Scientific Discoveries

Cindy Kelly: We are with Richard Rhodes at Atomic Heritage Foundation’s studio in Washington, D.C. Can you start by telling us your name? Richard Rhodes: I’m Richard Rhodes. Kelly: Can you spell that, please? Rhodes: Yes, R-H-O-D-E-S. Kelly: And Richard spelled the usual way? Rhodes: Yes. Kelly: We are trying to gather various pieces of […]

Cindy Kelly: This is Wednesday, February 13, 2013. I’m Cindy Kelly, and we have with us Alex Wellerstein. Alex, could you say your name and spell it, please? Alex Wellerstein: Alex Wellerstein, W-E-L-L-E-R-S-T-E-I-N, and it’s just Alex, nothing fancy. Kelly: Great. Thank you, Alex. Alex, give us a little background as to your education and […]

Richard Rhodes: There are two particular themes that I am interested in that I know you were involved with very much. Anything else that you remember that you would want to talk about would be wonderful. One is the developing of computing. Los Alamos made a major contribution to the development of computing in the […]

Stephane Groueff: I want to start from the beginning. My book, I intend to start with the year 1942 because otherwise, there is no limit. A few months before the Manhattan District and decision to go— J. Robert Oppenheimer: The decision was actually made on December 6, to take the thing seriously. Groueff: ’41? Oppenheimer: […]

Stephane Groueff: Dr. Anderson? Herbert Anderson: Yes. Groueff: Now we can talk? Anderson: I guess so. Groueff: Terrific. You see, I have the details of the night of December 1st, and the day of December 2nd, as given by Dr. [Arthur] Compton and Mrs. [Laura] Fermi, etc. I talked to some of their colleagues there. I would like, if possible, […]

Stephane Groueff: Where did you come from? Probably we’ll start chronologically and then— Dr. Samuel K. Allison: I was born here in Chicago, just half a kilometer from where we’re sitting at this moment. I went to school at the public schools in the city of Chicago and entered the University of Chicago in 1917. […]

Charney: Where shall I start? Groueff: Tell me how you got involved in the whole project and your first meeting with all those people and where you came from. Start from the beginning.  Charney: I had actually just graduated from college and I was prepared to go into the Army or to look for a […]

Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly from the Atomic Heritage Foundation. It is Friday, April 11, 2014, and I have with me William Lanouette who is going to be talking about Leo Szilard. Why don’t you start by actually saying your full name and spelling it?  Bill Lanouette: I’m William Lanouette, L-A-N-O-U-E-T-T-E.  Kelly: Tell us about […]

S. L. Sanger: Hello. Dr. Teller? Edward Teller:  Yes. Sanger:  This is Steve Sanger. I am a reporter at Post Intelligencer in Seattle. We are doing a section, probably not until July, a commemoration of the Trinity test and first bombs, partly because of the presence of the Hanford reservation over in eastern Washington where […]

[We would like to thank Robert S. Norris, author of the definitive biography of General Leslie R. Groves, Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan Project’s Indispensable Man, for taking the time to read over these transcripts for mispellings and other errors.] James R. Chapman: When I first heard about the project that […]