Making of the Atomic Bomb

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Making of the Atomic Bomb Page 126

by Richard Rhodes


  Trinity and, 656, 665, 668–69, 672

  Ulam and, 538, 543, 546

  Teller, Max, 111, 113

  Teller, Mici Harkanyi, 225, 281, 416, 428, 538, 765

  on Los Alamos, 564–65

  Teller, Paul, 538, 564

  Tempest, The (Shakespeare), 468

  Tennessee Eastman, 491–92, 600, 649–50

  Terman, Lewis M., 143

  TERMINAL, see Potsdam Conference

  thermal-diffusion plants, 533, 602

  thermodynamics, 19–20, 30–31, 70–71

  thermonuclear fusion, 374–75, 417–18

  thermonuclear reactions:

  Bethe on, 150, 370, 415, 418–19

  in deuterium, 416–21, 466, 540, 543–44

  Gamow and, 370

  Oppenheimer on, 418–19, 564

  Teller on, 418–20

  Thin Man, 541, 582

  Thomas, Charles A., 579–80

  Thomsen, Vilhelm, 55

  Thomson, G. P., 296

  military aspects of nuclear fission and, 329–30, 339–41, 343, 368–70, 377

  nuclear advisory committee of, 329–30, 339–41, 343

  Thomson, J. J., 124, 169, 216, 296, 329

  Aston and, 138–40

  Bohr and, 64–66

  cathode ray experiments of, 38–40

  electron theory sustained by, 38–39, 65, 72

  Rutherford and, 37, 38–39, 49, 123

  Thomson, William (Lord Kelvin), 39, 49, 230

  thorium, 42–43, 45

  resonance in capture cross sections of, 282–87

  uranium compared to, 283–87, 322

  393rd Bombardment Squadron, U.S., 582–84

  Tibbets, Enola Gay Haggard, 583

  Tibbets, Paul, 583–84, 679

  atomic bombing of Nagasaki and, 737–39

  authority of, 586

  B-29 crews briefed by, 700–701, 704, 707

  blockbuster program and, 589–90

  combat crews of, 580–81

  Enola Gay and, 703–4

  evasive maneuvers practiced by, 585–86, 699

  LeMay and, 680

  with Little Boy strike crew, 705–11

  Target Committee and, 638–39

  Timaeus (Plato), 116

  Time, 113, 445, 554–55

  Time-Life, 518, 770

  Times (London), 14, 26–27, 169

  Tinian, 554–56, 593–94, 597, 679–82

  Tizard, Henry T., 325, 329–30, 351, 371, 427, 470

  Togo, Shigenori, 684–85, 693, 736

  Tokugawa Shogunate, 712

  Tokyo:

  as atomic bomb target, 744

  conventional bombings of, 590–91, 595–600, 612, 627, 640, 688, 734

  propaganda leaflets dropped on, 744

  Tolman, Richard C., 185–86, 336–37, 446, 553

  Los Alamos and, 465

  Oppenheimer and, 563–64

  Target Committee and, 630, 638

  Trinity and, 664

  Trabacchi, G. C., 209, 212

  Tragedy of Man, The (Madach), 107–8

  Treasury Department, U.S., 490

  Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (Maxwell), 30

  Tregaskis, Richard, 519–20

  Trinity, 571–72, 631, 646

  Base Camp of, 653, 663–64, 666–69, 672, 673, 675–76

  castings transported to, 658–59

  control bunker of, 665–69, 671, 672, 674–75

  countdown for, 668–70

  Creutz test and, 661–63

  detonation at, 670–76

  experiments for, 654–55, 663, 674, 677

  explosive yield of, 656, 669, 674, 677, 687

  Ground Zero of, 653–54, 660, 665–69, 677

  lethal effects of, 677–78

  pressure associated with, 657, 668

  proving ground for, 652–54

  risks considered at, 664–65

  scheduling of, 652, 655, 656, 657–58, 663

  site construction for, 654

  weather as factor for, 656, 658, 663–67

  tritium, 420

  hydrogen bomb’s use of, 543–44, 546, 563, 564

  Tronstad, Lief, 455–57, 468

  Truman, Harry S.:

