Oral Histories

Dr. Henry Frisch is a professor of physics at the University of Chicago. He is the son of David Frisch, who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. In this interview, Frisch discusses the University of Chicago’s role in the Manhattan Project and how leading figures at UChicago advocated for civilian control of atomic energy. He also shares some of his father’s stories from Los Alamos, and reflects on the challenges of addressing nuclear weapons today.

Andrew Hanson is the son of Alfred Hanson and Henry Frisch is the son of David Frisch. Alfred and David were both physicists who worked at Los Alamos on the Manhattan Project, and Andrew and Henry were both born there during the war. Alfred and David used the Van de Graaff long tank generator to measure neutron cross sections in plutonium. In this interview with Robert S. Norris, Frisch and Hanson discuss their father’s work at Los Alamos and relay a number of anecdotes their parents told them about life at Los Alamos and preparing for and witnessing the Trinity test. Hanson remembers a story his mother told him about his father accidentally vaporizing the world’s supply of metallic plutonium. Frisch and Hanson also recall a performance of the opera “Doctor Atomic” and talking to the actors about the actual people they portrayed. The pair also ask about the source of plutonium for several experiments and the existence of a third bomb on Tinian.