Making of the Atomic Bomb

  isotope-separation experiments of, 317, 332–33, 360

  Niigata, as atomic bomb target, 632, 639, 689, 691, 700

  Nimitz, Chester, 554, 679

  Ninth Army, U.S., 608

  Nishina, Yoshio, 346, 457–59

  gaseous thermal diffusion experiments of, 580–82, 612

  Nobel, Alfred, 676

  Nobel Prize winners, 45, 66, 69–71, 82, 93, 106, 114, 123, 126, 129, 141, 147, 150, 168, 170, 174, 185, 191, 201–2, 205, 222, 236, 243–44, 248–50, 252, 266, 270, 273, 279, 293, 295, 329, 331, 344, 351, 358, 363, 366, 380, 415, 636, 642, 668

  Nobuuji, Major General, 580–82

  Noddack, Ida, 230–32

  Norden bombsight, 585, 709

  Norris, Edward, 494, 495–96

  Norstad, Lauris, 591–92, 597, 600

  Norway, 256, 328–29, 455–57, 513–17

  Notes by a Naturalist on the ‘Challenger’ (Moseley), 82

  Np238, 353

  Np239, 354

  nuclear chain reactions, 28

  Herbert Anderson and, 280–81, 288, 291, 298–301, 333–34, 394–97, 399

  balloon-cloth enclosures for, 429, 433, 435

  boron trifluoride counter for, 434, 436–38

  control rods used for, 429, 432–33

  Einstein and, 297, 305–8, 312–13

  experiments for control of, 395–97, 438–40

  Fermi and, 280–81, 289n, 290–91, 295–96, 298–303, 317, 331, 333–34, 338, 345, 365, 394

  Frisch and, 320, 322–24

  Germany’s research in, 371, 383–86, 609–10

  with graphite moderation, 301–3, 315–17, 331, 333–34, 338, 344, 380n, 394–98, 400–401, 429–31, 433

  with heavy-water moderation, 311–12, 326–27, 329, 331, 344, 346, 359, 371, 385, 405, 416–21, 512–17, 523–24, 609–10

  military applications for, 394, 442

  pile studies for, 395–401, 407, 411–12, 416, 422, 428–42, 462

  Placzek and, 300

  reproduction factor k for, 393, 401, 428–29, 432, 434–36, 439–40, 462

  Roosevelt and, 306–9, 313, 317

  secrecy of, 279–82, 290, 293–95, 345, 350

  Szilard on, 28, 203–4, 214–16, 221–25, 246–47, 254, 279–82, 289, 291–92, 298–308, 315–17, 331, 334, 338, 344, 394, 397, 442

  Teller and, 289–301, 315–17

  Wigner and, 303–4, 305, 308, 315

  nuclear fission, 274–75, 294–96

  Herbert Anderson and, 269–70, 273

  Bohr and, 264–71, 273, 284–88, 297, 311, 319–20, 323, 347, 384–85, 432

  Fermi and, 267–69, 271, 273, 280–81, 288, 291, 293–96

  Frisch-Meitner explanation of, 258–65, 269–71, 273, 286

  Germany’s research in, 296, 301, 303, 311–12, 326–27, 329–31, 341, 343–46, 350, 402

  Hahn-Strassmann experiments and, 234, 247–48, 251–55, 257–58, 262, 266–67, 270

  Joliot-Curies and, 271, 290, 296

  McMillan’s experiments on, 348–50, 351

  military aspects of, 303–9, 312–17, 329–33, 336–41, 343, 345–46, 350–51, 357, 359–63, 365–70, 371–89, 398, 402–7, 411–13, 642

  Oppenheimer and, 274

  Roberts and, 283–84, 287, 289–90, 295, 315–16, 432

  spontaneous, 501, 540–41, 548

  Szilard and, 267–68, 271, 287

  Turner and, 346–47, 350

  uranium and, 258–67, 269, 274, 282–88

  Wigner and, 265–66, 293–94

  nuclear physics, 23–26, 81, 395

  nuclear weapons policy, 378–79

  Bohr and, 525–38

  Opphenheimer on, 534–35

  nucleons, 227

  nucleus, 50, 66, 135, 137–40, 153, 204

  Bohr’s liquid-drop model of, 227–28, 232, 258, 282, 284, 287

  Gamow’s model of, 228n

  neutron bombardment of, 208–13, 216–20, 226–27, 231, 349

  neutron capture by, 226–27, 282–83, 286–87

  Oak Ridge, 546

  construction of, 486–87

  Groves and, 427–28, 486, 601

  mud at, 600

  X-10 pile of, 547–48, 579

  see also Clinton Engineer Works

  Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), 365–66, 369, 377, 379, 408–9, 412, 423–24, 504, 605

