Life in the Secret Cities

Interviewer 1: Why did your family come to Oak Ridge? When did that happen? Rowan: Well, we actually came to Oak Ridge in 1945. We left Nashville in early 1945. Because there was no housing available onsite in Oak Ridge, we had to stay in South Harriman, which is about twenty miles away. In the […]

After her brother was drafted, Jo-Ellen Iacovino and her family moved to Happy Valley, Tennessee to support the war effort. Although Iacovino and her sister, Sheila Rowan, were too young to participate in the construction of the K-25, gaseous diffusion plant, their older sister, Colleen Black, and their parents worked to support the Manhattan Project. When the […]

After her brother was drafted, Sheila Rowan’s family moved to Happy Valley, Tennessee to support the war effort. Although Rowan and her sister, Jo-Ellen Iacovino, were too young to participate in the construction of the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant, their older sister, Colleen Black, and their parents worked to support the Manhattan Project. When the […]

Rosen: Well, my name is Louis Rosen. I was born in New York City, not the best part of the city. I’m now almost eighty-five years old. My parents were immigrants from Poland.  They were escaping from the pogroms, which were taking place with the Russian Cossacks coming in and raiding villages, especially where Jews […]

Louis Rosen, a native New Yorker and the son of Polish immigrants, was personally selected to work on the Manhattan project in Los Alamos while a graduate student in physics. Once in Los Alamos, Rosen was assigned to Edwin McMillan’s group, where he worked on implosion technology. Rosen remained in Los Alamos after the war […]

Helene Suydam: I find this story of how Norris Bradbury came to Los Alamos rather interesting.  He was a graduate student at the University of California in the ‘30s and every student who was a graduate student of Professor [Leonard] Loeb had to join the Navy reserve.  So when the war started all these scientists […]

Mary Kalbert: My name is Mary Kalbert and I am in Friday Harbor, Washington, interviewing Gordon Steele on June 16, 2014 for the Atomic Heritage Foundation Manhattan Voices Project. Gordon? Gordon Steele: My name is Gordon, and you want me to spell my name? Kalbert: Please spell your name for me. Steele: Gordon. G-O-R-D-O-N. Steele. […]

[We would like to thank the Rhydymwyn Valley History Society for donating this interview. The above photograph was provided courtesy of the Rhydymwyn Valley History Society.] Myfanwy Pritchard-Roberts: My name is Myfanwy Pritchard-Roberts. Interviewer 1: Okay, okay. Roberts: And, I’m from Caernarfon [Wales]. Interviewer 1: Just leave it— Roberts: And, I worked here during the […]

Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly. It is January 27, 2015. I am in Santa Fe with Richard Yalman, and the first question I have for you is to say your name and spell it. Richard Yalman: My name is Richard George Yalman, that’s Y-A-L-M-A-N. Kelly: Perfect. Very good. Richard has a very interesting story to […]

Mench: I am John Mench and sixty years ago I was a young man with a wife and a baby girl, a good job in industrial deferment, a brand new home and a mortgage. Inside of a week or two, I had in my hand a ticket to a camp, an Army camp, an industrial […]