The Demon Core
Harry Daghlian did not expect a simple breach of safety protocols to lead to his death. On the evening of August 21, 1945, Daghlian went alone to work on his project at the Los Alamos site. While adding reflective brick walls made up of tungsten carbide around a plutonium core, his equipment notified him that […]
The Father of the Atomic Bomb
J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist, is known by many as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Oppenheimer, born in 1904, was incredibly bright throughout his life. He lectured at the New York Mineralogical Club when he was 12 years old, and he later earned a degree in chemistry from Harvard within three years. […]
Einstein’s (small) role in the Manhattan Project
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He wasn’t allowed to work on the Manhattan Project because of concerns about him being a security risk due to his birthplace and political ideology, but he did play a role in the steps leading to the project. He was living in the United States in 1939 at […]