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J.R. Oppenheimer Re: Nuclear Bomb Development to L. Groves, Head of Manhattan Project, Finest Known!
J.R. Oppenheimer Re: Nuclear Bomb Development to L. Groves, Head of Manhattan Project, Finest Known!
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Description:

Oppenheimer J.



J. Robert Oppenheimer to Leslie Groves, Head of Manhattan Project - Finest Letter in Private Hands - About the Project and Development of Nuclear Bomb

 

1p TLS signed by renowned nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) as "Robert Oppenheimer" at bottom right. On watermarked cream "The Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton, New Jersey" letterhead. Expected paper folds, else near fine. 8.5" x 11".

 

This remarkable letter, one that we consider the best in private hands, was addressed from former Los Alamos Laboratory Director J. Robert Oppenheimer to former Manhattan Project Director Lieutenant General Leslie R. Groves, Jr. (1896-1970). It was written on the eve of Groves's publication of Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project (New York: Harper, 1962). In the letter, Oppenheimer reflects on their collaboration in developing the first weaponized atomic bomb, the enormous amount of labor that made it possible, and the wonderful uncertainty of scientific research. Of especial significance is Oppenheimer's mention of the Trinity Test, and the discovery of plutonium-239 and uranium-235.

 

In part:

 

"As for the Manhattan Project, it is not likely that you and I would have very different things to say of it. Certainly when you were assigned responsibility there were many questions, not only of detail, but of fundamental feasibility, which were still open. You may remember that some of the first Los Alamos experiments were directed towards resolving them. These were, as you will recall, far more fundamental than the later discoveries of the reactor-made plutonium, or of finding, in the special war economy, the optimum purity of uranium 235. Even though in 1945 we had good reason for confidence that we understood the fundamental points, it was not clear until one July morning that we could really be sure.  Still, the subjects of nuclear and atomic physics existed, and were highly developed subjects; much was known; and, still more important, many methods were known to explore further; to ask and answer questions and to correct mistakes. Surely this is a precondition for a crash program.

 

It is not the only precondition. The purpose of the program must, in the context of the present day, make a kind of sense--must command the interest and the devotion of those who will have to work on it. This, by and large, I think the Manhattan Project did; and this tended to make up for the fact that the work required many more specialists in new or not yet developed fields than we could find or enlist, and that, as you say, almost everyone was filling a position, if not so much above that for which he was properly trained, yet quite different from that for which he was properly trained. Of this I was always deeply aware."

 

The Manhattan Project had its beginnings in 1939, and continued throughout World War II until merging into the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1947. Financed primarily by the United States, to the tune of $2 billion dollars in 1940s currency, the project enlisted the help of the United Kingdom and Canada and employed approximately 130,000 at its peak. Its purpose was conducting scientific research that would enable the production of nuclear weapons. Considering the underlying urgency of the project--an ongoing war--and its compressed timeline, the Manhattan Project achieved success of monumental proportions. Oppenheimer's scientists mastered the theory, and then practice, of isolating plutonium and uranium components for weaponized use. Groves facilitated their research.

 

In 1943, Oppenheimer's team focused their research on fission using plutonium; by 1944, they had moved onto implosion and uranium. The sublimely destructive effects of this technology was displayed with Little Boy, deployed over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Fat Man, dropped on Nagasaki on April 9, 1945.

 

Before that, though, the technology needed testing. Oppenheimer's reference to "one July morning" referred to the Trinity Test conducted on the morning of July 16, 1945 near Almagado, New Mexico, when Oppenheimer, Groves, and about 450 other people witnessed the first detonation of a human-made nuclear bomb. Preliminary testing had been done in May 1945, but it was not until the Trinity Test that Oppenheimer knew his efforts had been successful. The Trinity Test bomb released 20 kilotons' worth of TNT energy, creating a 5' x 30' crater, 7.5-mile-high mushroom cloud, blinding illumination, deafening noise, heat, and shock waves felt up to 100 miles away.

 

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a Harvard-educated professor at the University of California at Berkeley when Groves selected him to direct Los Alamos Laboratory. Though some questioned Groves's choice, it proved a sound one. Oppenheimer grasped the complexities of multiple scientific disciplines--physics, engineering, metallurgy, to name a few--with facility, and had a hands-on approach to participation and administration. At Los Alamos, Oppenheimer assembled a team of the world's top scientists.

 

In his capacity as Director of the Manhattan Project between 1942-1947, then Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves was responsible for overseeing construction and maintenance of dozens of research and production sites; obtaining raw metallurgical materials; selecting personnel; and incorporating military intelligence into project initiatives. Groves, a career military engineer, had been disappointed by the presidential directive to head the crash atomic program, yet his efficiency, single-mindedness, and brusqueness made him uniquely qualified to lead it. After retiring from the military in 1948, Groves turned to the corporate world. His memoir Now It Can Be Told has been issued in several reprints.

 

J. Robert Oppenheimer recalls the Manhattan Project and Trinity Test 16 years later!

 



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