30 questions · 19 almanac · 0 findings

Manhattan Project

The Allied program that developed the first atomic bombs.

Almanac Germany Mails Away Its Physicists
  • How did the expulsion of German-Jewish scientists ultimately benefit the Allied war effort, including the Manhattan Project?
Almanac A Second, Heavier Hydrogen
  • What role did Urey's discovery of deuterium end up playing in the development of nuclear weapons?
Almanac A Traffic Light, Six Years Early
  • When did Leó Szilárd first conceive of the nuclear chain reaction, and what prompted the idea?
  • What specific warning did the Einstein–Szilard letter give President Roosevelt about uranium and Germany?
  • How long did it take for the letter to actually reach Roosevelt, and why the delay?
  • What scale did the Manhattan Project eventually reach in cost, workforce, and time?
Almanac The Natives Are Friendly
  • Why was a disused squash court under Stagg Field chosen as the site for the first nuclear reactor?
  • What did the coded telegram 'the Italian navigator has landed in the new world' actually report to Washington?
Almanac A Fireball Thirty-Eight Thousand Feet High
  • What is trinitite, and why is the ground at the Trinity site still radioactive today?
  • What did Oppenheimer and Kenneth Bainbridge each say in the moments after the detonation, and how did their reactions differ?
  • How much time passed between the Trinity test and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Almanac Right Too Soon, Punished Later
  • Why did the 1954 hearing strip Oppenheimer of his security clearance despite no technical wrongdoing?
  • On what grounds did Oppenheimer advise against developing the hydrogen bomb?
  • What role did Oppenheimer play at the Institute for Advanced Study after losing his government positions?
  • Why did the U.S. government revoke Oppenheimer's clearance revocation in 2022, decades after his death?
Almanac Redefining Peace, One Bomb at a Time
  • What role did Edward Teller play in developing the hydrogen bomb?
  • How did Teller's testimony affect Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance?