Critical Assembly - A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945

Unlike earlier histories of Los Alamos, this book treats in detail the research and development that led to the implosion and gun weapons; the research in nuclear physics, chemistry, and metallurgy that enabled clear bomb, the 'Super.'

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Early research on fission, and overview: 1933-43; 3. The early materials program: 1933-43; 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 reorganisation 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; 20. The legacy of Los Alamos.

Summary

This 1993 volume studies the technical research that led to the first atomic bombs. The authors explore how the 'critical assembly' of scientists, engineers, and military personnel at Los Alamos, collaborated during World War II to create a new approach to research. Readers will find this book a crucial resource for understanding the underpinnings of contemporary science and technology.

Product details

• Authors: Paul W. Henriksen, Henriksen Paul W., Lillian Hoddeson, Hoddeson Lillian, Roger A. Meade, Meade Roger A., Westfall Catherine L.
• Assisted by: Paul W. Henriksen (Editor), Catherine L. Westfall (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.05.1993
• EAN: 9780521441322
• ISBN: 978-0-521-44132-2
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 33 mm
• Weight: 940 g
• Illustrations: 82 b/w illus., Zeichnungen, nicht spezifiziert, Raster, nicht spezifiziert
• Subjects: Guides > Motor vehicles, aircraft, ships, space travel > Military vehicles, aircraft, ships; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Technology > Miscellaneous; USA, SCIENCE / History, SCIENCE / Physics / Atomic & Molecular, History of Science, United States of America, USA, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Atomic & molecular physics, Atomic and Molecular Physics