The Einstein Code by Tom West Page B

in 1937.
Einstein was working on an extension of his general field theory, a sort of spin-off from relativity – the idea of creating a device employing a rather exotic aspect of his theoretical work.
On paper, he had concluded that he could create a quantum field around a subatomic particle. With some serious military funding the idea was developed to the point where he believed he could
produce a similar field around a much larger object, effectively making it invisible.’
    ‘That sounds like complete hokum,’ Kate said.
    ‘Not according to the secret files kept from the time, which have never been made public, of course. It isn’t hokum, but equally, the theory didn’t work out very well when put
into practice. Einstein conducted an experiment early in 1937 that ended in disaster. He set up a test in this very shipyard and attempted to create a quantum field around a ship, USS
Liberty.
The idea was to create a form of defensive shield, a canopy of pure energy that would stop bullets and shells fired at the ship. Something went awry.
    ‘According to reports,
Liberty
dematerialized for a few seconds. When it reappeared, it was configured slightly differently in space-time. Many of the crew were killed; some of
them embedded in the fabric of the ship itself. A shockwave devastated the old control tower killing an admiral and injuring a half-dozen others.’
    ‘They used a crew?’
    ‘I know,’ Fleming said. ‘Astonishing, but they did that sort of thing back then.’
    Derham looked stunned. ‘I’ve never heard of this.’
    ‘Well, the navy weren’t exactly proud of it, Captain. Apart from the fact that the work was extremely dangerous, and potentially game-changing in the hands of an enemy, the test had
failed utterly, so even senior brass were kept in the dark about the whole thing.’
    ‘I imagine that wasn’t the end of the story though,’ Lou said.
    ‘No it wasn’t. Einstein had developed the original theory with a close colleague, Johannes Kessler, with whom he had worked at Oxford during the early thirties, just after Einstein
had left Germany for good. After emigrating to America in 1933 Einstein shifted his attention to other work, and it wasn’t until 1936, when things were really hotting up in Europe, that he
began to think about his defensive shield again and the navy became interested. Problem was, he needed his old colleague Kessler to make it work. Einstein was able to take some of the physics
further, but then he hit a wall. He tried to go it alone, which resulted in the failed test here at the base. That disaster made him realize that he couldn’t do it without Kessler’s
help.’
    ‘Where was Kessler then?’ Derham asked.
    ‘Still in Germany. He was working for the Nazis, but he was opposed to them. He couldn’t leave, because he had family in the country and he had missed the great exodus of
intellectuals a few years earlier.’
    ‘And of course it would have been extremely difficult to correspond in secret with something so dangerous at stake.’
    ‘Precisely. But the team in London have pieced together information which suggests that Einstein, Kessler and the military cooked up a plan. Kessler had to get his latest work over here so
that Einstein could incorporate it with his own theories, to mould some sort of improved version of the calculations for a defensive shield.’
    ‘How did they manage that? I assume they did manage it?’ Lou asked.
    ‘The MI6 team could find absolutely no evidence of any collaboration between Einstein and Kessler after their Oxford days. There is no paper trail, no record of any correspondence
anywhere, and absolutely no clues to show that a second experiment did take place. It seemed that the matter was closed. We concluded that something must have gone wrong with the attempt to
communicate with Kessler; or else Einstein did get his colleague’s work from Germany but he was still unable to produce a viable defensive shield. But