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Title:Legacy of a Bomb: The Manhattan Project’s Impact on the Scientific Community

Journal Issue:Berkeley Scientific Journal, 12(1)

Author:Gao, Jany Huan

Publication Date:2009

Publication Info:Berkeley Scientific Journal, Office of Undergraduate Research, UC Berkeley

Permalink:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/9vf4d0xj

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Legacy of a Bomb by Jany Huan Gao

Above the pillared entrance of the University ofCalifornia Berkeley’s Doe library, the fair face of Athena,goddess of wisdom and war, smiles down on its visitors.Dual-natured Athena’s presence seems both fitting, yet oddon the Berkeley campus. While Berkeley may be the homeof many reputable anti-war protests, the university’sresearch department plays a large role in weapon develop-ment. However, Berkeley is not alone in this dichotomysince many universities across the United States also con-tribute to the development of war-related technology. Somemay protest that this research not only has negative effectson society, but also is antithetical to the progressive educa-tion that students receive at such schools.

These critics, nevertheless, underemphasize thatsuch research has a beneficial impact, especially on the sci-entific community. There is one specific military researchproject that demonstrates well the complex relationshipbetween war and science: the Manhattan Project. This oper-ation ended the Second World War but also contributed tothe making of the Cold War. It ushered in anew age and raised many misgivings andfear as well. As will be demonstrated, how-ever, the Manhattan Project’s legacy doesnot entirely have to do with the military forthe operation also made an indelible markon research and education as well.

In 1941, while World War II wasstill raging, the Manhattan Project was com-missioned to develop the first nuclearweapon. The majority of the project wascompleted by the United States, althoughtwo other Allied nations, Britain andCanada, both contributed to the undertaking as well. In theUnited States, the bulk of the Manhattan Project was han-dled by three facilities that were constructed specifically forthe project: Hanford Site, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos. OakRidge lab conducted research and development of success-ful and controlled chain reaction and designed facilitiesnecessary to produce plutonium. Hanford Facility producedplutonium and separated plutonium from uranium and fis-sion byproducts (Brown & MacDonald 1977). The laterstages of the production of the first nuclear bomb werecompleted in Los Alamos. In 1945, as a result of this col-laboration, the first atomic bombs were constructed and

dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds ofthousands of civilians and forcing Japan to finally surren-der.

After World War II, two of these three facilitiesremained important contributors to scientific discovery andtechnological innovations. Hanford Site remained a nuclearfacility; it ran multiple reactors and produced tritium forproduction of hydrogen bombs during the Cold War(D’Antonio1993). In 1968, a major reactor was deactivatedin Hanford and most of the structures were encased andburied. By 1987, all of the reactors were shut down. Today,Hanford Site is no more than a museum and remains anarea that demands extensive clean-up due to the early, leak-age-prone reactors.

In contrast, the Los Alamos facility, now named theLos Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), is still running.The LANL has continued to participate in military researchand development. Even today it manages America’s nucleararsenal as part of the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile

Stewardship program. The LANL runsthreat detection and reduction programsand develops new technology for defenseand intelligence purposes. This lab alsoresearches in the areas of energy, materialscience, computing, nanotechnology, andthe life sciences. The LANL has con-tributed significantly to the development ofbiotechnology as well. In 1983, it began itspartnership with Lawrence LivermoreNational Laboratory and together the twolabs developed the National LaboratoryGene Library project. The project conclud-

ed in 1995 after generating many libraries of the humangenome. The LANL has also made major advances inimmunology. It published the first genetic sequence of theHIV virus. Furthermore, the lab has built an impressivedatabase of genetic and immunological codes of variouspathogens. This database is available for all researchers touse. While the LANL remains a military research center, itscontributions to research and general science are also unde-niable.

The Oak Ridge laboratory, now called Oak RidgeNational Laboratory (ORNL), was less military-orientedafter the war, but like the LANL, its research has also

Bust of Athena, Doe Library at theUniversity of California, Berkeley

http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/imgs/Alumni/California_Monthly/2002_Feb/building_150athen150athena_bust.jpg

The Manhattan Project’s Impact on the Scientific Community

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greatly benefited the scientific community. The GraphiteReactor of the ORNL, constructed to produce plutoniumfor atomic bombs, now produces over sixty different iso-topes for research facilities and hospitals. By 1950, theORNL was delivering 20,000 shipments of nuclear iso-topes (Oak Ridge National Laboratory 2006). During thissame year, the ORNL also experimented with a plethoraof nuclear reactors, developing different concepts fornuclear power generators. Thus, the ORNL was especiallyprominent in developing fuel reclaiming technology.Today, the ORNL conducts research in many areas includ-ing supercomputing, energy, neural science, etc. Still,national defense does remain a part of the laboratory’sresponsibilities. The government funded the buildings ofboth the LANL and the ORNL as part of emergency war-time measures; however, the labs’ missions have expandedwell beyond weaponry research and development.

