August 6th, 2026
Lanterns For Peace
This month, Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorate the anniversaries of the atomic bombings on August 6 and 9. Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi placed an updated list of 353,639 atomic bomb victims in the Peace Memorial Park’s cenotaph and called on the leaders of nuclear-weapons states to act: “Civil society demands the immediate abolition of nuclear weapons. How much longer do you intend to disappoint us?…Downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and accepting the use of force to pursue one’s own prosperity risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki.”
Each year, the units of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park host Days and Peace and Remembrance to commemorate the anniversaries with lights for peace and reflections on the legacy of the atomic bombings. Los Alamos lights luminarias around Ashley Pond, and Hanford displays them in a park near the Columbia River.
At Oak Ridge, sunrise is marked by ringing of the 8,300-pound International Friendship Bell (see photo above) 81 times—one ring for each year since 1945—as a solemn act of reflection.
Shaping Opinion on the Atomic Bomb
On August 6, 1945, President Harry S Truman called the atomic bomb “the greatest achievement of organized science in history.” With the atomic bomb’s role in ending World War II, 83 percent of the American public supported the use of the bomb.
Central to the public’s understanding of the atomic bomb was William Leonard Laurence, a New York Times science writer who secretly worked for the Manhattan Project. As a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, Laurence enjoyed a personal relationship with General Groves and unique access to the top-secret project, even flying on the Nagasaki mission. The investment paid off as Laurence extolled the scientific triumph and downplayed the devastation caused by the atomic bombs.
In a piece first published as the entire edition of the August 31,1946 issue of The New Yorker (see cover above), John Hersey’s Hiroshima provided a counterpoint to the administration’s reports. With moving stories of six survivors, Hershey conveyed to American readers the atomic bomb’s impact in human terms for the first time. Uncensored, Hershey questioned whether “total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose…as its consequences far exceed whatever good might result?”
American Experience’s newsletter traces the efforts of Hersey and subsequent journalists to depict the human costs of nuclear weapons.
Martians Land in DC
The Martians have landed in Washington, DC. Life-sized cutouts of these prominent Hungarian scientists are part of the “Martians” exhibition to commemorate 250 years of collaboration between America and Hungary.
The scientists were jokingly called “Martians” because they seemed to be from Mars with their extraordinary intelligence, creativity and eccentricities. Featured in István Hargittai’s The Martians of Science (2008), Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller, and John von Neumann made significant contributions to the creation of the atomic bomb, while Theodore von Kármán was a pioneer of modern aerodynamics.
The exhibit is displayed outside the Kossuth House, 2001 Massachusetts Avenue, NW. After Washington, DC, the exhibit will tour Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Daytona Beach and Chicago.
Gateway to K-25
Recently restored, Portal 4 was a gateway to the mile-long K-25 gaseous diffusion plant. Manhattan Project workers had to show their badges before proceeding.
Managed by the American Museum of Science and Energy, visitors can enjoy coffee and other refreshments at the cafe as they follow the footsteps of atomic pioneers.
The popular DOE bus tours to Manhattan Project facilities are running as well as special tours of the ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity.
Be sure to stop by the Oak Ridge History Museum and admire the new bronze statue of Ed Westcott, the legendary photographer of Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge.
Progeny Gather in Los Alamos
Children of Los Alamos Manhattan Project veterans gathered in Los Alamos from July 30 to August 2, 2026. Organized by Joel Shapiro (Maurice Shapiro) and Jeff Glauber (Roy Glauber), the reunion was a heartening experience for participants. In addition to tours of Manhattan Project sites, they found connecting with other children of the Manhattan Project validating.
The gathering included Joel Shapiro, Jeff Glauber, Julie Fisher Melton (David and Frances Hawkins), Ellen Bradbury Reid and her sister Carolyn Montman (Edward Wilder, Jr.), Pam Smith Horowitz (Jack Smith), and Donald Katcoff (Seymour Katcoff) attended. Participating in a virtual session were Chris Hornig (Don and Lilli Hornig), Henry Frisch (David Frisch), Andrew Hanson (Alfred O. Hanson), Margi Bainbridge Robinson and Joan Bainbridge Safford (Kenneth and Peg Bainbridge), Valerie Fleishman (Roy Glauber), and Rosyln Malin. The group hopes to continue their friendships with future reunions. [NOTE: Click on the hyperlinks above to watch interviews taken by AHF.]
