SCOTT HORTON, HOLY YOU YOU
UNDERWEAR.
>> IT WAS A MASSIVE
ENGINEERING PROJECT.
>> REQUIRED PRECISION.
>> EVERYTHING HAS TO WORK
CORRECTLY.
>> TOTAL SECRECY.
>> HOLDING THE SECRET FOR A
COUPLE OF YEARS.
>> HOW HEY THEY BUILT MORE POWERFUL WEAPON ON EARTH,
POWERFUL WEAPON ON EARTH,
THE ATOM BOMB.
>> I’M STUART VARNEY THIS IS
AMERICAN BUILT.
>> ATOMIC ENERGY CAN BE FOR
ALL PEOPLE IN ALL NATIONS,
GREAT FUSING FORCE OF
ONEWORLD.
>> WHEN PHYSICISTS FIRST
CONSIDERED SPLITTING THE AT
ATOM.
IF THE POWER WERE TO PALM
INTO THE WRONG HAND -- FALL
INTO THE WRONG HANDS IT
COULD SPELL DISASTER.
>> HITLER BEGAN TO%
PERSECUTE JEWISH PEOPLE HE
CHASED AWAY SOME OF THE MOST
BRILLIANT SCIENTISTS IN THE
WORLD.
>> ALL OF THE PEOPLE THAT
HITLER WAS GOING TO ROUND UP
AND SHOOT, MOST CAME TO
AMERICA, WHEN THEY REALIZED
THIS NAZI REGIME WAS AWARE
OF THE FACT THAT A NUCLEAR
WEAPON COULD BE MADE AND IN
PROCESS OF STARTING TO DO
PHYSICS ON IT, THEY SAID IF
GERMANY GETS THIS ATOMIC
BOMB AND WE DON’T HAVE ONE,
WE’LL BE IN A LOT OF
TROUBLE.
>> ONE OF THOSE IMMIGRATES
WAS ALBERT EINSTEIN.
>> HE WROTE A LETTER TO
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, SAYING,
IF WE DON’T COME UP WITH IT,
HITLER WELL.
AND HITLER SAID SOMETHING
LIKE, SO YOU THINK HE WANTS
TO BLOW US ALL UP.
>> ROOSEVELT CREATED THE
MANHATTAN PROJECT.
>> HOW TOUGH TO REALIZE HOW
HARD A DECISIONS THAT WAS,
MANHATTAN PROJECT WAS MIND
BOGGLINGLY EXPENSIVE.
THERE WAS NO GUARANTEE THAT
IT WAS GOING TO WORK.
>> TO HEAD THE PROJECT,
ROOSEVELT CHAPPED GENERAL.
LESLEY GROVES.
>> A VERY TOUGH GUY, AND
STRONG TASK MASTER,
LOGISTICS WAS HIS THING.
>> GROVES LEAD CONSTRUCTION
OF LARGEST OFFICE BUILDING
IN HISTORY, THE PENTAGON.
HE BROUGHT THE RECORD
SETTING PROJECT IN ON TIME
AND UNDER BUDGET.
NOW, HE WANTED TO GO FIGHT
OVERSEAS, BUT ROOSEVELT KEPT
HIM STATE SIDE.
>> IN MILITARY, WHEN SOMEONE
IDENTIFIES YOU AS RIGHT
PERSON FOR THE JOB, YOU ARE
NOT SAYING NO TO PRESIDENT
OF UNITED STATES.
>> GROVE HAD TO HAVE TWO
QUALITIES, MILITARY MIND TO
MAINTAIN SECRECY AROUND THE
MANHATTAN PROJECT, AND ALSO,
HE HAD TO HAVE AN
UNDERSTANDING OF THE
SCIENTIFIC CULTURE, WHICH
WAS OPPOSITE OF ALL OF THIS.
>> TO MANAGE THE SCIENTISTS,
GROVES HAND-PICKED J ROBERT
OPPENHEIMER.
>> HE THOUGHT THAT
OPPENHEIMER WAS THE MAN FOR
THE JOB, BRILLIANT
SCIENTIST, DIFFICULT TO GET
ALONG WITH.
NOBODY WANTS TO WORK WITH
HIM.
>> OPPENHEIMER WAS ONE OF
THE LEADING PHYSICISTS AT
THE TIME.
YOU HAVE THESE PHYSICISTS
AND EGOES.
>> IN OPPENHEIMER AING IS
SUGGESTION HE WAS COHORTING
WITH THE COMMUNISTS BUT THEY
SAID THIS IS THE GO GUY.
>> HE SET UP ON TO CRACK THE
CODE OF THE AT ATOM BEFORE
HITLER DHE STARTED WITH THE
URANIUM, IT HAS TOO MANY
NEUTRONS.
THEN SHOWS THE NEUTRONS DO
THE SAME, IF ENOUGH COULD BE
PACKED TOGETHER IT MIGHT SET
OFF A VIOLENT CHAIN
REACTION.
>> THEY SHOWED A ROOM FILLED
WITH MOUSE TRAPS ON TOP OF
EVERY MOUSE TRAP WAS A PING
POJPING-PONG BALL, IT LANDED
AND FIRED OFF ONE MOUSE TRAP
AND IT FIRED YOU OF
EVERYTHING ELSE.
>> THE URANIUM BOMB HAD A
STRAIGHT FORWARD DESIGN.
>> NOTHING TO IT, YOU FIRE
IT LIKE A GUN IT HITS OTHER
ONE YOU GET CRITICAL MASS
AND KABOOM.
>> ORDINARY URANIUM WAS NOT
ENOUGH TO DO THE JOB.
>> COPJOB.
>> SEVERAL THOUSANDS STAGES
ARE PASSED BEFORE THE
REQUIRED DEGREE OF
ENRICHMENT IS ACHIEVED.
>> YOU HAVE TO GET THIS
URANIUM DENSER AND DENSER,
AND MAKE IT WEAPONS GRADE.
THEY DO THAT IN CENTRIFUGES,
BUT THIS IS AN INEFFICIENT
PROCESS.
>> GROVES HAD TO BUILD A
SECRET STAY IN OAKRIDGE,
TENNESSEE.
>> TO DO VIRTUALLY
EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH,
SUPPLY THE PLACE, BUILD
HOUSE DISPLGHOUSES.
>> GROVES BUILT MASSIVE
CENTRIFUGES THAT REQUIRED
30,000 ON SITE EMPLOYEES,
GROVES BUILT THOUSANDS OF
PREFABRICATED HOMES CALLED
ALPHABET HOUSES, THEY HAVE
CHURCHES AND RECREATION AND
REMINDERS OF THE IMPORTANCE
OF SECRECY. FIND A WAY TO ALLOW PEOPLE
FIND A WAY TO ALLOW PEOPLE TOO TALK