Not only do these labs contribute to scientificresearch, but they also play a vital role in education. Boththe LANL and the ORNL have strong ties with universi-ties. While the LANLwas founded fordefense needs andoperated in secrecyduring its early years, ithas been managed bythe University ofCalifornia (UC) systemsince its inception. Thisclose cooperationgreatly enriches theUC campuses by offering its faculty and students uniqueresearch opportunities. Indeed, UC considers bridginglaboratories and classrooms as one of its most importantmissions in its management of the LANL and of two othernational laboratories (University of California 2005). TheLANL offers many internship opportunities to undergradu-ate and graduate students. Together with the university, the

LANL has also established new academic institutions. Afine example would be the Los Alamos-UC San DiegoEngineering Institute. This institute recruits young talentand offers specialized training and hands-on experiencespecifically catered towards laboratory research. TheEngineering Institute was such a success that the LANLbegan three other programs: two for material sciences inpartnership with UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara andanother for Scientific Data Management in conjecturewith UC Santa Cruz. The University of California and theLANL are also planning to build more of such institutionsin New Mexico (University of California 2005). Not onlyis the LANL a leader in scientific research and develop-ment, but it is also a leading cultivaor of the next genera-tion of young scientists.

The ORNL is similarly an important educator. Asearly as the 1950s the laboratory began programs andtaught the design, construction, and operation of nuclearreactors to thousands of personnel from universities,industry, and the military. Reactor training was perhapsthe ORNL’s most important contribution towards nuclearscience in the fifties. Since 2000, the ORNL has partici-pated in a partnership between the University ofTennessee and Battelle, an international science and tech-nology enterprise. This collaboration also includes nineother universities and the coalition aims for collaborativeresearch and development that allows university facultyand students access to the resources available in theORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory 2006). Both theLANL and the ORNL may have been initiated by warefforts, but their wartime beginnings certainly did not stopthem from becoming important educators.

Of course, there are also problems when the gener-al scientific community works alongside military researchand development. Security measures can place scientistsin difficult situations and limit the extent of their research.

It can also hinderinternational coopera-tion on projects deemed“sensitive” by the gov-ernment. A report fromthe National ResearchCouncil claims thatsecurity mechanismsare often inefficientlyimplemented and cancreate unnecessary

work for scientists (Committee for Science and Security2007). The report also emphasizes that foreign scientistsoften work in these American research institutions and thiscan be an issue especially for institutions that serve themilitary, like the LANL and the ORNL. While manyresearchers in these laboratories demand international col-laboration, the laboratories’ involvement in national

Los Alamos National Laboratory

http://www.nuclearactive.org/graphix/LANL.jpg

There is no denying the immense, com-plex moral implications of coupling learningand creating tools of destruction together.However, one can also see that war is amajor push factor towards new scientificdiscoveries and technological innovations.

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http://tr.wikipedia.org/w

iki/Absinthe

defense demands security and secrecy. There are indeeddrawbacks when war research is conducted within theAmerican scientific community.

War and education seem like two opposing con-cepts. Weapons research and development is often decriedas misuse of knowledge. There is no denying the immense,complex moral implications of coupling learning and creat-ing tools of destruction. However, one can also see that waris a major push factor towards new scientific discovery andtechnological innovation. The World War II ManhattanProject established facilities that have been the home ofrevolutionary scientific discoveries, but also helped to usherin the nuclear age. Even today, these facilities remain cru-cial members of the scientific community. While both labo-ratories depended heavily on government funding duringtheir early years and continued developing weaponry andmilitary technology, they both also expanded into manyother areas of research and made vital contributionstowards the growth of science and technology in the twenti-eth century. Both laboratories have also become close part-ners with universities. Their existence as both militaryfacilities and as centers of discovery and learning does raisesome issues, but one must not forget the benefits that mili-tary funding has brought to science even in areas extendingbeyond weapons research.

Perhaps the ancient Greek concept was not sostrange after all: war and wisdom do share a tangible rela-tionship. This relationship, while not uncontested, remainsa part of UC Berkeley, as represented by the smiling face ofAthena above the door of the grand Doe Library.

ReferencesBrow, Anthony Cave, and Charles B. MacDonald, eds.

1977. The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb. NewYork: The Dial Press.

Committee on a New Government-University Partnershipfor Science and Security. National ResearchCouncil. 2007. Science and Security in a Post 9/11World: A Report Based on Discussions Between theScience and Security Communities. Washington,DC: National Academies Press.

D’Antonio, Michael. 1993. Atomic Harvest: Hanford andthe Lethal Toll of American’s Nuclear Arsenal. NewYork: Crown.

Kulkarni, Satish, Van Emden Henson, Jared Dreicer, andRon Kolb, eds. 2005. UC and the NationalLaboratories: Unparalleled Contributions toEducation, Discovery, and Public Service.http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/labs/uc_labs_web.pdf

(accessed October 10, 2007). Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 2006. Swords to

Plowshares: A Short History of Oak Ridge NationalLaboratory (1943-1993).

http://www.ornl.gov/info/swords/swords.shtml(accessed October 10, 2007).

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 2006. University Partners.http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/university_partners.shtml (accessed October 10, 2007).

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