  S-1 program of, 397–98, 420–21, 425, 442, 510

  O’Keefe, Bernard J., 738–39

  Okinawa, 687

  Oliphant, Mark, 321, 351, 753

  Chadwick and, 155, 165, 600–601

  Frisch and, 318–19, 324–25, 329–30

  isotope separation and, 339

  Lawrence and, 360, 373, 377

  military aspects of nuclear fission and, 372–74, 377, 382

  Rutherford and, 38, 134–35, 229

  Olympia, Operation, 641

  “On element 93” (Noddack), 230–32

  Onsager, L., 297

  “On the alkaline-earth metals produced by the neutron bombardment of uranium and their behavior” (Hahn and Strassmann), 254–56, 260–62

  “On the constitution of atoms and molecules” (Bohr), 60–70, 75–76, 83

  “On the construction of a ‘super-bomb,’ based on a nuclear chain reaction in uranium” (Frisch and Peierls), 324–25

  “On the decrease of entropy in a thermodynamic system by the intervention of intelligent beings” (Szilard), 19

  “On the extension of phenomenological thermodynamics to fluctuation phenomena” (Szilard), 20

  “On the quantum theory of continuous spectra” (Oppenheimer), 127

  “On the quantum theory of the problem of the two bodies” (Oppenheimer), 127

  “On the quantum theory of vibration-rotation bands” (Oppenheimer), 127

  “On the question of unleashing chain reactions” (Houtermans), 371

  “On the stability of Saturn’s rings” (Maxwell), 50

  Open Conspiracy, The (Wells), 14, 24, 26, 637

  Oppenheimer, Ella, 119–20, 125, 445

  Oppenheimer, Frank, 119, 125–26, 127–28, 146, 150, 445, 572–73

  Trinity and, 654, 663, 674–75, 677

  Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 59, 142–43

  Abelson and, 552

  administration of atomic bomb project and, 447–50, 523, 539–40, 565, 570–71

  Alvarez and, 453–54, 467

  anti-Semitism and, 445

  appearance of, 121, 443–44, 661, 676

  atomic bomb design and, 415–20, 447–49, 480

  on atomic bomb vs. conventional bombs, 648

  Bacher and, 549

  background of, 119–127, 662

  Bethe and, 415–16, 418, 420, 443–44, 447–48, 449, 453, 479, 511–12, 539–40, 546, 570, 572, 676

  Bohr and, 114, 125, 127, 226, 229–30, 385, 484–85, 524–25, 532, 534, 537, 572–73, 644–45, 651, 752, 759–60

