From Treasury Vault to the Manhattan Project
The content you've requested is available without charge only to active Sigma Xi members and affiliates.
If you are an active member, affiliate or individual subscriber, please log in now in order to access this article. Be sure you've entered your member or subscriber number on your profile page.
If you are not a member, affiliate or individual subscriber, you can:
Abstract:
The U. S. government’s drive to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for the world’s first atomic bomb was an experimental pursuit. Physicist Cameron Reed of Alma College describes how the Manhattan Project built a massive secret facility in Tennessee to scale up technology invented in a University of California at Berkeley laboratory. The technology had roots in the discipline of nuclear physics rather than in warfare. Reed explains why 14,000 tons of silver borrowed the U.S. Treasury was vital to the success of the enterprise.