In The Manhattan Project produced in 2002 by The History Channel, the filmmakers called upon an array of leading historians and participants in the project to shed light upon one of the most secret missions ever undertaken by the US government and its military.
Five individuals who were involved and contributed to The Manhattan Project include Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, Edward Teller, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves.
Leo Szilard, one of the Jewish physicists, who "usually slept late" and "soaked in the bathtub to get fresh ideas," was one of the more important scientist in the Project. He wanted to warn President Roosevelt about the potential of an atomic bomb. He wrote a letter to the president and had Albert Einstein to sign it to make sure it was not tossed away. With Szilard's warning to the President, in 1939, "Roosevelt formed the Advisory Committee on Uranium." Later at Columbia, with other scientists, he worked on "the question of whether or not a sustained chain reaction could be induced in an uranium reactor." This was an important part in whether or not a bomb could be created. Szilard "convinced scientists in U.S., whose community thrived on openness, to censor their papers so that they would not inadvertently helped the Germans." At the University of Chicago, along with other scientists, Szilard was "trying to demonstrate that the fission process could be harnessed by launching a sustained chain reaction in uranium." The group of scientists were able to build "the first primitive reactor" below "the stands of the university's football stadium." This was a huge step in the creation of the atomic bomb, leading to great advances thereafter, and sent the "bomb effort... into high gear."
Enrico Fermi, a Jewish physicist, "one of the few scientists who was talented both in theory and in practice," and "loved getting his hands dirty," was another important scientist in the Project. At Columbia, along with other scientists, including Szilard, he worked on to basic mechanics of the reactor. Again, this was an important part in the creating of the bomb even being possible. Later, at the University of Chicago, along with other scientists and again with Szilard, Fermi was working on "the fission process" and its relation to the "chain reaction in uranium." This again lead to the building of "the first primitive reactor." Later yet, Fermi was drawn in by Oppenheimer to the facility in Los Alamos to continue work on the bomb; the "process of trying to determine how much U-235 it would take to make a bomb."
Edward Teller, a Jewish theoretical physicist, later the "Hydrogen Bomb Designer," was another scientist to assist in the creation of the atomic bomb. Teller assisted his friend, Szilard, in the goal of delivering the warning letter to Roosevelt. He drove Szilard to "Einstein's summer house on Long Island" to have Einstein sign Szilard's letter. Later, Teller was also drawn in by Oppenheimer to the facility in Los Alamos to continue work on the bomb. Twenty miles away from the site of the Trinity Test at "Compania Hill with Lawrence", Teller "mostly scared everybody to death because... he was putting suntan lotion on his face and... in his hands and as a guard against the... ultraviolet from the bomb." Later, after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Teller felt that the bomb had brought scientific progress. Oppenheimer "did not agree that the arms race represented progress" and questioned Teller. Teller "testified against his former chief," Oppenheimer at the "revoking of [Oppenheimer's] security clearance at a government hearing in 1954."
J. Robert Oppenheimer, A gifted physics professor, who had a "reputation for being temperamental," and was considered "a fascinating, complicated man," was chosen to head The Manhattan Project scientists at Los Alamos. He "drew luminaries like Enrico Fermi, Hans Bethe and Edward Teller to the facility, as well as technicians fresh out of college." The facility grew enormously in a short span of time. As time went on and the experiments grew and changed with both positive and many negative outcomes, "Oppenheimer was living on coffee and martinis and cigarettes," he was "anguished" over the work. When the first test bomb was finished, "Oppenheimer had given the test of the implosion device the codename "Trinity," a reference to a devotional poem by 17th century English poet John Donne." After the bomb was released on Hiroshima, Oppenheimer had issues with Teller and his thoughts of progress in the arms race. Oppenheimer's "opposition to Edward Teller's hydrogen bomb project and questions about his communist sympathies led to the revoking of his security clearance at a government hearing in 1954." Oppenheimer's career was "brought to an end."
Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves, "an expert engineer and administrator" who "was placed at the head of the Manhattan Engineer District named after the project's initial headquarters in New York City." Groves, "having just finished building the Pentagon was absolutely disgusted to be assigned in the Manhattan Project." The scientist working on the Project needed more space for testing of scientific ideas concerning the bomb. Groves chose the "bomb designed site in Los Alamos" for this next step. It was "An isolated location in the mountains at an elevation of 7,000 feet and accessible by only one road." Groves "wanted it to be inland... too far from enemy planes or submarines. He wanted it to be beautiful where he said, 'You could keep a bunch of prima donnas and muse.'" To head the facility in Los Alamos, Groves chose Oppenheimer, even after much opposition to his choice. At one point during the work at Los Alamos, when the scientist were "trying to determine how much U-235 it would take to make a bomb," The scientist tell Groves "'Well, it could a X-amount but... that's a plus or minus... by factor 10.'" Groves is "absolutely staggered" at this answer. Groves then "uses the illustration that... while you're giving a wedding and... you say it's for 100 people but maybe a thousand will turn out or maybe 10. So,... how can you make any sort of plans...with that range." Later, a new site was constructed for more scientific tests called Y-12. After some work had been done on this site, tests should have been done. However, "because of the intense time constraints, Groves could not afford to build pilot plants, facilities to test the scaling up of the laboratory processes." And so the scientist went ahead with their work without the necessary precautions and tests that should have accompanied the work. Elsewhere, Groves shut down the "electromagnetic separation plant" because of the great dangers that it was causing, such as "pull[ing] ...nails out of the wall." At Oak Ridge, "Groves used creative means to recruit" many workers. "It's hard to get construction workers during the war. [Grove's] solution was to put out an ad saying, "We can't tell you what you'll be doing but they'll be steak every night on the table."" Groves was "eating wheat and chocolate samplers and sleeping soundly" over the work and creation of the bomb. "Groves initiated the construction at Hanford on August 27th, 1943" of "three production reactors" for producing plutonium. "Groves was not content to relay on just two approaches, Y-12 and Hanford, to produce the weapon's grade fuel for the bomb" and so he began a third plant at Oak Ridge with another method. Later, during the Trinity Test, "General Groves was lying on the ground in the prone position facing away from the blast. What he said that was going through his mind was, what was he gonna do when the timer got to zero and nothing happened." However, he never needed those words, as the test was successful. "Groves returned to Washington to report the results to Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, and to make preparations for the use of the bomb against Japan. Later that day, Groves had his photograph taken for the publicity that would accompany the bombing of Hiroshima." There was a petition going around the Oak Ridge area demanding a demonstration test of the bomb on a non populated area before dropping it on Japan. Groves did not like this and in attempt to squash this petition, he "conducted a poll of atomic scientists," asking "'What do you think of a demonstration?' To his chagrin 83 percent of the people answering the poll said some sort of demonstration was preferable to bombing civilians. ...Groves saw to it that the petition was bottled up at Oak Ridge until after the bombs fell on Japan." "In the spring of 1945 , General Groves chose populated Japanese cities as potential targets to demonstrate the bomb's destructive power and end the war as quickly as possible." The final decision was made on June 1st by the President. "On August 6th, 1945 , at 8:15 a.m...., Little Boy dropped from bombay doors of the Enola Gay. Forty-three seconds later, the bomb detonated 1,900 feet above Hiroshima..." and "Three days later, a second, more powerful plutonium bomb, Fat Man, fell on Nagasaki..."
Produced by Sean Dash
Modern Marvels (New York, NY: A&E Television Networks, 2002)
43:35 mins
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