Queens of Los Alamos
The new Project Y deck of cards is stacked with some of the most famous and infamous participants in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. The 52 face cards are from 1,400 badge photos and feature physicists (spades), European refugee and British Mission scientists (hearts), Armed Forces (clubs), and other scientists and technical support (diamonds).
The kings are General Leslie Groves, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emilio Segre, leader of the radioactivity group, and George Kistiakowsky, director of the explosives division.
Seven women are in the pack including the four “queens”. The queen of hearts is Lilli Hornig, a Czech American with a master’s degree in organic chemistry. Offered a job as a secretary, she responded that she didn’t type and insisted on a job that fit her qualifications. The other three queens are Elizabeth Graves, a PhD in physics from the University of Chicago, Frances Dunne, an explosives technician, and Lyde Speck, a chemist with the Women’s Army Corps.
The Aces are all spies: Theodore Hall, Klaus Fuchs, David Greenglass, and Oscar Seborer. The son of Jewish Polish immigrants, Seborer was a member of the Special Engineer Detachment at Oak Ridge and then Los Alamos. Only after the Venona papers were decoded in 1995 did officials realize that Seborer was a Soviet spy. By then he had been living in Moscow for over forty years.
Packs are available at Gadgets at the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos or online here. Game on!
The Forrestal Building
The Forrestal Building, named after James V. Forrestal, the first U.S. Secretary of Defense (1947-49), is coming down. The 1.8 million-square-foot Brutalist building was built in 1969 along three blocks of Constitution Avenue across from the Smithsonian Castle and the National Mall in Washington, DC.
The successor agency to the Manhattan Project, the Department of Energy (DOE} has its headquarters in the Forrestal Building. Inside, sterile white corridors stretch endlessly while the exterior offices enjoy views of the Smithsonian Castle and the U.S. Capitol.
Unlike his predecessors, DOE Secretary Chris Wright has agreed to move. DOE will occupy the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building a few blocks away, displacing the Department of Education.
The building has long been a target for demolition. The move aligns with the Trump Administration’s strategy to streamline the federal real estate footprint. The demolition will free 11 acres for development and a new pathway from the National Mall to the Potomac River.
Engineering at Los Alamos
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer employed several thousand technically trained individuals to support the Manhattan Project. General Leslie Groves created the Special Engineer Detachment (SED) and the Provisional Engineer Detachment (PED) which were instrumental in the success of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.
The SED was composed primarily of soldiers with scientific and technical backgrounds. About 29 percent held college degrees in physics, chemistry, or engineering. Many worked closely with senior scientists and had access to the most restricted areas. The Atomic Heritage Foundation has nearly 60 interviews with former SEDers who worked at Los Alamos on Voices of the Manhattan Project. Among them are Benjamin Bederson, Hans Courant, Val Fitch, and Norman Brown.
The Provisional Engineer Detachment (PED) consisted of nearly 500 individuals who filled essential support roles across Los Alamos, from operating power plants to managing the motor pool, and maintaining buildings and roads. For more, see the article by the Los Alamos National Laboratory here.
Recommended Reading
Several recent books feature the Manhattan Project and its legacy. At the top of the list is The Most Awful Responsibility, in which Alex Wellerstein
makes the case that Truman was possibly the most anti-nuclear American president of the twentieth century. Richard Rhodes wrote, “I thought I knew the story but learned much that I didn’t know. Outstanding!”
Michael Joseloff’s latest, The Greatest Scientific Gamble, weaves the stories of long-time friends turned rivals – Heisenberg, Oppenheimer, Fermi and Goudsmit – and General Groves into a high-stakes narrative stretching from the discovery of nuclear fission to Hiroshima and beyond.
Robert Bothwell, a Canadian historian, and Patricia McMahon co-authored In the Shadow of the Manhattan Project. The book tells the story of the Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited which supplied uranium to the Manhattan Project. After the war, fraud worth $50 million in stolen radium was discovered but secrecy delayed justice for decades. This cautionary tale explores how notions of national security, weak corporate oversight, and lucrative contracts created the perfect conditions for fraud and corporate malfeasance.
The Silent Women is a historical novel about women who worked as leak detectors in the mile-long K-25 plant in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. With vibrant prose and memorable characters, Tara Lynn Masih captures life in the “Secret City” and the heartbreak and hopes of the young women doing their part to bring an end to World War II.