I've always thought there was something poetic about that.
The ancient Greeks gave us the name "atom," the indivisible unit. The alchemists chased the goal of breaking down base metals (splitting the atom) and transmuting the components into gold. Then in the 20th century, the physics were finally mapped out. The atom was split, unveiling the subatomic world, and we know full well that atoms can be fused. The term "transmutation" is even used.
It's like an ancient quest finally reached a conclusion, albeit not in the convenient way they would have hoped.
Some of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project were certainly aware of associations with mythological themes.
> Oppenheimer later recalled that, while witnessing the explosion, he thought of a verse from the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad Gita:
> "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one."
I'm fond of mythopoetic perspectives on technology, to find parallels in texts from the antiquities or the Renaissance.
From their point of view, we in the modern world must seem to live like magicians, communicating over vast distances, peering into our "looking glass".
The ancient Greeks gave us the name "atom," the indivisible unit. The alchemists chased the goal of breaking down base metals (splitting the atom) and transmuting the components into gold. Then in the 20th century, the physics were finally mapped out. The atom was split, unveiling the subatomic world, and we know full well that atoms can be fused. The term "transmutation" is even used.
It's like an ancient quest finally reached a conclusion, albeit not in the convenient way they would have hoped.