Prior to 1939 the public's perception of nuclear physics came from Sunday supplement articles about splitting the atom, generally joined to articles about the wonderful possibilities of enormous sources of power from the atom. The headlines that announced the discovery of uranium fission in January 1939 added to this the ominous prospects of terrible explosives, but uranium disappeared from the newspapers with the outbreak of war to return prominently with the use of atomic bombs against Japan. The reaction of the public and their elected officials was predictable: there must be a great secret that had to be retained at all costs. This attitude was reflected in one version of the bill – supported by Institution President Bush – that established the Atomic Energy Commission to replace the wartime Manhattan Engineering District; all research in nuclear physics was to be placed under military control. Fortunately, a quickly organized lobbying effort by scientists caused a much more sensible form to pass and be signed into law on 1 August 1946.

Although Tuve thought nuclear physics had changed from a sport into a business, those who had access to accelerators found that the game still had plenty of sporting elements, and during the following decades they unraveled the structure of hundreds of nuclei and determined theories that explained them with success comparable to what had and was being done for atoms and molecules.