City of fire: Los Alamos and the birth of the atomic age 1943--1945

Book · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6647252

Kunetka, J W

The book reviews how the U.S. Army built prototype atomic bombs during World War II. With the initial test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, the Atomic Age had begun in earnest. Led by Robert Oppenheimer, the Los Alamos Laboratory drew to its ranks the scientific giants of the age: Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, Edward Teller, and dozens more. Casting new light on Oppenheimer's pervasive contributions to the Laboratory and on his relationship with General Leslie R. Groves, the Director of the Manhattan Project, this book reveals the scientific squabbles that developed, as well as the unusual degree of cooperation Oppenheimer generated among his colleagues and between the scientific community and the military establishment. New insights are also shed on the roles played by such major world figures as Roosevelt, Truman, and Churchill in an undertaking that provided for the unprecedented interaction of science and politics. The author recreates the unique life and work at Los Alamos and tells how problems in the bomb's creation were overcome by vast expenditures of money and almost around-the-clock labor of nearly 7,000 men and women working in secrecy on the isolated New Mexico mesa. After the war, scientists were divided between those who favored development of larger, more powerful weapons and those who felt that existing weapons were enough. Describing the historical events leading to the Trinity bomb test and to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, City of Fire corrects many misconceptions about the greatest news story of the twentieth century. Setting the record straight, it establishes that all Los Alamos scientists knew about the nature of their work and that American scientists were involved in the decision to use the weapon against Japan.

• OSTI ID: 6647252
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
450202 -- Explosions & Explosives-- Nuclear-- Weaponry-- (-1989)
ASIA
ATMOSPHERIC EXPLOSIONS
COST
DECISION MAKING
DOCUMENT TYPES
EXPLOSIONS
JAPAN
LASL
MANHATTAN PROJECT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
REVIEWS
SABOTAGE
SITE SELECTION
TRINITY EVENT
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WEAPONS