Germany developed. There
seemed to be only one answer
to what one should do.
The right thing to do was to
act to break the American
monopoly.”
For further information,
contact the Greater Astoria
Historical Society at 718-278-
0700.
ON THE WEB
LAST WEEK’S TOP STORY:
Glendale’s long-standing Zum Stammtisch restaurant offers a delicious
taste of traditional German cuisine
SUMMARY: Serving up delicious Bavarian cuisine in
Glendale for almost 50 years, Zum Stammtisch has certainly lived up to
its German translation: the regulars’ table.
VISIT US ONLINE AT QNS.COM
CHECK OUT OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES:
www.facebook.com/timesledger
www.twitter.com/TimesLedger
www.instagram.com/qnsgram
LETTERS POLICY
Letters should be typed or neatly handwritten, and those longer than 300
words may be edited for brevity and clarity. All letters must include the
writer’s name and phone number for verification. Names may be withheld
from publication if requested, but anonymously sent letters will not be
printed. Letters must be received by Thursday noon to appear in the next
week’s paper. All letters become the property of Schneps Media and may be
republished in any format.
TIMESLEDGER,QNS.COM BT OCT. 18-24, 2019 17
/timesledger
/TimesLedger
/qnsgram
/QNS.COM
/timesledger
/TimesLedger
/qnsgram
/TIMESLEDGER,QNS.COM
