Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Early Research on Fission: 1933–1943
- 3 The Early Materials Program: 1933–1943
- 4 Setting Up Project Y: June 1942 to March 1943
- 5 Research in the First Months of Project Y: April to September 1943
- 6 Creating a Wartime Community: September 1943 to August 1944
- 7 The Gun Weapon: September 1943 to August 1944
- 8 The Implosion Program Accelerates: September 1943 to July 1944
- 9 New Hopes for the Implosion Weapon: September 1943 to July 1944
- 10 The Nuclear Properties of a Fission Weapon: September 1943 to July 1944
- 11 Uranium and Plutonium: Early 1943 to August 1944
- 12 The Discovery of Spontaneous Fission in Plutonium and the Reorganization of Los Alamos
- 13 Building the Uranium Bomb: August 1944 to July 1945
- 14 Exploring the Plutonium Implosion Weapon: August 1944 to February 1945
- 15 Finding the Implosion Design: August 1944 to February 1945
- 16 Building the Implosion Gadget: March 1945 to July 1945
- 17 Critical Assemblies and Nuclear Physics: August 1944 to July 1945
- 18 The Test at Trinity: January 1944 to July 1945
- 19 Delivery: June 1943 to August 1945
- Epilogue
- 20 The Legacy of Los Alamos
- Notes
- Name Index
- Subject Index
6 - Creating a Wartime Community: September 1943 to August 1944
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Early Research on Fission: 1933–1943
- 3 The Early Materials Program: 1933–1943
- 4 Setting Up Project Y: June 1942 to March 1943
- 5 Research in the First Months of Project Y: April to September 1943
- 6 Creating a Wartime Community: September 1943 to August 1944
- 7 The Gun Weapon: September 1943 to August 1944
- 8 The Implosion Program Accelerates: September 1943 to July 1944
- 9 New Hopes for the Implosion Weapon: September 1943 to July 1944
- 10 The Nuclear Properties of a Fission Weapon: September 1943 to July 1944
- 11 Uranium and Plutonium: Early 1943 to August 1944
- 12 The Discovery of Spontaneous Fission in Plutonium and the Reorganization of Los Alamos
- 13 Building the Uranium Bomb: August 1944 to July 1945
- 14 Exploring the Plutonium Implosion Weapon: August 1944 to February 1945
- 15 Finding the Implosion Design: August 1944 to February 1945
- 16 Building the Implosion Gadget: March 1945 to July 1945
- 17 Critical Assemblies and Nuclear Physics: August 1944 to July 1945
- 18 The Test at Trinity: January 1944 to July 1945
- 19 Delivery: June 1943 to August 1945
- Epilogue
- 20 The Legacy of Los Alamos
- Notes
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
The first months on the mesa required drastic adjustments – to Oppenheimer's style of scientific leadership, to Groves's close administration of the town, and to the unusual partnership between scientists and the military. The laboratory grew more rapidly than anticipated because in the early months of the project Oppenheimer and Warren K. Lewis's advisory committee recognized that a scientific community of some 100 scientists was too small to cope with the complexities of producing an atomic bomb. Broadening the laboratory mission, as the Lewis Committee recommended, implied the absorption of new sub communities, including the Army Special Engineer Detachment (SED) and the British Mission.
Life in wartime Los Alamos was abnormal in almost every respect, but the townspeople strived toward normalcy in their everyday lives, meeting their practical concerns about food, shelter, amusement, and schools with a spirit of adventure. The spartan simplicity and transience of housing and the lack of many community services often turned daily life into a struggle. But as Kathleen Mark reflected, “When one considers that we lived … closely packed together – aware of every detail of our neighbor's lives – even to what they were having for dinner every night – one can't help but marvel that we enjoyed each other so much.” The residents worked and also played hard in the isolated military community to which they were restricted.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Critical AssemblyA Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945, pp. 91 - 110Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993