Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Wilber A. Stevens was an army officer in charge of overseeing construction at Los Alamos. He helped choose the site where the Manhattan Project would test its first atomic bomb.

According to Robert W. Henderson, head of the Engineering Group in the Explosives Division, Stevens coined the name Trinity when the two were discussing the best way to transport the Jumbo device from the railroad. “A devout Roman Catholic, Stevens observed that the railroad siding was called ‘Pope’s Siding.’ He [then] remarked that the Pope had special access to the Trinity, and that the scientists would need all the help they could get to move the 214 ton Jumbo to its proper spot.”

Related Profiles

Bernard C. Sesko

Los Alamos, NM

Bernard Sesko served in the Special Engineer Detatchment (SED) at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

M. W. Hooker

Hanford, WA

Antoinette J. Cichy

Los Alamos, NM

Antoinette Cichy was a nurse in the main infirmary at Los Alamos, handling classified documents and classified medical cases.

Charles W. Sweeney

Nagasaki Mission

Charles W. Sweeney served as a major in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He was regularly assigned to the Great Artiste as the aircraft commander and participated in the mission to bomb Hiroshima as co-pilot of the Great Artiste.