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

Ruth Langley

Oak Ridge, TN

Ruth Langley worked for the United States Engineer District Office.

Alton J. Wright

Los Alamos, NM

Walter H. Cottrell

Los Alamos, NM

John W. Healy

Hanford, WA

John William Healy (1920-2001) worked in the field of radiation safety at Hanford during the Manhattan Project and at Los Alamos National Laboratory.