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Pensacola Discussion Forum » Politics » I'm writing a paper on the Manhattan Project

I'm writing a paper on the Manhattan Project

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Guest


Guest

I've read Teo complete books, two theses, the text for the class on that
era, and multiple web sources.

One conclusion-

We were a fortunate country in many ways.

2seaoat



The United States has been blessed by Genius and great universities. The University of Chicago is top 5 in almost every category, undergraduate and graduate, and what they did at Stagg field was remarkable.

ZVUGKTUBM

ZVUGKTUBM

PaceDog, allow me to give you a reference:

The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by historian Richard Rhodes (1986)
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-Rhodes-ebook/dp/B008TRU7SQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415147800&sr=1-1&keywords=richard+Rhodes

The Kindle version of this book is only $11.62; I may have to buy it for my Kindle library (have the paperback version). I read this book in 1993, and it is the most complete reference on the Manhattan Project that you will ever need.

Rhodes is not a scientist; he is a historian. However, he understood the science, and he wrote about it in layman's terms, making it easy to understand how all of this was done. What this book really is--a historical account of the development of nuclear physics from its beginnings in the 19th Century through the Manhattan Project. It is very complete on the subject and is a fascinating read. It almost made me want to go back and study physics, the way he explained it.

in 1994, he wrote a sequel to this book explaining the development of the Soviet nuclear program. Another good read.

In any case, a paper on the Manhattan Project would be incomplete without referencing Rhodes' work.

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ZVUGKTUBM

ZVUGKTUBM

This book documents all of the Broken Arrow incidents that occurred during the Cold War. Another good, if not hair-raising, read:

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion ofSafety by Eric Schlosser
http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Eric-Schlosser-ebook/dp/B00C5R7F8G/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415148447&sr=1-1&keywords=command+and+control+eric+schlosser

I read this book in the late spring. We were very lucky that we did not blow ourselves to smithereens......

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ZVUGKTUBM

ZVUGKTUBM

I love the topic you are writing on, and just bookmarked my next Kindle Read:

15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044781TM/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

First I must finish my current read, the memoir of a female Soviet IL-2 Shturmovik pilot on the Eastern Front during the Great Patriotic War.

http://www.best-electric-barbecue-grills.com

Guest


Guest

Z,
I was going to use Rhodes book, but found one by another author as well who tells the development in a story fashion as well. It's still hard to fathom how smart
General Groves had to be to organize everyone together from the military-scientists-industry (already overburdened with war contracts), and keeping this such a huge secret.

Most, to include the European scientists on the project, believed that Germany wouid get the bomb before us because in 1938 they actually produced a fissionable event and recognized it as such. Italian Enrico Fermi (of the Univ of Chicago folks Seaoat described) had done so in 1933, but didnt recognize what he has done at the time.

Guest


Guest

The Europeans were the ones who had a letter written and sent to President Roosevelt through a guy named Sachs that Einstein knew. They were quite fearful of Germany and Hitler getting the bomb. A lot of the main guys were of Hungarian descent - Teller, Szilard, and Wigner. Lots of our own security people were also fearful of Oppenheimers radical connections that
Included communist dissidents and such. Groves stuck by him though even when it was shown someone had tried to compromise Oppenheimer to get info to the Russians who also had the Fuchs guy as a double agent.

ZVUGKTUBM

ZVUGKTUBM

Leslie Groves was a brilliant engineer and manager.

The Russkies penetrated the Manhattan Project completely. Rhodes' 1994 sequel discusses this thoroughly. Of course, we executed the Rosenbergs for spying, but they were small time players in the whole affair. KIlaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, Ethyl Rosenberg's brother David Greenglass, his wife, and several others were involved.

The chief scientist for the Russians, Igor Kurchatov (alias "The Beard") was given access to all of the American data gathered by espionage, and promptly told his superiors that he could skip the American first step and immediately create a better and more powerful bomb; however, he was ordered to recreate the American Experiment, as it was called. Therefore, their first nuclear explosion was an exact copy of the Trinity device detonated in July of 1945.

After Russia's First Lightning in the summer of 1949, the decision was made to develop the H-bomb. The nuclear arms race was now in full swing.

http://www.best-electric-barbecue-grills.com

Guest


Guest

It's amazing how Oppenheimer declined to participate in H Bomb development when asked to do so by Edward Teller.

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