The Manhattan Project - Personalities and Problems Fromm Institute - - PDF document

SLIDE 1

11/5/20 1

The Manhattan Project - Personalities and Problems

Fromm Institute Fall 2020 bebo.white@gmail.com Lecture 7

submitted questions/comments from lecture 6

• 1. Why do you have a clock stopped at 10:45 and 30?
• 2. Could you re-explain implosion design? (**)
• 3. I have a riddle that Feynman might have given to his colleagues: How did I devise the lock combo 42-52-60? [First

answer gets a prize from Bebo]

• 4. Is it true that after Germany surrendered, Nazi scientists were brought to the US to assist the Manhattan Project?

(Farm Hall, Lecture 8)

• 5. How did scientists figure out that plutonium would pre-detonate?
• 6. Had German targets been selected? (**)

7. Were there Nazi spies?

• 8. Did they return the silver to the US Treasury?
• 9. What was the ratio of women to men working at Oak Ridge?

SLIDE 2

11/5/20 2

remember the 3 preliminary designs from the serber lectures?

“the gadget”/“the device” - why testing was necessary

• Pu(239) only 40% sphere critical mass, more stable
• U(238) damper reflects neutrons
• implosion squeezes Pu(239) sphere to critical density
• charges must be uniform and timed perfectly

SLIDE 3

11/5/20 3

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digression- david greenglass drawing

SLIDE 4

11/5/20 4

remember the two sub-projects?

• Project Alberta/Project A (readying bombs for delivery and use) -

lead by “Deak” Parsons - some activities had begun in June 1943

• Project Trinity (bomb testing) - lead by Kenneth Bainbridge- work

had begun Spring, 1944

project trinity

• Objectives:
• Characterize the physics of the implosion not

possible with experiments in the laboratory

• Analyze the symmetry of the implosion created

by the explosive lenses

• Determine if the energy release is comparable

with that contemplated for final use

• Assess the resulting damage

SLIDE 5

11/5/20 5

test site criteria (1944)

• 1. Flat
• 2. Good climate
• 3. Distant ranches and settlements
• 4. Minimal travel time for staff and equipment
• 5. Security (especially disassociation with Los Alamos)

8 possible test sites were considered (1944)

• Tularosa Basin, southern New Mexico (location of White Sands Missile Range)
• Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death), northwest corner of Alamogordo Bombing Range (*)
• Desert training area near Rice, California, southern tip of Mojave Desert (*)
• San Nicolas Island off the coast of Southern California
• Lava region south of Grants, New Mexico
• Cuba, New Mexico
• Sand bars off Padre Island, Texas
• San Luis Valley region near the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado

SLIDE 6

11/5/20 6

Jumbo (800 yds) McDonald Ranch House (2 miles) Base Camp (10 miles)

• Decision on September 7, 1944
• Setup team started on December 30, 1944
• Jumbo arrived in June 1945

Since it was unofficial and in an active test zone, it did get accidentally practice bombed!

may 7 - test rehearsal

• Dry run for assignments and services
• 100 tons of high explosives combined with a very small amount
• f radioactive materials
• Blast from a 20-foot platform

SLIDE 7

11/5/20 7

the world’s first “dirty bomb”

SLIDE 8

11/5/20 8

March 10, 1944

• Brig. Gen. L. R. Groves
• P. 0. Box2610

Washington, D. C. Dear General Groves: ... [In regard to] a containing sphere [Jumbo] for proof tiring, there were a number of points made which I should like to have down in the record. . . . ... It was not known to us whether it could be made in the form of a single sphere or would have to be built up from plates. Excluding the extra weight introduced by manholes and reinforcements, the weight of the sphere was given by us as 80 tons provided steel could be

• btained of yield strength 60,000 psi or better. You expressed the conviction that individual

castings in excess of a hundred tons would introduce very serious transportation problems which should be avoided if possible.... We shall attempt to have a container fabricated and completely assembled by September so that it may play as useful a part as possible in the later stages of implosion development. [J. Robert Oppenheimer]

the story of jumbo

• Since Pu(239) was in short supply, it was proposed to

contain the blast to allow recovery if the test was unsuccessful

• Steel cylinder - 10 ft. in diameter, 25 feet long, 14 inch

walls, 240 tons

• At the time the heaviest item ever shipped by rail from

Barberton, Ohio; left early April, arrived early June on a 64-wheel trailer

• Use was re-thought after concern that it would limit data

collection

SLIDE 9

11/5/20 9

July 11, 1945

• Comdr. N. E. Bradbury
• K. Bainbridge

Jumbo, Jumbo is a silent partner in l.OiAl1a11pplas&iand;Jti11.aoldkasJ,yet,..

