Manhattan
Project:
NOT (only)
about
Oppenheimer
28/7/2032
Zulkaida Akbar
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What People Think About The Manhattan Project
A bunch of Physicist Led by Oppenheimer
Gathered in the middle of desert in Los Alamos And won the war
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Created 2 atomic bombs
It’s a Myth, Manhattan Project is
indeed one of the biggest project
but there are many unsung heroes
Vannevar Bush, the unsung hero 3
Manhattan Project Snapshots
• At its peak, the Manhattan Project employs 120K people, around 600K in total
• The budget was $2 Billions or around $40 Billion in today’s money
• ~1% of the US civilian labor forces during WW2
• Consumed half of US Army labor construction labor and steel productipn
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Manhattan Project Snapshots
• The Oak Ridge alone consumed ~1%
of the electricity produced for the
entire country
• Other than the big three (Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Hanford) there
are Hundreds of other sites
• Dozens of universities
• Canada & UK are also involved
• A complex network of military/government (blue), educational
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institutions (orange), and industry (green)
Manhattan Project Snapshots
• 80% of the expenses went to Oak Ridge and Hanford
• Most of the Uranium were procured In Congo
Not only physicists, but interdisciplinary groups (chemistry,
engineering, metallurgy, etc)
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Manhattan Project Legacy
• One thing that most amazed me was after the discovery
of fission in ~1940, the possibility to turn into a weapon
was purely theoretical and speculative.
• Turning fission into a weapon was not known technically.
• As shown in the movie, they even worried that if the
weapon is possible, they might destroy the atmosphere
and lead to Armageddon.
• Despite these factors, the US still initiated this giant
project (is it bravery, risk-taking, or simply madness?)
• And they listen to theoretical physicists (Einstein’s letter
to FDR) and even choose a theoretical physicist to lead
the project. This was the golden era for theoretical
Edward Teller who were worried about
physicist
destroying the atmosphere
• And with all of these uncertainties, they can make the
weapon in 3 years!
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Manhattan Project Legacy
• The Manhattan Project was responsible for the generation of thousands of new inventions, as represented
by patent claims processed
• It was not merely a scientific research project: it entailed the creation of an entirely new industry
• It started the era of US National Lab, the US leadership on science and the era of Big Science and Giant
Engineering
Los Alamos Oak Ridge
Hanford Apollo project
LIGO in Hanford
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But US was not always like that
• In September 1922, Taylor and Lee built a radio
transmitter/receiver that operated at 60 MHz
• When they tested at the Potomac River
(Washington DC), a ship passed and they can
detect the signal interference
• They intended to build a communication device
but instead they invented a detection device
• This is the birth of the Radar
• After being tested several times, they proposed
this method for detecting an enemy ship
• But the Navy ignored the idea • At the time many innovations and inventions were
• In 1930, Young developed and tested the method ignored
further to detect the airplane. • The military people still felt superior toward civilians
• It was successful, but His idea was ignored again. (even toward brilliant civilians)
• Radar was only implemented in 1941 by the • Most General still have a mindset of conventional war
British
• If the US did not ignore the Taylor & Lee idea,
Pearl Harbor catastrophic might could be avoided
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Introduce Vannevar Bush
• He was an engineer who constructed a differential analyzer,
an analog computer that can solve differential equations of
up to 18 variables
• He was an entrepreneur who cofounded a company that
later became Raytheon Company, a major defense
contractor
• He was an administrator who was the vice president of MIT
• With his reputation He was offered to be the president of
the Carnegie Institute in 1938
• With his new position, He had access to President F. D.
Roosevelt (FDR)
• He convinced FDR that the key to win the war is science and
technology
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Office of Scientific Research & Development
• In 1940, FDR established National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) to organize American science during the war
• The establishment of NDRC was proposed by Bush
• But this organization was not effective
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Office of Scientific Research & Development
• Roosevelt approved the establishment of the OSRD after proposed by
Bush in a 10-minute meeting
• The proposal was only 4 pages
• Bush was appointed as the director of this new office
• With Bush as director personally responsible to the President, the
OSRD was to serve as a center for mobilizing the scientific resources of
the nation and applying the results of research to national defense.
• OSRD become a powerful organization under the president and New
York Times Magazine labeled Bush as “Czar of Research”
• In December 1941 Bush, looking for a quick decision on production
plants, reorganized the atomic energy program, placing it under his
immediate supervision.
• He set up a Planning Board that would make engineering planning
studies and supervise all pilot-plant experimentation
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Office of Scientific Research & Development
• The OSRD research projects, now focused on five methods of producing
fissionable materials: three isotope separation processes (electromagnetic,
gaseous diffusion, and centrifuge) and two pile processes (uranium-graphite and
uranium-heavy water, which are referred to as five "horses" in a race.
• The OSRD, in support of the race, had by early February 1942 entered into ten
contracts with twelve institutions totaling more than $1 million. These figures
nearly doubled in the next month.
• As the "race" continued with no clear-cut winner and the atomic energy
program evolved into the production stage, the role of the OSRD continued to
change.
• The OSRD would continue with research, and all large aspects of the program
would be placed directly under the Army.
• By December 1942, the atomic energy program had progressed to the point
where it was possible to transfer the entire responsibility to the Army Corps of
Engineers Manhattan Engineer District (MED).
The Manhattan Engineer District eventually become Manhattan Project
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Five horses
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Five horses
Heavy water
Graphite
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Still about Bush
• Bush had a 1945 manifesto, Science-the Endless
Frontier that called the government to institutionalize
science and make it a national priority in peacetime
• His vision came to fruition with the creation of a
National Science Foundation, in 1950
• One of the OSRD subdivisions, the Committee for
Medical Research (CMR) is responsible to make the
penicillin production at large scale
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What can we learn?
Vannevar Bush: There is No loner genius. From ancient Athens to
• He lived in two totally different environments: The Silicon Valley, Genius and innovation is a products of
military which was full of structure and culture or networks of people (teamwork)
compartmentalization and scientists who like
freedom and openness
• Both are usually stubborn and full of ego
• He can manage and navigate this situation smartly
Leslie Groves:
• Extremely stubborn
• Get things done
• Had an amazing capability to simplify the complex
things
Oppenheimer
• Stubborn
• Amazing communication skill
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What can we learn?
Average performers can achieve great things if the team has the right dynamics
Ronald Amundsen VS Robert Scott race to the South Pole (Antarctica)
• Robert Scott had more resources and was supported by the British
government
• Ronald Amundsen (Norway) only brought one type of transportation
(dogs) compared to Robert Scott who had 5 types of transportation
• Ronald Amundsen brought 5 men compared to Scott who had 17 men
• Ronald Amundsen won the race by 34 days and all men went back
safely
• Sadly, not only losing the race, Scott and all his crew died
Minimum resources (team members, logistic, other resources) can result in a
great performance if managed correctly
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Pakistan Nuclear Program
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Pakistan Nuclear Program
Lesson learned from PINSTECH
• Baby step by sending 30 Ph.D. students and
failed
• Second step by sending 15 Pakistanis for 1
year of training program
• Toddler step with a 5 MW of research reactor
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Pakistan Nuclear Program
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We need big projects or big science
When the Apollo project was launched:
• US only had space experiences for 15 minutes
• Soviet’s dog has more space travel experience than the US astronauts
• In all aspects Soviet was more advanced
Benefits from the apollo project:
• Supply-chain consolidation
• National pride in the era of civil conflict
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We need big projects or big science
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We need big projects or big science
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What will be our big project?
Alangkah indahnya Ketika kita bisa menyentuh
titik terdalam laut Banda dengan kapal selam
buatan anak bangsa
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