Innovations

Theresa Strottman: We are talking with Harold Agnew who has worked here [at Los Alamos] during the Manhattan Project and later was Lab Director. And we thank you very much for coming today. Our first question is if you could briefly tell us when and where you were born and something about your education and […]

Cindy Kelly: The first thing we have to do is ask you your name and to say it and then spell it.  Monika (camerawoman): We’re ready to go.  Kelly: So tell me your name and spell it, please.  Watson Warriner: My name is Watson C. Warriner, Senior. And I happen to be ninety-four years old. […]

Alexandra Levy: All right, we’re here on December 28, 2012 with Lawrence Litz. First please say your name and spell it. Lawrence Litz: L-A-W – it’s Lawrence Litz, L-A-W-R-E-N-C-E, L-I-T-Z. Levy: So what was it like working in the war on the Manhattan Project? Litz: It was very exciting and I felt that I was […]

Justin Piel: Hi, I am Justin Piel and I am in Palm Harbor, Florida interviewing Dr. Lawrence Litz for a school biography project. Lawrence Litz: Good afternoon. I am Dr. Litz. I am glad to be able to discuss some of the work that I did many, many years ago on the atomic energy program. […]

Benjamin Bederson: I’m Benjamin Bederson. Cindy Kelly: Can you spell it? Bederson: B-E-D-E-R-S-O-N. Sometimes it’s called “Bederson.” I say Bederson.  Kelly: And what was your birth date? Bederson: I was born November 15, 1921. I’m about to have my 90th birthday next month. Kelly: You are phenomenal. This man looks like he’s sixty-five. Bederson: I like to say I’m on a plateau. But you know what a […]

Theresa Strottman:  It’s Saturday, February 15, 1992, approximately 11:28 AM.  We’re interviewing Kay Manley.  We really appreciate your coming here today.   Briefly tell me when and where you were born and something about your education and training. Kay Manley:  I’m a Canadian by birth.  I was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, which is a […]

Harvard University Harvard became an important center for nuclear physics research during the early twentieth century. After Ernest O. Lawrence constructed the first cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley in 1929, Harvard physicists and engineers such as Harry Mimno, Kenneth Bainbridge, and Edward Purcell began thinking about building their own cylcotron. In 1936, the construction […]

Princeton University was a hotbed for nuclear physics research during the early twentieth century. Much of the research conducted at Princeton allowed scientists to develop and pursue a path to building the world’s first atomic device. In fact, more than two dozen Princetonians were among the core group of brains at Los Alamos, N.M. In […]

[Interviewed by Cynthia Kelly and Tom Zannes.] Dee McCullough: I go by my second name. My first name is Jessie but I go by the second name, which is Dee. D-E-E. My last name is McCullough. M-C-C-U-L-L-O-U-G-H. What was your job here? McCullough: Started out as an instrument technician, became a supervisor, instrument supervisor, and […]

Located in a bucolic setting surrounded by tall pines, these humble wooden and asbestos-shingled buildings were where the world’s first atomic device was assembled. Here scientists, engineers, and explosives experts worked around the clock on the “Gadget,” the first plutonium-based atomic explosive.