• K. Bainbridge

planning for the test

• As per the President’s Interim Committee meeting on May 31, no

foreign delegations would be invited

• The original July 4 date was postponed but a hard date was set for

July 16 to coincide with the Potsdam Conference between Truman, Churchill, and Stalin

• Note: the test was scheduled for the same day that the Indianapolis

left for Tinian

SLIDE 10

11/5/20 10

the mcdonald ranch house

• Built in 1913
• Seized by the government in 1942 when the

Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range was formed

• Designated as the Assembly Building for the Trinity Test
• Water tank was a popular “swimming hole” for staff
• “Clean room” was created for the assembly of the

Pu(239) core

9 July 1945 Personnel Concerned

• Comdr. N. E. Bradbury

TR [Trinity] Hot Run The fmn dates for the TR Hot Run are as follows [in part]: Monday, 9 July, 0830 Schaffer Shake Test charge given eight-hour road test. Remove polar cap and dummy plug and inspect top of charge only after three hours riding. Thursday, 12 July, 0830 Use two groups-one at V Site [shops] to assemble TR c h a rg e . . . . Friday, 13 July, 0001 TR charge starts on its way to TR. G-2 escort cars fore and aft. G. B. Kistiakowsky to ride in fore car. Friday, 13 July, 1300 Assembly at TR ' .: With jib hoist, remove polar cap and dummy plug. Special polar cap and funnel put in place. Gadget now belongs to tamper people (at about 1400 on Friday). Prior to their taking over, a fifteen minute period will be available for generally interested personnel to inspect the situation. After this time, only G engineers and two representatives from the assembly team will be present in the tent.

• (.)

() Place in hypodermic needle in right place. (Note: check this carefully.) At this point another 15-minute period will be available for inspection . . < ; Insert HE-this to be done as slowly as the G Engineers wish. Have on hand extra paper if charges are slightly small. Also grease and hypodermic needle grease gun. Be sure glass tape and/or shim stock shoe horn is on hand. Another inspection period of 15 minutes will be available. Leave tent in place till morning. Saturday, 14 July, 0800 Lift to tower top Remove tent with main hoist. Lift sphere to tower top. Saturday, 14 July, 0900 Operations aloft

1 .:

Wiring of X unit proceeds . . . . : } Detonators are staked to co-ax . . . .

• · :i

X unit and informer unit safed-verified by Bradbury or Kistiakowsky .... :) Note that once detonators are on sphere, no live electrical connection can be brought to X unit, informer unit, or anywhere else on sphere. Hence all testing must be done before sphere is lifted to tower. After that it is too late. Saturday, 14 July, 1700 Sunday, 15 July, all day. Gadget complete Look for rabbit's feet and four leafed

• clovers. Should we have the Chaplain down there? Period for

inspection available from 0900-1000 Monday, 16 July, 0400 BANG!

• N. E. Bradbury

SLIDE 11

11/5/20 11

52 cameras

july 12

• Plutonium core driven by sedan from Los Alamos to

Trinity (escorted by Phillip Morrison) - it had been stored in the school ice house (which had the thickest walls)

• Brig. Gen. Thomas Farrell signed receipt accepting the

core for the U.S. Army - noted it felt warm

• Delivered to the “clean room” in the McDonald Ranch
• Core was assembled by Louis Slotin for insertion into

the device

SLIDE 12

11/5/20 12

july 13

• Non-nuclear components (including explosive lens,

U(238) reflector) delivered from Los Alamos in a convoy lead by Kisty

• Core moved to assembly tent at bottom of test

tower and installed - but not without incident

july 14

• Gadget hosted to top of tower
• Detonators were connected
• Final test preparations begun
• 5 PM - Gadget ready

SLIDE 13

11/5/20 13

july 15

• “Look for rabbit’s feet and four leaf clovers. Should

we have the Chaplain down there?” (Bradbury)

• Groves, Bush, Conant, Lawrence, and Chadwick

arrive

• Rain starts
• Oppie “convinces” Donald Hornig to babysit the

Gadget during the electrical storm

SLIDE 14

11/5/20 14

digression - absentees

• It may be interesting to note the major (historical) players who did not attend either by choice or lack of

invitation

• Arthur Compton - declined, stating his absence from Chicago would be noted
• Glenn Seaborg - not invited, unable to witness impact of his discovery; signatory of the Franck petition
• Leo Szilárd - not invited, probably due to his feud with Groves
• Harold Urey - had left the project in February 1945
• Lyman Briggs - appeared to be the ultimate survivor in the Uranium Project, S-1, etc.
• James Franck - had authored the petition against bomb use
• Franklin Matthias - HEW’s Pu(239) was making it possible
• Mark Oliphant - had been sent home by Chadwick in April 1945

