In addition,there are details about the lives of the scientists who worked on the project,but those are not particularly compelling either.

At first, it was called the Manhattan Engineer District, but it was layered shortened to the name we all know now. We will leave the rest up to the 10 books about the Manhattan Projects that will teach you all you need to know. And finally,the unease felt by some of the scientists including Oppenheimer,about what they had unleashed on the world."I am become death,the destroyer of worlds." Too little remorse,too late. Martin Moeller: Kiernan’s best-selling book inspired renewed interest in the Manhattan Project and the varied roles of American women during World War II. It complements the more well-known stories of the famous scientists and military officials associated with the project.

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If you want to impress a geeky engineer, read The Making of the Atomic Bomb. I can't imagine a more complete and authoritative work about one of mankind's most important inventions. When people speak of great human accomplishments in the 20th century, they invariably reference von Braun and the race to the moon. This book shows that the development of the atomic bomb was, while morally questionable, arguably just as amazing in its engineering and scientific prowess. On July 26, 1945, at the Potsdam Conference in the Allied-occupied city of Potsdam, Germany, the U.S. delivered an ultimatum to Japan—surrender under the terms outlined in the Potsdam Declaration (which, among other provisions, called for the Japanese to form a new, democratic and peaceful government) or face “prompt and utter destruction.”

For many readers, this way of learning about the atomic bomb is much more exciting than many others. The book is filled with many short boxes of texts next to thrilling and simple illustrations, making sure you never get bored and learn at the same time. Jonathan is a real storyteller, and his book is a true graphic novel masterpiece. I'll summarize the book to give an idea of what it's about and highlight some parts I found interesting. Sally Smith Hughes notes that while "Rhodes is neither a scientist nor science writer", this "may explain the freshness of his approach and his ability to convey difficult science in layman's terms." She notes the usage of oral histories by the author: Rhodes writes about 21 participants of the events who "generously made time for interviews and correspondence"; he also used oral histories collected by the American Institute of Physics. [7] A first-person historical record of the Manhattan Project, and the events leading to thebirth of the Atomic bomb, as told by the researchers, scientists, and developers intimately involved in its creation.

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The Japanese informed Washington, which following Roosevelt’s death was under the new leadership of President Harry Truman, of their intention to surrender on August 10th, and formally surrendered on August 14, 1945. Legacy of the Manhattan Project This controversial political sentiment foreshadowed the weak beginnings of the relationship between scientists and the US Federal Government. During WWII years, physicists found they could exert little influence on the formation of atomic policy. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki surprised and horrified Hungarian refugee physicist Leo Szilard, who as one of the developers of this terrible weapon of war felt a full measure of guilt. In the petition to the President that he had circulated among the atomic scientists in July 1945, Szilard argued that large moral responsibilities devolved upon the United States in consequence of its possession of the bomb. Remarkably, Robert Oppenheimer, the wartime head of Los Lamos, the bomb design laboratory in New Mexico, refused to sign the petition, writing Szilard he felt "that I should do the wrong thing if I tried to say how to tie the little toe of the ghost to the bottle from which we just helped it to escape."

I'm blown away by Richard Rhodes and his ability to effortlessly master three incredibly difficult disciplines: science writing, history writing, and character writing. Rarely will you find a book that masters any one of these. Rhodes managed to master all three simultaneously.The latter portions of the book are dominated – unsurprisingly – by the “American Prometheus” himself, Oppenheimer. He was a brilliant man in his own right, but his main contribution to the Manhattan Project was to manage the greatest collection of scientific minds perhaps ever gathered in one place.