People of The Project
Robert Oppenheimer
"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."- J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who directed the laboratory in Los Alamos. He did theoretical work on how an atomic bomb would work and be able to drop from an airplane and detonate above it's target. He has been named "The Father of the Atomic Bomb."
J. Robert Oppenheimer, Source: wync.org c.1944
Leslie R. Groves
"It is tragic that the forces for destruction that we unleashed are stronger than man's present ability to control them." - Leslie R. Groves
Leslie R. Groves was an Army Corps engineers officer who directed The Manhattan Project and supervised construction of the pentagon. He also chose the site and personnel for the laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He had many B-29 aircraft modified to carry the atomic bombs and initiated a special air force unit known as the 509th Composite Group to deliver the bombs.
Leslie R. Groves, Source: Signatures of War
Enrico Fermi
"If the result confirms the hypothesis, you've made a discovery. If the resuly is contrary to the hypothesis, you've made a discovery." -Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-Born Scientist that developed the mathematical statistics required to clarify a large class of subatomic phenomena. He also created the first prototype nuclear reactor. Without him, the bomb would have never been possible.
Enrico Fermi, Source: Nobel Prize.org,
Leo Szilard
.
Leo Szilard, Source: APS Physics
"Do not destroy what you cannot create." -Leo Szilard
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-Born physicist who helped conduct the first sustained chain reaction with Enrico Fermi. He was instrumental in the initiation of The Manhattan Project itself before he created a petition that argued that the dropping of an Atomic Bomb was unjustified.