Transcript Group 3 - Weebly

Welcome to the Museum of
People of
History
Creation
Museum Entrance
What Was Used
Contributors
The Impact
The Manhattan project
Curator’s
Offices
Curfew
Carl Brong is an adventurous guy. He likes to
yoyo, and play with his guinea pigs. That’s it.
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The Impact
Room 1
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People of History
Room 2
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People In The Manhattan Project
Room 3
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What was used in the atomic bomb
Room 4
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How The Atomic Bomb was Made
Room 5
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Artifact 2
When Einstein learned that the Germans
might succeed in solving these problems,
he wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt
with his concerns. Einstein's 1939 letter
helped initiate the U.S. effort to build an
atomic bomb, but work proceeded slowly
at first. Two other findings in 1940 and
1941 demonstrated conclusively that the
bomb was feasible and made building the
bomb a top priority for the United States:
the determination of the "critical mass" of
uranium needed and the confirmation that
plutonium could undergo fission and be
used in a bomb. In December 1941, the
government launched the Manhattan
Project, the scientific and military
undertaking to develop the bomb.
Linked citation goes here
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Artifact 3
Although he never worked directly on the
atomic bomb, Einstein is often incorrectly
associated with the advent of nuclear
weapons. His famous equation E=mc2
explains the energy released in an atomic
bomb but doesn't explain how to build one.
He repeatedly reminded people, "I do not
consider myself the father of the release of
atomic energy. My part in it was quite
indirect." Nevertheless, Einstein was
frequently asked to explain his role—as he
was when a Japanese magazine editor
asked him, "Why did you cooperate in the
production of atomic bombs, knowing full
well their...destructive power?"
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Artifact 4
Albert Einstein's lifelong passion for physics
was sparked at the age of four or five when
his father showed him a small compass.
Young Albert tried to imagine the mysterious
force that caused the compass needle to move,
and the experience awakened a sense of
wonder that stayed with him for life.
Understanding the universe became an
"eternal riddle" for Einstein, a quest for
scientific enlightenment. "The road to this
paradise was not as comfortable and alluring
as the road to the religious paradise," he
wrote, "but it has proved itself as trustworthy,
and I have never regretted having chosen it."
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Artifact 5
Secretary Helen Dukas, who had
accompanied the Einsteins from Germany,
became a beloved member of the
household over the years. She maintained
the schedule and shielded Einstein from
those she referred to as "the curious, the
reporters, the crazies, etc. . . ." The cat,
Tiger, and dog, Chico, rounded out the
family
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Artifact 6
On August 2, 1939, just before the
beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein
wrote to then President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Einstein and several other
scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi
Germany to purify uranium-235, which
could be used to build an atomic bomb. It
was shortly thereafter that the United
States Government began the serious
undertaking known then only as "The
Manhattan Project." Simply put, the
Manhattan Project was committed to
expediting research that would produce a
viable atomic bomb.
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Artifact 7
Los Alamos Laboratory, known as Project Y,
was conceived during the early part of World
War II. The United States wanted to build an
atomic explosive to counter the threat posed by
the German nuclear development program. The
term Manhattan Project came about because the
program began under the Manhattan
Engineering District of the War Department.
Gen. Leslie Groves, military head of the project,
and Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director,
wanted the top-secret project to take place in an
area that was isolated yet still accessible, a
place with an adequate water supply, a readily
available labor force, and a moderate climate.
At the same time, Oppenheimer envisioned a
laboratory with a beautiful setting that would
inspire his scientists. He wanted to bring
researchers that were scattered at various
universities across the country together to
discuss all aspects of the project
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Artifact 8
Contrary to a widely accepted myth, neither
Oppenheimer nor Groves attend the Los Alamos Ranch
School. However, Percival C. Keith, a member of the
planning board for the government's Office of
Scientific Research and Development, as well as the
father of two Los Alamos Ranch School summer
campers, proved instrumental in making the
recommendation for Los Alamos. Col. Whitney
Ashbridge, a graduate of the school, later became
commander of the Army Post for the Manhattan
Project. Oppenheimer knew of Los Alamos because he
had a ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and had
spent time horseback riding in the Jemez.
After touring the site, officials felt the Ranch School
buildings would supply adequate housing for the
estimated 30 scientists who would work on the project.