  Arnold and, 745

  atomic bomb briefing of, 617, 618, 623–25

  atomic bombing halted by, 743

  atomic bombing of Hiroshima and, 734

  atomic bomb’s use approved by, 651, 688, 690–91, 698

  on atomic bomb targeting, 690–91

  Berlin toured by, 682, 683

  Byrnes and, 618–20, 625–26, 628–29, 636, 651, 682, 686–87, 689–90, 742

  Churchill and, 656

  Groves and, 624, 625–26

  Harriman and, 621–22, 625, 626

  honors of, 698

  Interim Committee and, 628–29, 630, 651

  Japanese surrender and, 688–89, 692, 697, 742–43, 745

  Manhattan Project and, 614, 617–18, 624

  George Marshall and, 622

  Molotov and, 622–23

  Oppenheimer and, 690

  Potsdam Conference and, 682–83, 689–90, 692

  proposed Japanese invasion and, 641

  Roosevelt’s death and, 614, 617

  Soviet policy of, 621–23

  Stalin and, 622–24, 625, 656, 685, 689–91

  Stimson and, 617–18, 622, 623–26, 628–29, 639–40, 650–51, 682–84, 686–87, 690–91, 742

  Szilard and, 636, 649

  Target Committee and, 626

  Trinity and, 687, 690

  Tube Alloys project, 485, 523, 528, 537–38

  Tuck, James L., 522, 544–45, 759

  tunnel effect, 149–50

  Turner, Louis, A., 346–47, 350

  Tuve, Merle, 144, 146, 269, 272, 308, 355, 374, 477n

  Twelfth Army Group, U.S., 608

  Twentieth Air Force, U.S., 600, 626–28

  20th Bomber Command, U.S., 589

  21st Bomber Command, U.S., 587, 627

  Uber ein neues Prinzip zur Herstellung hoher Spannungen (Wideröe), 145

  Uhlenbeck, George, 270, 274, 275

  Ulam, Adam, 309

  Ulam, Françoise, 543, 565

  Ulam, Stanislaw, 196, 309

  Bethe and, 543

  hydrogen bomb and, 543

  implosion studies and, 544

  Los Alamos and, 543–44, 565–66

  Neumann and, 107, 112–13, 543–44

  Teller and, 538, 543, 546

  Trinity and, 627

  ultramicrochemistry, 409–10

  ultraviolet catastrophe, 70

  uncertainty principle, 130–33, 151, 364

  Union Carbide, 494, 601–2, 650

  United Nations, 535, 622–23, 625, 628

  United Nations Charter, 693

  United States, 196

  arms race and, 535–36

  British atomic collaboration with, 357–59, 500, 523–24, 526–27, 537, 543–44, 546, 655

  physics in, 141–43, 151

  war-gas arsenal of, 100–101

  “Unity of Human Knowledge, The” (Bohr), 58

  “unsuccessful search for transuranic elements, An” (Segré) 349

  uranium, 41–43, 118, 500

  critical mass of, 321–23, 335, 355, 362, 379–80, 382, 386–87, 395, 420–21, 461, 464, 487–88, 540, 582, 601, 610–12, 613

  fast-fission cross-section measurements of, 333–35, 338, 355–56, 367–68, 373, 386, 410–11

  Frisch and, 258–65, 269–71, 273, 319–20, 322–23, 610–12

  Groves and, 427, 500, 638, 649

  Hahn’s research on, 232, 234–35, 247–48, 250–55, 257–58, 260–62, 266

  isotopes of, 285–89, 294, 297, 300, 311–12, 317, 319–20, 322–23, 326, 330, 332–33, 338–40, 343, 345–52, 368, 375, 380–81, 387–88, 405–6

  Joliot-Curies and, 234–35, 247

  Meitner’s research on, 232, 234–35, 248, 258–64

  neutron bombardment of, 212–13, 220–2
1, 230–32, 234–35, 247–48, 250–55, 257–58, 261–64, 267, 274

  neutrons absorbed by, 300, 348

  neutrons released by, 280–81, 288–96, 298, 300, 343–44

  nuclear-binding energy of, 258–63, 286–87

  nuclear fission and, 258–67, 269, 274, 282–88

  plutonium extracted from, 407–10

  resonance in capture cross sections of, 282–87, 300, 348, 386

  slow-neutron chain reaction in, 394–95

  Soviet access to, 638, 649

  spontaneous fission of, 501, 540–41

  thorium compared to, 283–87, 322

  uranium gun (Little Boy), see Little Boy

  uranium hexafluoride, 332, 340, 345, 368, 492–94, 550, 581, 602

  uranium hydride, 610, 611

  uranium oxide, 395–96, 400–401, 427, 429–31, 435–36, 607–9, 612–13

  uranium tetrachloride, 487

  uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UNH), 353–54, 409, 411, 413