SLIDE 15

11/5/20 15

“…I was with Dr. Oppenheimer…naturally he was nervous, although his mind was working at its usual extraordinary efficiency. I devoted my entire attention to shielding him from the excited and generally faulty advice of his assistants who were more disturbed by their excitement and the uncertain weather conditions…During most of these hours the two of us journeyed from the control house into the darkness to look at the stars and to assure each other that the one or two visible stars were becoming brighter.”

• Leslie Groves, Report on the Trinity Test, July 18, 1945

SLIDE 16

11/5/20 16

“Everything seemed full of import. The night before the test, it sounded as if all the frogs in the area converged on a pond by the base camp. They copulated and squawked all night long…a kind of funny significance…the only living things around there, coming together.”

• Frank Oppenheimer

betting pool on test yield - buy in $1

• Rabi - 18 kT*
• Bethe - 8 kT
• Kisty - 1.4 kT
• Oppie - .3 kT
• Teller - 45 kT

Fermi took side bets

• Would it ignite the atmosphere?
• If so, the earth or just New Mexico?

* won $102

SLIDE 17

11/5/20 17

the most abused person at trinity site

• Remember the quote about Groves: “Groves hated the weather, and the

weathermen; they represented chaos and the messengers of chaos. Weather violated boundaries, ignored walls and gates, failed to adhere to deadlines, disobeyed orders. Weather caused delays. Groves saw it as a matter of insubordination when the weather forecasters refuse to forecast [desired weather].” (Peter Bacon Hales)

• Jack Hubbard was the target of Groves’ wrath for the weather on the evening of

July 15th. He had warned early on that the forecast for the test date was

• questionable. Groves had no sympathy because of the pressure to have a test before

the Potsdam Conference

• After the first delay (on the 16th), “You’d better be right on this or I will hang you!”

july 16

• 3 buses of chief scientists arrive from Los Alamos -

Feynman almost missed the bus

• Scheduled for 4 AM but it was raining
• At 3:30 AM pushed to 5:30 AM
• At 4 AM rain stopped
• At 5 AM, Kisty armed the Gadget and rushed back

to the S-10,000 observation point and bunker

SLIDE 18

11/5/20 18

Base Camp

Compania Hill (Farrell, Chadwick, Teller, Bethe, Lawrence, Feynman, William Laurence (NYT))

(Groves, Bush, Rabi, Conant, Fermi) S-10,000 (Oppie, Frank, Kisty , Bainbridge) N-10,000 (Wilson, “the expendables”, Photo crew) W-10,000 (Segrè radiation measurements, Photo Crew)

SLIDE 19

11/5/20 19

At Compania Hill: Edward Teller was smearing on extra sunscreen; Ernest Lawrence was stepping out of a car… At Base Camp: “ As we approached the final minute, the quiet grew more

• intense. I was on the ground (at Base Camp) between Bush and Conant. As

I lay there in the final seconds, I thought only what I would do if the countdown got to zero and nothing happened.” (Leslie Groves) At S-10,000: Joe McKibben, who had been with the project since the beginning, threw the switch the started the precise automatic timer at minus 45 seconds. Donald Hornig, of the arming party, held the abort switch… A B-29 aircraft was flying at 30,000 feet above the test tower

july 16, 1945, 5:29:45 am

SLIDE 20

11/5/20 20

THE B A LL HA S 0.10 MS. NOT YET TOUCHED

W THE G RO UND. 0.24 MS.

NOTE THE BLIS

TERS AROUND THE EDGE,

AND THE HOT

,

ONSTRICTED

.0 3 SMS. C BOTTOM.

NOTE THE APPEAR

ANCE OF SPIKES

• .

5 2 MS.

A T LOWER

L E F T

AND RIGHT .

25 MS.

N BAL L OF / FIRE SHOCK FRONT THE CENTRAL BALL OF FIRE, WHICH HAS NO SHARP BOUND ARY, HENCEFORTH INCREASES l:N SIZE ONLY VERY SLOWLY. THE SHARPLY DEFINED SHOCK FRONT HAS BEGUN TO LEAVE l· T BEHIND; THE REGION NEAR THE EDGE, WHOSE BRIGHTNESS IS DUE SOLELY TO THE SELF- LUMINOUS SHOCK FRONT, IS LESS BRIGHT THAN THE CENTER.

