Heroes and Hard Choices: Oppenheimer, Turing, and Telemark
On the night of February 21, 1944, a Norwegian named Knut (please pronounce the “K”—it is not a silent letter) Haukelid and two of his friends approached the Ferry Hydro docked on the shore of Lake Tinnsjå in Telemark, Norway. Tinnsjå is one of the largest and deepest lakes in Europe. Knut and his recruits needed the deepest lake in Norway, because they needed to sink the Hydro in the deepest water they could find. These men, working late in the night, planted over eight kilograms of plastic explosives in the boats keel, and armed it with two hand wound alarm clocks. Shortly after midnight, just as the Hydro moved over the deepest water in Lake Tinnsjå, an explosion tore through the hull and sunk the boat, sending its cargo the bottom. Knut Haukelid watched the ship go down with tears in his eyes. There had been Norwegian nationals on that boat; and he could not warn even one of them. Because there was also a shipment of hea...