Post archives
Filtering for posts tagged with ‘Manhattan Project’
2014
June 2014
6
Meditations
Most of Feynman's stories about the bomb are about his hijinks. But what did he really do on the Manhattan Project, and what did he think about the bomb?
February 2014
7
Visions
The original, unedited, raw, silent footage of the Nagasaki bombing.
2013
December 2013
6
Meditations
What airburst physics tells us about nuclear targeting decisions, and why it took so long for the NUKEMAP to support arbitrary burst heights.
November 2013
8
Meditations
A portrait of a year in flux, when the possibilities of a new order moved from the limitless to the concrete.
1
Redactions
How many people did it take to make the atomic bomb? Probably many more than you realize.
October 2013
23
Visions
"At the first sign of any unusual behavior inside the box he was to abandon the automobile and run as far away from it as his legs would carry him..."
11
Redactions
Who told Werner Heisenberg that an atomic bomb might be dropped on Dresden? Plus: another curious wartime leak.
4
Redactions
If the first atomic bomb had been ready in 1944, would it have been used against the Nazis? Surprisingly, Roosevelt may have been interested in doing it.
September 2013
20
Redactions
How did an article about the work at the Los Alamos laboratory come to be published in March 1944?
13
Redactions
Are there any indications that the Germans penetrated into the secrecy surrounding the American atomic bomb project during World War II? Not many.
6
Redactions
During World War II, the United States didn't just fear a German atomic bomb, but also a German dirty bomb. But secrecy made acting on such fears difficult.
August 2013
16
Redactions
Japan managed to avoid getting the world's third plutonium core dropped on them, but it still managed to leave behind a deadly legacy.
9
Meditations
Why was a second bomb used against Japan, so soon after Hiroshima? A review of several theories.
6
Meditations
Thoughts on the 68th anniversary of Hiroshima, and what gets lost when we focus on individual events.
July 2013
5
Redactions
An unusual view on the possibility of scientific secrecy from physicist who was inside the Manhattan Project but not making the bomb.
May 2013
24
Visions
The Manhattan Project gaseous diffusion facility, K-25, was once the world's largest factory under a single roof. But what did it look like on the inside?
17
Meditations
Of the $2 billion spent on the Manhattan Project, where did it go, and what does it tell us about how we should talk about the history of the bomb?
2
Redactions
A brief update to the last post: translations of leaflets dropped on the Japanese after Hiroshima.
April 2013
26
Redactions
Did the United States warn Japan about the atomic bombs prior to their use? A mystery is unravelled.
12
Meditations | Redactions
Blacking something out is only a step away from highlighting its importance, and the void makes us curious.
March 2013
29
Meditations
How many ways are there to talk about secrecy? Quite a few.
22
Visions
When seen in color, what were cities of dust become cities of rubble.
15
Meditations | Redactions
Did atomic secrets kill Lt. Col. Paul P. Stoutenburgh?
8
Meditations | Redactions
Where do historians stand, in the 2010s, about the decision to use the atomic bomb? A report from a recent workshop.
1
Redactions | Visions
An anonymous wartime wordsmith comes up with an novel interpretation of why Hanford was so secretive, and so unpleasant to work in.
January 2013
25
Meditations | News and Notes
Three recent losses — two people, one building — highlight that the living presence of the Manhattan Project is rapidly vanishing.
18
Redactions
The colorful physicist's postwar concerns about the teaching of nuclear physics, and an H-bomb doodle.
2012
November 2012
30
Redactions | Visions
The US government doesn't like to draw atomic bombs, but the Russians don't mind drawing American nukes.
15
Redactions
What would make a nuclear bomb attack even worse? How about a nuclear attack that generates its own thunderstorm?
October 2012
18
Redactions
Did Truman know about the radiation effects of the atomic bombs before they were used? Does it matter?