  Born and, 126, 127

  Bush and, 663

  Chevalier and, 443–44

  Communism and, 446, 448, 570–71, 606

  Compton and, 383, 418–20

  Conant and, 454, 548

  Condon and, 468

  Creutz test and, 662–63

  critical-mass calculations of, 382, 487–88

  fast-neutron studies and, 410–11, 420

  Fermi and, 206–7, 444, 468, 510–11, 565

  Frisch and, 614

  government surveillance of, 570–71, 606

  Groves and, 447–50, 454, 546, 548, 552–53, 571–72, 612, 655, 664, 676, 734–35

  as humanist, 445–46

  Hiroshima atomic bombing and, 734–35

  hydrogen bomb and, 546, 563–64, 643

  implosion experiments and, 542, 546, 548–49, 576–77, 612

  Interim Committee and, 630, 641–47, 696

  international control of atomic bomb and, 644–46

  Kistiakowsky and, 542, 547, 576, 661–62, 675

  Lawrence and, 143, 146–47, 149, 151, 381–82, 444–47, 7
50–52

  limitations of, 149–50, 152

  liquid thermal diffusion and, 552–53

  Los Alamos and, 449, 450–54, 459–60, 464–65, 538–39, 549, 561, 565–67, 569–73

  military aspects of nuclear fission and, 381–83, 642

  Neddermeyer and, 467, 547

  nuclear fission and, 274

  on nuclear weapons policy, 534–35

  ordnance and, 467, 476

  Parsons and, 477, 552

  Peierls and, 546

  personality of, 444–45

  political commitments of, 446

  political implications of atomic bomb and, 641–42

  quantum theory studied by, 124, 127

  Rabi and, 149, 449, 452–53, 676

  radioactive warfare and, 510–11

  Roosevelt’s death and, 613–14

  Rutherford and, 123, 125

  Seaborg and, 410–11, 420

  Segrè and, 444, 449

  self-destructiveness of, 444

  Serber and, 449

  Site Y and, 450

  Stimson and, 643, 645

  surprise atomic attack and, 647

  Szilard and, 641–42

  Target Committee and, 630–32

  Tatlock and, 446, 571

  as teacher, 447

  Teller and, 415, 417, 444, 449, 453–54, 511–12, 538–40, 546, 552, 570

  thermonuclear reactions and, 418–19, 564

  Tolman and, 563–64

  Trinity and, 571–72, 652, 656–57, 659, 661–69, 674–77

  Truman and, 690

  on virtues and discipline, 150–51, 572–73

  Oppenheimer, Julius, 119–20, 125, 445

  Oppenheimer, Katherine (Toni), 567

  Oppenheimer, Katherine Puening (Kitty), 381, 446, 567, 571

  Osaka, 600

  Õta, Yõko, 715, 717, 728, 732

  Overlord, Operation, 500

  Oxford University, 31, 41, 215, 222–24, 236, 339–40

  Pacific Aviation Company, 589

  Pacific theater:

  air attacks approved for, 588–91

  casualties in, 392, 520, 556, 595, 599–600, 687–88, 694–96

  European theater vs., 517–20, 602

  island war of, 554–56

  Pact of Steel (1939), 309

  Pais, Abraham, 54, 113, 152, 173

  Pajarito Canyon field station, 540–41

  Pale of Settlement, 179, 180–81

  Pan American Scientific Congress (1940), 335, 374

  Parsons, Martha Cluverius, 477, 571

  Parsons, William S. (Deke):

  B-29 crews briefed by, 700–701

  background of, 477

  blockbuster program and, 589–90, 591

  Groves and, 477, 590, 591, 655

  Kistiakowsky and, 542–43, 547, 549, 576

  Kokura atomic bombing and, 737

  Little Boy development and, 477–78, 549, 576–78

  with Little Boy strike crew, 705–6, 708

  Los Alamos and, 565

  Neddermeyer and, 478, 479, 542–43

  Oppenheimer and, 477, 552

  Ramsey and, 481

  Target Committee and, 630, 638

  Trinity and, 700–701

  particle acceleration, 138, 141, 145–48

  Pash, Boris T., 605–7, 609–10

  Pauli, Wolfgang, 126, 127, 149, 165, 185, 189, 200, 206, 208

  Bohr and, 57, 116–17, 152

  emigration of, 187–88

  neutrino and, 233

  Pauling, Linus, 189

  Pearl Harbor, Japanese attack on, 389–93

  Pegram, George B., 264, 302, 316, 352

  background of, 292–93

  Compton and, 399

  Fermi and, 293, 344, 396–97

  Peierls, Genia, 322, 565, 568

  Los Alamos and, 546, 565, 759

  Peierls, Rudolf, 189, 282, 522

  atomic bomb and, 321, 323–24, 367–68

  critical-mass calculations of, 321–23, 335, 355

  Frisch and, 321–25, 329–30, 339, 612

  on gaseous-diffusion barriers, 495–96

  Heisenberg and, 386

  isotope separation and, 339

  Oppenheimer and, 546

  Pendergast, Tom, 636

  Penney, William G., 522

  Target Committee and, 626, 628, 677–78

  Trinity and, 652–53, 677–78

  People’s Will, The, 180

  periodic table, 67–68, 83, 114–15

  Perkin, William H., Jr., 87–88

  Perrin, Francis, 321, 335, 344

  Philosophical Magazine, 50–51

  phosgene gas, 93–94

  photoelectric effect, 70–71, 128, 363–64

  photons, 363–64

  “Physical evidence for the division of heavy nuclei under neutron bombardment” (Meitner and Frisch), 264

  Physical Review, 141–42, 148, 287, 289–90, 293, 295, 300, 311, 327, 332–33, 346–47, 350, 501

  physics:

  chemistry linked to, 114–15, 123

  definitions of, 33, 35, 77, 141

  in U.S., 141–43, 151

  Pioneer Regiment, Japanese, 734

  Pisa, University of, 205–6

  Placzek, George, 243, 262, 522

  Bohr and, 282–84, 287

  nuclear chain reaction and, 300

  Planck, Max, 292–93, 345

  atomic theory and, 30–31

  Einstein and, 168, 172–73, 174

  Meitner and, 79, 80, 250

  radiation formula of, 70–71, 74, 129

  Szilard and, 16–17, 70

  Planck’s constant, 70, 74, 75, 130

  Plato, 116

  plutonium, 360, 365, 403

  in atomic bomb, 366–68, 387, 388–89

  Compton on, 388–89, 398

  critical mass of, 461, 464, 655

  cross-section measurements of, 366–68

  description of, 659–60

  isolation and concentration of, 407–11, 413–15, 420, 431, 448, 476, 547–48, 603–4

  Los Alamos’ crisis with, 548, 553

  production piles for, 431–32, 436, 496–500, 508, 547–48, 557–60, 603

  Seaborg’s research on, 353–55, 366, 381, 389, 407–10, 413–15, 476–77, 547–48, 603, 604

  Segrè’s research on, 353–55, 366

  spontaneous fission of, 540–41, 548

  plutonium nitrate, 604

  Poland, 309–10, 622–24, 645–46

  Polanyi, Michael:

  background of, 106

  on chemical chain reactions, 28

  science assessed by, 31–32, 33–35

  Szilard and, 25, 31, 70, 221–22, 224, 237

  polonium, 118, 158, 160–161, 578–79

  Pond, Ashley, 450–51, 459

  Pontecorvo, Bruno, 217–19, 241

  Porsche, Ferdinand, 404

  positrons, 200–201

  “Possible existence of a neutron” (Chadwick), 164

  “Possible production of elements of atomic number higher than 92” (Fermi), 230

  Potsdam Conference (1945), 656, 658, 666, 682–83, 689–90, 692–93

  Potsdam Declaration (1945), 688–89, 692, 697, 742, 745

  precision bombing, 341, 587

  area bombing vs., 469–71, 476, 586, 591, 650

  central premise of, 587–88

  Pregel, Boris and Alexander, 298, 649

  primary thermal burns, 714–15

  Princeton, 109, 186, 196, 282

  Princeton University, 112, 187, 196, 265–66, 282, 284

  Principia (Newton), 39

  Principia Mathematica (Russell and Whitehead), 123

  Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 127, 321

  “Proposed Program for Japan” (Stimson), 683–84

  protactinium, 220, 233–34

  Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The (Vinberg), 17–18, 181–84

  protons, 199–201

  proximity fuse, 477

  Prussian A
cademy of Sciences, 169, 173

  Pumpkins (Fat Man dummies), 586, 589–90, 639, 687

  Pu239, 461, 464, 476, 548, 563

  Pu240, 548

  quantum mechanics, 71, 75, 78, 83–85, 113–17, 124, 127–29, 131–33

  Quebec Conferences (1943, 1944), 500, 523, 527, 530, 536, 634, 655

  Queen Marys, 603–4

  Que Viva Mexico!, 186

  Rabi, Isidor I., 189, 209, 267, 293

  atomic bomb development opposed by, 452–53

  on atomic bomb’s use, 698

  background of, 279–80

  Los Alamos and, 452–53, 465, 479

  Oppenheimer and, 149, 449, 452–53, 676

  Trinity and, 656, 665–66, 668, 672, 675–77

  Rabinowitch, Eugene, 635

  racetracks, 489

  construction of, 490–91

  design problems of, 491–92

  productivity of, 600–601

  Rachkovsky, P. I., 183

  radiation:

  as atomic bomb by-product, 324–25, 369, 386, 420–21, 432, 632, 648

  from beryllium, 159–64, 215–16, 238

  Cerenkov, 604

  commercial and medical uses of, 239–40

  radiation sickness, 569, 731–32

  radiation transport, 670–71

  radiative capture, 216–18, 226–27

  “Radioactive change” (Soddy), 43–44

  radioactive displacement law, 67–68

  “Radioactive element 93” (McMillan and Abelson), 350

  radioactive warfare, 510–11, 512–13

  radioactivity:

  artificial, 201–4, 209, 212, 230

  Becquerel’s discovery of, 41–42

  Bohr’s studies in, 67–69

  Curies’ research on, 42, 44–45, 47–48, 118, 158

  energy and, 43–45

  Hahn’s studies on, 45, 80–81, 85

  Joliot-Curies’ research on, 201–4, 209, 211, 213, 230

  Rutherford’s studies on, 42–46, 135–38, 170

  slow-neutron, 220, 226

  Soddy’s studies on, 42–44, 67, 170

  Szilard and, 44, 203–4, 238

  as weapon, 510–11, 512–13

  radiochemistry, 67–68, 80–81

  Radio Saipan, 737

  radio waves, Rutherford’s research on, 36–38

  radium, 42–45, 80, 118, 172, 578

  isotopes of, 252–55

  radon, 45, 160, 210–11

  Raeder, Erich, 402–3

  Rafferty, James, 650

  RaLa (radiolanthanum implosion experiment), 574, 577

  Ramsey, Norman F.:

  Kokura atomic bombing and, 737–38

  Little Boy’s combat delivery and, 701, 704

  on Little Boy’s readiness, 699

  ordnance work of, 478, 480–81, 582–84

  Parsons and, 481

  Target Committee and, 630

  Tinian and, 682

  Randall, James, 319

  Rasetti, Franco, 208, 210–11, 219, 241