Security & Secrecy

Isabella Karle: Isabella Karle. I-S-A-B-E-L-L-A K-A-R-L-E Cindy Kelly: Terrific. Could you tell us how you happened to become part of the Manhattan Project? Karle: My husband, Jerome Karle, completed his work for the PhD degree about four months before I completed mine. By the time I had completed my work, he was already ensconced at […]

Jerome Karle: My name is Jerome Karle. And it is J-E-R-O-M-E K-A-R-L-E. Cindy Kelly: Great. Dr. Karle, can you tell me about what you were doing in the early 1940s and how you happened to become part of the Manhattan Project? Karle: Well, I had just finished my work in 1943, for my graduation on […]

Ralph Lapp:  I am Ralph Lapp, L-A-P-P. I am a physicist, nuclear physicist, an author, and a consultant. I have engaged in finance and technology. Interviewer: Great. What can you tell us about your role in the Manhattan Project? Lapp: Well, my role was quite a small one, but to me fascinating. I was in […]

Stephane Groueff: It is working. Mr. Stapleton, you were with security during the Hanford period, or you were already here with security in DuPont in Wilmington? Newton Stapleton: I was in the security prior to Hanford. At the beginning of the war, DuPont got involved in building a plant for the French and British down […]

Martin Sherwin: Today is March 30, 1983. I am at the CalTech campus and I am going to interview President Emeritus Lee DuBridge at his home in Pasadena. Lee DuBridge: But we were on many things together and so we saw a good deal of each other. I visited him [J. Robert Oppenheimer] at his […]

Roger Rasmussen: Hi, I am Roger Rasmussen. That is R-A-S-M-U-S-S-E-N. I am the son of Rasmus. That is what it means. It is Danish. My dad came from Denmark. Cindy Kelly: When were you born? Rasmussen: I was born in Mason City, Iowa on November 13, 1920. I refer to that as the Middle Ages. […]

Stephane Groueff: Mr. Hobbs, part two. So to go now to how you were contacted for the Manhattan Project. J.C. Hobbs: You see, [Ludwig] Skog was one in the group and had me in on – Groueff: And [William Francis] Gibbs. Hobbs: I had a chance to sit in meetings with him probably half a […]

Stephane Groueff: Hello. Colonel Matthias, if you can tell me the story of how the plutonium was shipped. Colonel Franklin Matthias: Is this good enough. Groueff: Yeah, it is good enough. The plutonium was shipped from Hanford to—? Matthias: To Los Alamos. Groueff: To Los Alamos. Matthias: We spent a lot of time trying to […]

Ted Rockwell: It’s Theodore Rockwell, R – O – C – K – W – E – L – L. And what do you want to know? Cindy Kelly: Okay. Tell us about how you happened to go to the Manhattan Project? Rockwell: Well, they were interviewing at school. I came along interviewing for a […]

Philip Abelson conducted research on the liquid thermal diffusion method of isotope separation at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. This process was utilized for the S-50 Plant at Oak Ridge. In September 1944, several workers were injured while trying to fix a clogged tube in the transfer room of the liquid thermal diffusion semi-works at the Philadelphia […]