  Urey, Harold, 270, 352, 418, 636

  Dunning and, 380–81

  Groves and, 495–96

  isotope separation and, 380–81, 388, 492–93, 495

  plutonium extraction and, 408, 448

  radioactive warfare and, 510

  U235, U238, 335, 352, 355, 366, 458, 486, 563

  Herbert Anderson on, 298

  in atomic bomb, 387, 388–89

  Bohr on, 285–89, 294, 297, 311, 319–20, 322, 500

  Conant on, 368–69

  cosmic rays and, 540–41

  Dunning and, 289n, 297–98, 332–33, 492, 500

  Einstein on, 297

  electromagnetic separation of, 360, 373, 388, 405–6, 448, 487–92, 495, 500, 600–602

  gaseous diffusion of, 297–98, 332–33, 339–40, 343, 345, 368, 380–81, 457, 488, 492–96, 500, 550, 552–54, 580–82, 602, 612

  Harteck on, 311

  Heisenberg on, 326, 403

  hydrogen bomb and, 371, 375

  liquid thermal diffusion of, 550–53, 580–81, 602

  Lindemann and, 359

  mass spectroscopy of, 285, 297–98, 317

  MAUD on, 368–69, 377

  Nier and, 297–98, 317, 332–33, 347

  Simon on, 339–40, 343, 345, 492

  see also uranium

  U236, 347

  U239, 347–50, 352

  V-1, V-2 rockets, 512

  Van de Graaf, Robert J., 144, 272

  Van de Graaf generator, 272, 476

  Vandegrift, Alexander A., 518–19

  Van Kirk, Theodore J. (Dutch), 704, 706, 708–11

  Van Vleck, John H., 415, 465

  V-E Day (May 8, 1945), 629–30

  Vemork heavy-water installation, 512

  British sabotage of, 455–57, 468, 515

  heavy-water shipments from 513–17

  Verne, Jules, 107

  Vienna, University of, 79

  Vienna Radium Institute, 157–58

  Villard, P. V., 42

  Vinberg, Fyodor, 17–18, 181–84

  “Voice of the Dolphins, The” (Szilard), 22

  Volta, Alessandro, 128, 131, 395

  Voltaire, 230

  Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr., 593

  Wahl, Arthur C., 353–54

  Wallace, Henry, 369, 378, 743

  Wannsee Conference (1942), 475

  War Department, U.S., 736

  War Office, British, 87, 224, 378

  War Production Board, U.S., 427

  Warren, Stafford, 677

  Warsaw, 341

  Washington, George, 618

  Washington Conferences on Theoretical Physics (1939), 269–71, 280

  Washington Evening Star, 273

  Waste Land, The (Eliot), 123

  water, as pile coolant, 411–12, 498

  Watson, Edwin M., 313–15, 317, 331–32

  Wattenberg, Albert, 401, 438–39

  Weaver, Warren, 360

  Webster, H. C., 159–61

  Weil, George, 396, 438–39

  Wein, Wilhelm, 129

  Weisskopf, Victor, 206, 208, 210, 524–25

  Trinity and, 652–53, 668, 674, 675

  Weizmann, Chaim, 46–47, 113, 173, 181

  background of, 87

  Churchill and, 88–89

  Lloyd George and, 88–90

  Rutherford described by, 46–47

  scientific work of, 87–90

  Szilard and, 193, 221–22

  Zionism of, 86–88, 238

  Weizsäcker, Carl F. von, 312, 371, 384, 385, 609

  isotope separation and, 350

  neutron multiplication experiments of, 343–44

  Wells, H. G., 266, 637

  Soddy and, 44

  Szilard and, 14, 21, 24, 107

  Wendover Field, Utah, 584–85

  Werner, Louis B., 409, 413–15

  Westinghouse, 650

  Weyl, Herman, 126

  Wheeler, John A., 228, 328

  Bohr and, 264–65, 311, 319, 323

  on fission-product poisoning, 558–60

  plutonium extraction and, 408, 411

  White, James, 649

  Whitehead, Alfred North, 123

  Wideröe, Rolf, 145, 148

  Wigner, Eugene, 308, 317

  administration of atomic bomb project and, 422, 423

  awards of, 106

  background of, 106, 108–9, 126

  Compton and, 381

  Einstein and, 303–4, 305

  Fermi and, 206, 440–42

  group theory of, 187

  Hanford plutonium piles and, 498, 559–60

  military aspects of nuclear fission and, 381

  Neumann and, 108–9, 196

  nuclear chain reaction and, 303–4, 305, 308, 315

  nuclear fission and, 265–66, 293–94

  physics defined by, 35

  pile experiments and, 439–42

  plutonium extraction and, 408, 410–11

  Szilard and, 16, 18–19, 187, 266, 281–82, 292–93, 303–4, 312–13, 498, 507, 509

  William II, Emperor of Germany, 17, 78–79, 80–81, 99, 156, 341–42

