Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Revised ed., 1/12/2008
EAN 9780521541176, ISBN10: 0521541174
Paperback, 528 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
This 1993 volume is a lucid and accurate history of 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, responding to wartime deadlines, collaborated to create a new approach to large-scale research. The book opens with an introduction laying out major themes. After a synopsis of the prehistory of the bomb project, from the discovery of nuclear fission to the start of the Manhattan Engineer District, and an overview of the early materials programme, the book examines the establishment of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the implosion and gun assembly programmes, nuclear physics research, chemistry and metallurgy, explosives, uranium and plutonium development, confirmation of spontaneous fission in pile-produced plutonium, the thermonuclear bomb, critical assemblies, the Trinity test, and delivery of the combat weapons. Readers interested in history of science will find this volume a crucial resource for understanding the underpinnings of contemporary science and technology.
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.