The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb by Its Creators, Eyewitnesses and Historians: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians

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It is almost impossible to do justice to this tome, so let me conclude by saying that the story includes awesome nuclear physics, science superheros, fanatical supervillans, massive factories appearing in the desert, political intrigue, British commandos on secret missions, explosions, oh and - it all actually happened. Great read, 5/5. Gruber, Carol S. (May 22, 1987). "Reviewed Work: The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes". Science. 236 (4804): 974–975. doi: 10.1126/science.236.4804.974. JSTOR 1699656. PMID 17812757. Between the Thursday of Roosevelt's death and the Sunday of the memorial service on the Hill, Otto Frisch delivered to Robert Oppenheimer his report on the first experimental determination of the critical mass of pure U235…. Within twenty-four hours of Franklin Roosevelt's death two men told Harry Truman about the atomic bomb.” With the Germans sustaining heavy losses in Europe and nearing surrender, the consensus among U.S. military leaders in 1945 was that the Japanese would fight to the bitter end and force a full-scale invasion of the island nation, resulting in significant casualties on both sides. As a last curious historical note, World War 2 came at exactly the time when the very last conventional war could be fought. Given the advances in nuclear physics, starting a conflict a few years after 1939 would have been impossible due to the danger of all-out nuclear war in which everyone loses. I had also often thought about what would have happened if Germany did not execute Operation Barbarossa and open the Eastern front with the Soviet Union, which could have bought it extra time and resources to cause more havoc elsewhere in Europe/North Africa. This book provides the answer - the US nuclear weapon program was so far ahead of the German program that even if the war dragged on longer, Germany would have been reduced to irradiated ash.

This is the story of the women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. You’re going to read about how they were a very important part of the operation and what it all means as you discover more about their lives. But first, Oak Ridge was a town that didn’t appear on any map until 1949. Its creation was a result of the Manhattan Project. Oak Ridge was created in 1942 as a secret city that would serve valuable to the operation involving the creation of an atomic bomb. The Secrets of Oak Ridge We also get to meet J. Robert Oppenheimer, also known as Oppie. He was the person in charge of the Manhattan Project and the initiator of the entire thing. This is one among many characters who make this one of the best Manhattan Project books out there. Scientists working under Oppenheimer had developed two distinct types of bombs: a uranium-based design called “the Little Boy” and a plutonium-based weapon called “the Fat Man.” With both designs in the works at Los Alamos, they became an important part of U.S. strategy aimed at bringing an end to World War II. The Potsdam Conference Knowing that he'd need the right man to run the operation, he hired Oppenheimer, who was a man born to wealthy Jewish parents and used to high society, to assemble the scientific team. Kunetka explores how these two men interacted and balanced the demands of their positions while working to develop the first atomic bomb.Fermi and Szilard were still engaged in research on nuclear chain reactions, the process by which atoms separate and interact, now at the University of Chicago, and successfully enriching uranium to produce uranium-235.

The two bombs combined killed more than 100,000 people and leveled the two Japanese cities to the ground. In 1942 the government built a "city" of tens of thousands of workers and scientists. They made the first nuclear reactor and used them to extract plutonium. Many of the usual suspects, such as Oppenheimer and others, are mentioned, but many lesser-known scientists and participants are included. Some of these include women such as Leona Woods, who worked on Enrico Fermi's team. Unlike any of the other books on this list, Olson goes into the environmental disaster that occurred because of the reactors and continues today. It is a deeply researched and amazingly written narrative of this location and these times. For many readers, this way of learning about the atomic bomb is much more exciting than many others. The book is filled with many short boxes of texts next to thrilling and simple illustrations, making sure you never get bored and learn at the same time. Jonathan is a real storyteller, and his book is a true graphic novel masterpiece. In 1993, Rhodes published Nuclear Renewal: Common Sense about Energy detailing the history of the nuclear power industry in the United States, and future promises of nuclear power. In 1995 he published a sequel to The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, which told the story of the atomic espionage during World War II, the debates over whether the hydrogen bomb ought to be produced, and the eventual creation of the bomb and its consequences for the arms race. In 2007, Rhodes published Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race, a chronicle of the arms buildups during the Cold War, especially focusing on Mikhail Gorbachev and the Reagan administration. The Twilight of the Bombs, the fourth and final volume in his series on nuclear history, was published in 2010. The book documents, among other topics, the post-Cold War nuclear history of the world, nuclear proliferation, and nuclear terrorism. by Susan Williams In the 1940s, the brightest minds of the United States and Nazi Germany raced to West Africa with a single mission: to secure the essential ingredient of the atomic bomb — and to make sure nobody saw them doing itOne of the most significant characters in this nonfiction book is Dorothy, the person who will be showing us around Los Alamos and introducing us to many of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. Dorothy is the one who ran this project’s office in Santa Fe and is a person who can give us a lot of valuable insights. The People of Santa Fe This book was both my most fascinating and tortuous read in recent memory, it's like trying to take a drink from a firehose.