Cold War Secrets

The Female Soviet Spy Who Stole American Atomic Bomb Secrets

On August 29, 1949, the USSR set off their first atomic bomb -- just four years after the Americans.

The speed with which they achieved this surprised the world. What nobody knew was that, behind it all, was an espionage pointed at the heart of the United States. Stalin was able to obtain all the nuclear discoveries made by scientists who worked on the famous Manhattan Plan. At the centre of the operation was a very unusual female spy, Elizabeth Zaroubin. She managed to gain the trust of great researchers, such as Einstein, in a story comparable to some of the best spy novels ever written.