For the Manhattan project, they took silver bars from the treasury, melted them down, and turned them into to wiring for the caulutrons and uranium isotope separation.
Almost all of it was melted back down and returned to the treasury after the war was over.
How much? 14,700 tons of silver.
About $15 billion dollars worth today
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Niels Bohr was initially skeptical of being able to make an atom bomb, saying to come up with the material youâd have to turn an entire country into a factory.
Then when he came and saw the factories during the war and he told Teller:
âI told you it couldnât be done without turning the whole country into a factory. You have done just that.â
Two good books Iâve read:
Richard Rhodes âThe Making of the Atomic Bombâ. This covers the science and engineering of the bomb, from the discovery of splitting the atom up to the end of the war
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-making-of-the-atomic-bomb-richard-rhodes/7061381
âThe Bomb: A Lifeâ by Gerard DeGroot is a more fast paced, shorter version that covers more ground, including after the war, the hydrogen bomb, Cold War, etc.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-bomb-a-life-gerard-j-degroot/10871591
@benubois wow, didn't know this existed! TY, will def check it out.
I remember being so excited for Nolan's "Oppenheimer". It was the same summer I'd finished Rhode's book.
I wasnât disappointed, but afterwards I thought "That was a lot more about Oppenheimer than it was the making of the atomic bomb" which, to be fair, makes sense since that's the name of the movie lol
But I'd gotten myself excited thinking it was a movie about the book. This looks more along the lines of what I'd hoped forâŚ
@benubois yeah i hear you. i was really caught up in the dramatization of his involvement in leading the project and the development of the bomb, but it feels like in hindsight that was only like ~45 mins of an otherwise 3hr movie. would've loved to see more of the stuff you mentioned.
gotta say though, the ending was chilling.
Jim Nielsen
Ben Ubois
Jason Garber