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THE LIMITATION AT

TOP 8 BOTTOM IS

0·5 2 MS. DUE TO THE

W FRA,M E LINE.

THE BALL HAS

O66 MS REACHED G RO UND

. . AT ABOUT 0.65 MS. 0 .8 0 MS.

NOTE THE GROWTH

OF THE SPIKES.

THE BLISTERS HA V E

0 .9 4 MS. DISAPPEARED,

LEA VING A SMOOTH

EDGE. 25 MS. N W ASHING TO N MONUMENT 53 MS.

N

DARK WAVE SHOCK

• WA

VE THE SHOCK W A VE IS FOLLOWED AT AN INCREASING DIST ANCE BY A DARK WA VE CAUSED BY THE FORMA TION OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OF THE ELEMENTS IN THE A TMOSPHERIE FROM THE GREA T PRESSURE AND HEAT OF THE SHOCK.

a.1SEC.

THE NEXT FOUR PICTURES WERE TAKEN FROM A HILL -

N W

TOP 20 MILES A W A Y . THE SCALE IS ONLY ONE-FIFTIETH THAT OF THE PICTURES YOU HAVE JUST SEEN.

• NOTICE THE CLEAR SKY IN THIS PICTU E ·AND THE SUCCES

SIVE CLO . UD RINGS PRODUCED BEHIND THE SHOCK FRONT AS THE RAREFACTION CAUSES SUPERSATURATION IN MOIST BETWEEN TWO AND FOUR MILES ABOVE THE GROUND. LAYERS THESE CLOUD RINGS ARE NOT SHOWN IN THE MOTION PICTURES.

EMPIRE STATE BLOG_

SLIDE 21

11/5/20 21

10 SEC. N

CTIVE RIS STARTS AS

CROSS SECTIONS (SC H EM AT.IC )· THE CONVEFOLLOWS

E

:

O . IS E C .

HOT DUST SKIRT

T :HE SHOCK !FRON T AND!CO NSEQUENT RARE-

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FACTION PHIASE PASS AWA Y IN ABOUT 1 /4 2 . 0 SEC.

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,GOND, LEAVING STILL, RAREFIED AIR. THE LIGHT, HOT AIR BEGI.NS TO RISE, AND

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COOL AlR FROM THE OUTSIDE COMES IN.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT EMPIRE STATE BLDG. WITH SURROUNDING 2O-STORY BUILDINGS CHICAGO MERCHANDISE MART

3.5 SEC.

INCIPIENT

THE INWARD AND UPWARD SWEEP OF AIR

, / NEC:K

PRODUCES A NECK rN THE SKIRT MATERIAL . TURBULENT MIXING MAKES THE BOUNDA-

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RIES RATHER I NDE F I N ITE. 4S E C . THE UPRLJS,H OF AIR MAKES THE SKIRT MATERIAL ABOVE THE NECK INTO A VOR

• TEX RING.

THE MATERIAL CARRIED THROUGH THE RING PILES UP OVER IT, ENLARGING THE CLOUD. 8SEC. THE CLOUD, M , ADE OF THE RING AND SUPER POSED MATTER, GRA C ' DUALLY HANGES SHAPE IN :TO A BALL AS IT RISES.

16.0 SEC. N

100 METERS

luis alvarez was in the air

• Measure shock wave
• Assess impact on bomber crew

SLIDE 22

11/5/20 22

pief was with him

• He had engineered with Alvarez a shock wave calibrator to help

measure the yield “Y

• u’d be surprised to hear that everybody was so exhausted that you

sort of took the position, ‘Oh well, it works’ and went back. I fell asleep

• n the way down in the airplane immediately…We looked up and

made a sketch of the mushroom cloud…and went to sleep.”

Eye blink ≈ 300 milliseconds

SLIDE 23

11/5/20 23

“About 40 seconds after the explosion, the air blast reached me. I tried to estimate its strength from about 6 feet by dropping small bits of paper before, during and after the blast wave…I estimated 10 kT”

• Enrico Fermi at Base Camp

“The long-hairs have let it get away from them!”