  Wilson, C. T. R., 67

  Wilson, Robert R., 452, 476–77, 566–67

  Wilson, Volney, 422–23, 437–39, 442

  Wilson, Woodrow, 237

  Window, 472–73, 475

  Wolfe, Henry C., 520–21

  Wood, Edward F. L., Lord Halifax, 526, 528, 538, 620

  World Set Free, The (Wells), 24, 26, 44

  World War I, 14–16, 90–95, 98–103, 358

  xenon effect, 559

  X-ray crystallography, 17–19, 82–83

  X rays, 238, 670

  Compton’s studies with, 363–64

  implosion diagnosed with, 573–74

  Rutherford’s research on, 39, 43

  Thomson’s study of, 38–39, 41

  X-ray spectra, 81–85, 115, 363

  xylyl bromide, 94

  Yalta Conference (1944), 618, 623, 646

  Yamamoto, Isoroku, 392

  Yasuda, Takeo, 327, 346

  York, Herbert F., 327, 502

  Ypres, Battle of (1915), 90–92, 94

  Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie, 230

  Zeitschrift für Physik, 127, 141–42, 209

  Zeppelin, Count Ferdinand von, 99

  Zeppelins, 98–99

  Zhukov, Georgi, 401–2

  zinc sulfide, 47–48, 130

  Zinn, Walter, 288–89, 291

  pile studies and, 396, 401, 429–31, 433–35, 437–38, 559

  Zionism, 86–88, 90, 173, 238, 636

  ZIP control rods, 438–40

  Zurich, University of, 172–73

  Zyklon B, 475

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  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Rhodes, Richard.

  The making of the atomic bomb / Richard Rhodes.

  Bibliography: p.

  Includes index.

  1. Atomic bomb—History. I. Title

  QC773.R46 1986 623.4’5119’09 86-15445

  ISBN 978-1-4516-7761-4

  ISBN: 978-1-4391-2622-6 (eBook)

  The author is grateful for permission to reprint excerpts from:

  Reminiscences of Los Alamos, 1943–1945 by Lawrence Badash, et al., copyright © 1980 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland.

  Energy and Conflict by Stanley A. Blumberg and Gwinn Owens, copyright © 1976. Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons and reprinted by permission of Ann Elmo Agency.

  Rutherford by A. S. Eve, copyright 1939. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge University Press.

  Atoms in the Family by Laura Fermi, copyright 1954. Reprinted by permission of University of Chicago Press.

  What Little I Remember by Otto Frisch, copyright © 1979. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge University Press.

  Now It Can Be Told by Leslie R. Groves, copyright © 1962 by Leslie R. Groves. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.

  Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya, translated and edited by Warner Wells, M.D., copyright 1955. Reprinted by permission of University of North Carolina Press.

  The Uranium People by Leona Marshall Libby, copyright © 1979. Reprinted by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.

  Death in Life by Robert Jay Lifton, copyright © 1982 by Robert Jay Lifton. Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, Inc. Publishers.

  Children of the Atomic Bomb by Arata Osada, copyright © 1967. Midwest Publishers.

  Niels Bohr by Stefan Rozental, copyright © 1967. Reprinted by permission of North-Holland Physics Publishing, Amsterdam.

  Enrico Fermi, Physicist by Emilio Segrè, copyright © 1970. Reprinted by permission of University of Chicago Press.

  Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections by Alice Kimball Smith and Charles Weiner, copyright © 1980 by Alice Kimball Smith and Charles Weiner. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press; also reprinted by permission of Spencer R. Weart at the American Institute of Physics and for quotes from the Bridgeman Papers, Harvard University Archives.

  Adventures of a Mathematician by Stanislaw Ulam, copyright © 1977 by S. M. Ulam. Reprinted by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.

 

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