Atomic Heritage Foundation

[Thanks to Ronald K. Smeltzer for donating the record “To Fermi with Love” to the Atomic Heritage Foundation.] Narrator: It was a major emotional decision for Mrs. Fermi, causing her great pain. She had been born in Rome, always lived there. Her relatives and friends were there. She felt she belonged to Rome, but in May […]

Richard Rhodes: Would you say your name and then spell it to start with? Jane Yantis: It’s Jane Yantis, J-A-N-E, Y-A-N-T-I-S. Rhodes: Good, thank you. Where were you born and when, if you want to tell me? Yantis: I was born in Center, Texas. Rhodes: When? Yantis: In 1920. Rhodes: Good. Yantis: March the 23rd, 1920. […]

Norman Brown: My name is Norman L. Brown. Brown is spelled as Brown is usually spelled, without an E. Cindy Kelly: Great, okay. Why don’t you start by telling us how you became part of the Manhattan Project? Brown: I was a sophomore at MIT. I was talked into enlisting in what was called then […]

Harold Hoover: My name is Harold E. Hoover, that’s H-O-O-V-E-R, commonly known as Hal, H-A-L. Cindy Kelly: Why don’t you start by telling me how you got into the SED [Special Engineer Detachment]? How you happened to get into the SED, and then what you found when you got to Oak Ridge? Hoover: All right. […]

Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly. This is Wednesday, June 24th, 2015, and I’m in Cambridge Massachusetts with Peter Gailson. My first question for you is to tell me your name and spell it. Peter Galison: My name is Peter Gailson, G-A-L-I-S-O-N. I’m a professor here at Harvard, Physics, a history of science. Twentieth century physics […]

Robert JS Brown: I’m Robert JS Brown. Robert S. Norris: You are recording this oral history for the Atomic Heritage Foundation on June third, two thousand fifteen in Washington, DC. Brown: Yes, right. Robert S. Norris: How did you become involved in the Manhattan Project? Can you tell us about that? Robert JS Brown: Like most […]

Kai Bird: Let us begin at the beginning and I think the viewers of this will want to know first about your own background. What year were you born? Bob Carter: I was born in 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bird: On what day? Carter: February 3, 1920. Bird: 1920. Carter: Yes. Bird: Okay, 1920, what was sort of before modern physics, quantum […]

Hunt: I started working for DuPont in 1937 at Old Hickory [in Tennessee] in the power department. I was very anxious to do the best I could, so I made a special effort to learn everything. Where were you when you were told to return to Wilmington? Hunt: At that point I was a power […]

Kai Bird: This is Kai Bird off camera, interviewing Charles Oppenheimer and Dorothy Vanderford. Just for the record, I will ask you to state your names and your date of birth and where you were born. Dorothy Vanderford: My name is Dorothy Vanderford. I was born as Dorothy Oppenheimer August 18th, 1973. I was born […]

Michele Gerber: My name is Michele Gerber, M-I-C-H-E-L-E G-E-R-B-E-R. Why should people today care about the Manhattan Project? Gerber: I think there are three reasons why people today should care about the Manhattan Project today, even in the 21St century. One reason has to do with money. The events set in motion by the Manhattan […]