• Thomas Farrell at Compania Hill

at base camp

SLIDE 24

11/5/20 24

at base camp

The only well-exposed color photo of the event - taken by Jack Aeby with his personal 35mm camera

at s-10,000

• Oppie to Frank - “It worked”
• Kisty gets knocked down by the blast and then says to Oppie - “Y
• u
• we me $10”
• Bainbridge to Oppie - “We are all sons of bitches now”
• Samuel Allison - “Still alive” (no atmospheric ignition)
• It was in a solitary moment outside S-10,000 that Oppie recalls his

most well-known reaction

SLIDE 25

11/5/20 25

at n-10,000

• The radiation counters went crazy
• The crew rushed away on poor roads fearing increasing fallout

SLIDE 26

11/5/20 26

at w-10,000

• The crew packed all their film in lead-lined boxes to protect it from

the radiation

• 180 miles away from the kitchen of the Lazy B Ranch, a 15 year old high school girl saw the

flash - her name was Sandra Day

• Dorothy McKibbin had been invited to “a midnight picnic” on Sandia Peak near

Albuquerque

• “So brilliant was the flash from the explosion that Miss Georgia Green of Socorro, blind

University of New Mexico student, said ‘What’s that?’” (Albuquerque Journal, 1945)

• The horses in the MP stable still whinnied in fright; the paddles of the…windmill at Base

Camp still spun away the energy of the blast; Rabi broke out a bottle of whiskey and passed it around. Everyone took a swig (The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes)

• At the McDonald House (2 miles away), the windows were blown out and some of the

roof blown away; otherwise the stone structure was intact

• Farmers in neighboring communities noticed fine dust on their fenceposts and rooftops and

burns on their cattle

SLIDE 27

11/5/20 27

“I congratulated Oppenheimer quietly with ‘I am proud of you,’ and he replied with a simple ‘Thank you.’”

• Leslie Groves
• Feynman recalls the mixed reaction on the bus back to Los Alamos -

some were joyous and partying, others were reflective (“It’s a terrible thing we made” (Robert Wilson))

• After the test - “…and his [Oppenheimer’s] walk was like ‘High Noon’ - I

think it’s the best I could describe it - this kind of strut. He’d done it.” (Rabi)

• Stan Ulam remarked that some looked grim when the bus arrived back

at the Lab

• “…when he returned from Trinity, he seemed shrunken and aged, made
• f old parchment, so entirely dried out and browned was he by the desert

sun and exhausted by the ordeal” (Laura Fermi)

SLIDE 28

11/5/20 28

Alamogordo, N.M., July 16 The commanding officer of the Alamogordo Army Air Base made the following statement today: “Several inquiries have been received concerning a heavy explosion which occurred on the Alamogordo Air Base reservation this morning. A remotely located ammunition magazine containing a considerable amount of high explosives and pyrotechnics exploded. There was no loss of life or injury to anyone, and the property damage outside of the explosive magazine itself was negligible. Weather conditions affecting the content of gas shells exploded by the blast may make it desirable for the Army to evacuate temporarily a few civilians from their homes.” Note: Groves had previously called the Governor of New Mexico indicating that martial law might be necessary Note: Four platoons of soldiers stood ready to evacuate nearby residents if the winds threatened to carry fallout over their homes. No evacuations were deemed necessary

groves to sec. stimson - july 18

“Just before 1100 the news stories from all over the state started to flow into the Albuquerque Associated Press….With the assistance of the Office of Censorship we were able to limit the news stories to the approved release supplemented in the local papers by brief stories from the many eyewitnesses not connected with our project. One of these was a blind woman who saw the light.”

SLIDE 29

11/5/20 29

“I no longer consider the Pentagon a safe shelter from such a bomb.”

• Groves to Stimson, July 18, 1945

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SLIDE 30

11/5/20 30

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it’s official

Coded message George Harrison to Secretary of War Stimson in Potsdam: “Operated on this morning. Diagnosis not yet complete but results seem satisfactory and already exceed expectations. Local press release necessary as interest extends great distance.

• Dr. Groves pleased. He returns tomorrow. I will keep you posted.”

Harrison sent followup message on July 18th: “Doctor has just returned most enthusiastic and confident that the little boy is as husky as his big brother. The light in his eyes discernible from here to Highhold and I could have heard his screams from here to my farm.” Note: Stimson had a summer home at Highhold, Long Island and Harrison had a farm at Upperville, Virginia; ~250 miles and ~50 miles respectively from Washington, DC

SLIDE 31

11/5/20 31

The Manhattan Project had succeeded in producing a nuclear weapon only two years, three months, and 16 days after it was formally opened

“what ruin will hunt thee undefended through wide heaven” (shelley, ‘Prometheus unbound’)