# John W. Campbell and his Los Alamos Subscribers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-w-campbell-and-his-los-alamos-subscribers/762361 "2016-08-10T16:56:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-w-campbell-and-his-los-alamos-subscribers/762361/1 "2016-08-10T16:56:09Z")
Every older f&sf buff knows about Cleve Cartmill’s story “Deadline,” published in the March 1944 Astounding Science Fiction. The details about making an atomic bomb spooked the Office of Censorship, which launched an investigation. Everybody they talked to insisted that the details were thoroughly public and had been for years so no further action was taken. Here’s the point I can’t pin down. Supposedly, Campbell later bragged that he already knew that an atomic project was being conducted because so many of his subscribers had filed a change of address to Los Alamos, NM. And they did read Astounding at Los Alamos: Edward Teller says so. But the story has all the earmarks of an urban legend. Nobody at Los Alamos had a mailing address there. Nobody was supposed to even mention the name Los Alamos. They used a mail box number in Santa Fe. Sometimes, therefore, the story changes to includes Oak Ridge, TN, and Hanford, WA, the uranium processing site. Sometimes a detail is added that Campbell had a map of subscribers with pins marking their location. The map was visible when the FBI came to talk to him, even. Since Astounding probably had 100,000 subscribers, this too is beyond belief. Wiki has this tidbit, but its unsourced. In fact, it’s unsourced everywhere I find it. Anyone know of a good source? While I’m at it, anybody know what the circulation of Astounding was in those days? I’m sure I’ve seen figures but I can’t find any. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-w-campbell-and-his-los-alamos-subscribers/762361)._