The Manhattan Project

I have been interested in the Manhattan Project for some time as a consequence of having become acquainted with some of the participants when I was in college and in graduate school and later in various professional positions. More recently, my colleague Ruth Howes and I have collaborated on a study of the women scientists of the Manhattan Project. We have given a number of talks on this topic, and have several publications, including the article "Women of the Manhattan Project" in Technology Review Vol. 26, No. 8, pp. 32-40 (November/December 1993), and "Women in Weapons Development: The Manhattan Project," which is Chapter 8 of the book Women and the Use of Military Force, edited by R. H. Howes and M. R. Stevenson (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder and London, 1993). We have also written a book on this topic, which is, in fact, the only book on this topic; - it is entitled Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. It was published by Temple University Press in 1999. Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project is listed by Amazon.com. More information at Women of the Manhattan Project web page.

Here are some links that provide some information relating to the history of the Manhattan Project:

  • The Manhattan Project (and Before)
  • Promethean Boldness
  • The First Atomic Pile
  • The "Last Universal Scientist" Takes Charge
  • Piglet and the Pumpkin Field
  • The Italian Navigator Lands
  • A Home for Heffalump and Pooh
  • Patent on the World's First Reactor was a Long Time Coming
  • A Short History of Oak Ridge National Laboratory: The Forties
  • History of Oak Ridge National Laboratory: The Graphite Reactor
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory History
  • Hanford History
  • History of Mound and the Dayton Project
  • The Nuclear Age's Blinding Dawn
  • Fifty Years from Trinity
  • The Bureau of Atomic Tourism
  • Notes: The Physicists and the Bomb
  • Enrico Fermi & The Manhattan Project

    Some chronologies or timelines of the Manhattan Project can be found at the following links:
  • Nuclear Age Timeline
  • Chronology for the Origin of Atomic Weapons

    Some further site information can be found at:

  • Active and Inactive Former Nuclear Weapons Research, Development, Testing, and Production Sites

    Some information on the costs of the Manhattan Project can be found at:

  • The Costs of the Manhattan Project

    Here are some links addressing related topics:

  • Nuclear Reactions - the Basics Behind the Atom Bomb
  • documentation and diagrams of the atomic bomb
  • Nukefix: Nuclear Weapon research on the internet
  • Nuclear Weapons Frequently Asked Questions
  • Hiroshima Directory
  • Atomic Bomb: Decision
  • The Manhattan Project - Scientists & Conscience
  • A Petition to the President of the United States to rule that the United States shall not resort to the use of atomic bombs in this war, prepared by Leo Szilard and others and signed by 70 Met Lab staff in 1945.

    Especially if you have family members who were involved in the Manhattan Project, you might to visit these web sites:

  • The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association Inc.
  • The Manhattan Project Veteran Memorial

    SOME RESOURCES:

  • Historical Records of the Atomic Energy Commission
  • DOE Openness: Human Radiation Experiments
  • Manhattan Project and Atomic Scientists Collections, University of Chicago
  • Hanford Declassified Document Retrieval System

    Two conflicting views of how to go about it:

    General Leslie Groves:
    "Compartmentalization of knowledge, to me, was the very heart of security. My rule was simple and not capable of misinterpretation - each man should know everything he needed to know to do his job and nothing else." (General Leslie Groves, from Now It Can Be Told (New York, Harper & Row, 1962)
    This unfortunate approach has been described as almost the classic recipe for preventing originality.

    Enrico Fermi:
    "Scientific thinking and invention fluorish best where people are allowed to communicate as much as possible unhampered." - Enrico Fermi, quoted in Frontiers 2002 (Argonne National Laboratory, 2001)

    Perhaps you might also wish to visit the history of science web page for related information.

    This page updated 1 May 2004. Thanks for visiting!

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