Little did anyone at the time realize the town would
grow to more than 6,000 residents during the war,
causing constant shortages of housing and water,
among other hardships
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Artifact 10
Harold Melvin Agnew was born in
Denver, Colorado on March 28, 1921, the
only child of a pair of stonecutters. He
attended South Denver High School and
entered the University of Denver, where he
majored in chemistry. He was a strong
athlete who pitched for the university
softball that won a championship. He left
the University of Denver in January 1942,
but had enough credits to graduate Phi
Beta Kappa with his Bachelor of Arts
degree in June, and he received a
scholarship to Yale University
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Artifact 11
Abelson was a key contributor to the
Manhattan Project during World War II,
while working with the Naval Research
Laboratory.[1] Although he was not
formally associated with the atom bomb
project, the liquid thermal diffusion
isotope separation technique that he
invented at the Philadelphia Navy Yard
was used in the S-50 plant in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee; and proved a critical step in
creating the large amount of nuclear fuel
required for building atomic bombs
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A uranium holder
Early work focused "gun-type" designs which
fired one piece of uranium into another to
create a nuclear chain reaction. While this
approach proved promising for uranium-based
bombs, it was less so for those utilizing
plutonium. As a result, the scientists at Los
Alamos began developing an implosion design
for a plutonium-based bomb as this material
was relatively more plentiful. By July 1944, the
bulk of the research was focused on the
plutonium designs and the uranium gun-type
bomb was less of a priority.
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/artil
lerysiegeweapons/p/littleboy.htm
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A fission
This is a fission-implosion device that was used
as part of a hydrogen-boosted weapon
delivering a whopping 720 kiloton yield in 1957.
At the time the Brits rather overstated it as an
H-Bomb. Those aren't wheels for Monty Python
to deliver it to the gates of the Kremlin; but
framework to hold it in place within the bomb
shaped casing. While the US gave their various
weapons boring numerical designations this
product of British engineering was known as
the "Orange Herald" ... quite!
http://atomicannhilation.blogspot.com/2014/11/19
52-1957-early-british-nukes.html
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Nuclear Fissions
Italian physicist Enrico Fermi thought to use
neutrons for bombardment in 1934. Since
neutrons have no charge, they can hit an
atom's nucleus without being repelled. He
successfully bombarded several elements and
created new, radioactive ones in the process.
What Fermi had done, without recognizing it,
was discover the process of nuclear fission.
Two German scientists, Otto Hahn and Fritz
Strassmann, were the first to officially
acknowledge this process in 1938 when they
successfully split uranium atoms into two or
more parts. It lives up to “splitting the atom.”
http://science.howstuffworks.com/ma
nhattan-project1.htm
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A Manhattan Pin
This is a version of the Manhattan Project Pin the version presented to individuals who
worked with the Manhattan Engineer District for
more than a year. A bronze pin was awarded to
those with less than one year's service.
This particular pin was given to Carl J. Irwin for
working with the Stone and Webster at the
Clinton Laboratories (Oak Ridge National
Laboratory) during the war.
http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/co
ll/energy/imagecredits.html
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Base of Operations
The Manhattan Project was based at a
428,000-acre industrial complex in New
Mexico; thousands of the West's best scientists
had worked on the project. $2 billion had been
spent - and no-one knew if the bomb would
work, despite the input of some of the greatest
scientific minds in the world.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp
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A Project in The Works
The starting point for the project was who wish to immerse
themselves in the science of the Project is Robert Serber ’s
1943 Los Alamos Primer. This report is considered a
founding technical document of the Project; it was distributed
to newly-arriving scientists at Los Alamos and summarizes
what was known at the time of the genesis of the laboratory.
David Hawkins offers an extensive qualitative technical and
administrative history of Los Alamos from its inception
through December 1946. The detailed technical history of
Los Alamos by Hoddeson. is appropriate for a readers with
some background in physics and chemistry.
http://www.aps.org/units/fhp/newslette
rs/fall2012/manhattan.cfm
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The first test
This was the first nuclear weapon test was
conducted on July 16th, 1945. Due to the
success of this test, the first two nuclear
weapons intended for military use were
developed shortly thereafter.
http://atomicbombbychrisbluhm.weebl
y.com/the-manhattan-project.html
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Identification
Security was a way of life for the Manhattan Project. The
goal was to keep the entire atomic bomb program secret
from Germany and Japan. In this, Manhattan Project
security officials succeeded.
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhatt
an-project-history/Events/19421945/espionage.htm
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