Term paper on The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project

RESOURCE GUIDE

In October 1939 Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt that German scientists were trying to produce a bomb from atomic energy and that such a weapon in the hands of Adolf Hitler could prove disastrous. Roosevelt agreed and in 1942 launched the top-secret Manhattan Project, which under the command of General Leslie R.

Groves ultimately cost $2 billion and generated the atomic bomb. The first successful atomic chain reaction took place at the University of Chicago ; materials for the bomb were produced in Oak Ridge , Tennessee , and Hanford , Washington ; the bomb itself was completed and then tested on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico through the efforts of J. Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Discuss the origins of the Manhattan Project.

2. Analyze the difficulties in building the atomic bomb.

3. Discuss the contributions of refugee scientists to the Manhattan Project.

4. Compare the contributions of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leslie

R. Groves to the Manhattan Project.

5. What were the reactions of those who witnessed the bomb test at Alamogordo ?

Suggested Sources : See entry 49 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

The Atomic Bomb: An Annotated Bibliography . Hans G. Graetzer and Larry M. Browning, Lanham , MD : Scarecrow, 1992. A comprehensive bibliography devoted to the atom bomb.

GENERAL SOURCES

Chappell, John D. Before the Bomb: How America Approached the End of the PacificWar . Lexington , KY : University of Kentucky Press, 1996. Examination of public opinion and the ending of the war.

Hales, Peter B. Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project . Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1997. The Manhattan Project changed ideas, beliefs, social systems, and racial, sexual, and economic relations; new languages, new diseases, and new forms of American culture were introduced.

Holloway, Rachel L. In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Politics, Rhetoric, and Self-Defense . New York : Praeger, 1993. Explores the part that rhetoric played in Oppenheimer’s removal from government service and shows the interaction between political and scientific terminologies in American discourse.

Kathryn, Ronald L., et al., eds. The Plutonium Story: The Journals of Professor Glenn T. Seaborg, 1939–1946 . New York : Battelle Press, 1994. Chronicles the research for and discovery of plutonium and its chemistry and production.

Weintraub, Stanley. The Last Great Victory: The End of World War II, July/ August 1945 . New York : Truman Talley, 1995. Chronicle of events including the Potsdam Conference, the atomic bomb, the campaign against Japan , and postwar diplomacy between Truman and Stalin.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Fermi, Rachel, et al. Picturing the Bomb: Photographs from the Secret World of the Manhattan Project . New York : H. Abrams, 1995. Published to coincide with the Manhattan Project’s fiftieth anniversary. Presents compelling images of America ‘s building of the atom bomb.

Groves , Leslie . Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project . (1962). Reprint. New York : Da Capo, 1975. A detailed and informative account by a key figure in the Manhattan Project.

Hoddeson, Lillian et al., eds. Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945 . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1993. Detailed and thorough examination of two critical years of the Manhattan Project.

Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb . New York : Simon&Schuster, 1986. Deals with the history of the people and the science that preceded and then made possible the development of the bomb.

Serber, Robert. The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb . Berkeley : University of California Press, 1992. Annotated lectures on how to build an atomic bomb with an introduction by historian Richard Rhodes. Very readable for the lay reader.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Ermenc, Joseph J., ed. Atomic Bomb Scientists: Memoirs, 1939–1945 . Westport , CT : Meckler, 1989. Based on extensive interviews with nine major contributors, including Leslie R. Groves.

Goodchild, Peter. J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Published in conjunction with the BBC television series, a good biographical study of Oppenheimer and his impact.

Larsen, Rebecca. Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb . Danbury, CT: Franklin Watts, 1988. Easy-to-read book that covers Oppenheimer’s life in a thorough, objective manner, quoting heavily from his memoirs.

Rummel, Jack. Robert Oppenheimer: Dark Prince . New York : Facts on File, 1992. Recounts the scientist’s interest in atomic theory and explains the scientific and historic developments that influenced his studies and work.

Smith, Alice K., and Charles Weiner, eds. Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980. Provides insight into Oppenheimer, the man and the scientist, through his correspondence and reflections.

York, Herbert F. The Advisors: Oppenheimer, Teller, and the Superbomb . (1976). Reprint. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1989. Interesting and revealing biographical history of the two major scientific minds concerned with the atomic and the hydrogen bomb.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

Peeples, Janet, et al. The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb . Santa Monica, CA: Pyramid Films, 1981. 2 videocassettes. 90-minute documentary on the life of Oppenheimer, with emphasis on his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

WORLD WIDE WEB

‘‘Fat Man and Little Boy: Birth of the Atomic Bomb.” American Airpower Heritage Museum Gallery Tour . February 1996. http://avdigest.com/aahm/tratmgal.html Leads to excellent illustrated narratives on various phases of the Manhattan Project, as well as subsequent developments and decisions regarding the bomb.