The Manhattan Project

Yesterday, July 16th, was the anniversary of the first atom bomb explosion. CSPAN3 did a marathon of substantive discussions on the Manhattan Project as part of its history coverage.

I had previously mentioned that the project was huge. It built three cities which combined to house a population of about 100,000 people in out of the way sites. The Oak Ridge site, apparently built close to the Tennessee Valley Project for access to electricity, used a significant part of the electrical power of the United States. It also used a significant part of the silver reserves of the United States to make the wires used in the magnets for one of the separation processes.

It seemed to me that a project of that magnitude was beyond the experience and understanding of the scientists of the time. It may also have been beyond the understanding of the politicians of the time, who may not have understood fully how much of the American resource base it absorbed that might otherwise have been directed to other military projects. I thought it had been possible only because of the experience of engineers, especially civil and military engineers in large projects, including canals, the continental railway and road systems, and the national power grid and hydroelectric dams supplying it.

Indeed the project was so large, complex and costly that European nations were probably correct in deciding that they could not produce an atom bomb during the war.

The CSPAN discussions also made me realize that the success of the project was also the result of the industrial capacity of the United States, the "can-do" attitudes of its industrial leaders, and their willingness to bet their large firms on the effort to build an atom bomb.

I am again struck by the achievement of General Groves who lead the project and who also bet his health and his career on its successful outcome.