Gilles Sabourin - Montreal and the Bomb

For a man arriving in Montreal in 1942 for the purpose of working on a British-led project to develop an atomic bomb, it would be in his interest not to be mistaken for a Nazi! That was surely something front of mind for Hans von Halban, the first man to direct this monumental project. With his German-sounding name and slight German accent, the physicist must have bitterly regretted the decision made by his grandfather, a senior bureaucrat in the Austro-Hungarian Empire who, at the turn of the century, had altered the familys surname. The von bestowed on him by the Emperor himself was reserved for nobility, and reinforced the names Germanness. In an irony of sorts, several decades later, his grandson would drop the nobiliary particle in an attempt to obscure his roots as an Austrian noble. When Hans Halban arrived in Canadas largest city in early November of 1942, he was keenly aware of the challenges that lay ahead.

Halban was a man of average height, with a high forehead and piercing gaze. He was charming, self-assured, and perfectly at ease in social situations. Born in Germany in 1908, he spoke English and French fluently. These were all traits he would need to draw on to carry out his perilous mission: Hans Halbans role was to build a nuclear physics laboratoryfrom the ground upin Montreal. He had time to ponder the project during his trans-Atlantic crossing on a low-altitude cruiser (Halban had a heart malformation that prevented him from flying in a conventional aircraft at high altitudes). This privileged mode of transportation suggested Halbans importance in the eyes of the British, who had pinned their considerable hopes on the renowned physicist. With their island under threat from the Nazis, the British had just tasked Halban with relocating their Cambridge-based nuclear laboratory to Canada. The research being carried out there was highly advanced and was key to the countrys military strategy. Whether as a source of energy or a force for destruction, all signs pointed to the atom playing a crucial role in the outcome of the war.

Upon his arrival, the scientist settled in at the Windsor Hotel, one of Montreals most prestigious establishments. At the time, the hotel was located in a rapidly changing neighbourhood that was to become the heart of the citys downtown. Just across the square stood the Sun Life Insurance Companys skyscraper, the tallest building in the British Empire at the time. Hans Halban was soon joined by his wife and his three-year-old daughter Catherine Mauld. While at the hotel, he began meeting with potential candidates to build his team in Montreal. Now all they needed was to find somewhere to conduct their extensive scientific experiments.