even at such long odds, the danger was sufficiently great to be taken seriously. it was not considered worthwhile to immediately acquire the uranium, but tizard's committee on the scientific survey of air defence was directed to conduct research into the feasibility of atomic bombs. thomson, at imperial college london, and oliphant, at the university of birmingham, were tasked with carrying out a series of experiments on uranium. by february 1940, thomson's team had failed to create a chain reaction in natural uranium, and he had decided that it was not worth pursuing.