The Manhattan Project
Dr Kit Chapman
Falmouth University
@ChemistryKit
THE LONG PRELUDE
ATOMS MAKE UP OUR WORLD
NUCLEAR FUSION
The coulomb barrier causes repulsion
1934: FERMI’S NOBEL MISTAKE
Neutron capture:
a heavier element
But that wasn’t what
was happening…
DECEMBER 1938: NUCLEAR
FISSION
AUGUST 1939: THE EINSTEIN-
SZILARD LETTER
AUGUST 1939: THE EINSTEIN-
SZILARD LETTER
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
URANIUM
• 1939 – mid 1940
• Funding total: $6000
• Investigations into uranium
continue
• June 1940 National Defence
Research Committee formed
• Uranium research banned
URANIUM COMMITTEE/S1-
SECTION
• June 1940 – December 1941
• Moves under Office of Scientific
Research and Development
• Meanwhile: MAUD Committee,
British project, determines
feasibility
• September 1940: Tizard Mission
• Funding total: $920,000
6 DECEMBER 1941: PROJECT
ACCELERATED
• Lawrence: $400,000 for
separation
• Compton: $340,000 at
Columbia/Princeton and
$278,000 for Chicago,
$500,000 for raw materials
• Aim: Atomic bomb by
January 1945
MEANWHILE, IN BERKELEY…
• 1939: Edwin McMillan
discovers Element 93
• 1940: Edwin McMillan
discovers Element 93 again,
leaves for war work
• 1941: Glenn Seaborg
discovers Element 94
DEVELOPMEN
T OF
SUBSTITUTE
MATERIALS
13 AUGUST
1942-1946
FUNDING
TOTAL: $2
BILLION
600,000
PEOPLE
(125,310 AT
PEAK)
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
THE MET LAB (PEAK: 2044 STAFF)
FOCUS: HOW TO MAKE/ISOLATE
PLUTONIUM
• Feb 1942: Met Lab
established university of
Chicago.
• August 1942: First weighable
amount of plutonium
• November 1942: Chicago Pile
OAK RIDGE (PEAK: 75,000 STAFF)
FOCUS: HOW TO MAKE URANIUM
• 19 September 1942: US Army
takes over 59,000 acres near
Knoxville, TN
• Construction of multiple
methods to refine uranium
• By end of war, 5th largest city
in Tennessee
K-25 GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT
Y-12 ELECTROMAGNETIC PLANT
(22,000 STAFF, 14,700 TONS OF SILVER)
X-10
GRAPHITE
REACTOR
HANFORD SITE (PEAK: 51,000 STAFF)
FOCUS: MAKING PLUTONIUM
• January 1943: US Army takes
over 586 square miles in WA
• Built by DuPont to Fermi’s
designs
• Over 40 years, produces 63
tons of plutonium – majority
of US Cold War arsenal
HANFORD
SITE
B
REACTOR
LOS ALAMOS (PEAK: 3248 STAFF)
FOCUS: WEAPON DESIGN
• January 1943: US Army takes
over Los Alamos Ranch
School
• Common idea of Manhattan
Project
• US, British, Canadian,
German, Italian, Hungarian…
LOS ALAMOS (PEAK: 3248 STAFF)
FOCUS: WEAPON DESIGN
• January 1943: US Army takes
over Los Alamos Ranch
School
• Common idea of Manhattan
Project
• US, British, Canadian,
German, Italian, Hungarian…
FACES OF THE MANHATTAN
PROJECT
FACES OF THE MANHATTAN
PROJECT
THE TWO BOMBS
THE TRINITY TEST: 16 JULY, 1945
JUMBO?
THE TRINITY TEST: 16 JULY, 1945
THE TRINITY TEST: 16 JULY, 1945
The Manhattan Project
Dr Kit Chapman
Falmouth University
@ChemistryKit
