Picturing the Bomb: Photographs from the Secret World of the Manhattan Project - Hardcover

Fermi, Rachel; Samra, Esther; Rhodes, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810937352 ISBN 13: 9780810937352

Publisher: Harry N Abrams Inc, 1995

Synopsis

The granddaughter of Enrico Fermi, a key participant in the Manhattan Project, presents a pictorial survey of the making of the atomic bomb, containing many never-before-published photographs and snapshots of the many aspects of the Project. Library of Science Alt.

About this title

From Library Journal:

During World War II, three cities were built in months to facilitate work on the atomic bomb: Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Security was so tight that most Manhattan Project employees had no idea what was being built. Those in the know were instructed to use the work gadget instead of weapon. This collection of photographs, compiled by the granddaughter of Enrico Fermi and photographer Samra, is an eerie combination of recently declassified government archives and snapshots taken by residents of the new cities, which resonate on both epic and human levels. An aerial photo of the burgeoning development at Hanford?acres of new buildings set against the narrow river and Hanford Bluffs?attests to the vast scale of the Manhattan Project. A shot of a Santa being searched by military police at an Oak Ridge checkpoint illustrates out the absurdity of importing civilian life into an armed camp. The testing of the bomb is chronicled in a particularly grim chapter and its use in another. No serious American history collection can afford to be without this startling, eye-opening document.?Adam Mazmanian, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

This visually compelling collection of private and official photos found in family albums and laboratory archives offers a closer look at the Manhattan Project scientists who built the first atomic bombs, the military men who delivered them to the target and various sites connected with that effort (principally Los Alamos, N.M.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Hanford, Wash.). Included are informal shots of physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, Niels Bohr and other key figures in the historic project; photos of technical facilities; pictures of the components of the atomic devices; and a stunning graphic record of the first explosion at the Trinity test site. The collection is chillingly rounded off with a series of photos by one of the Los Alamos physicists, Robert Serber, who studied the blast damage of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rhodes's introduction, the extended captions and the main text (one of the authors is Enrico Fermi's granddaughter) provide a thorough review of the project from start to finish. Photos. Library of Science Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N Abrams Inc
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0810937352
• ISBN 13: 9780810937352
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232