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Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project HistoryNEWSLETTER Physics A FORUM OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICALof SOCIETY • VOLUME XI • NO. 2 • SPRING 2 0 1 0 Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project By B. Cameron Reed, Alma College, [email protected] he development of nuclear requirements comprise about one- weapons during the Man- third of a student’s overall credit Thattan Project in World War requirements for graduation. Within II is one of the most significant the natural sciences area we have a events of the twentieth century. physical-science requirement, with The strategic, scientific, national courses such as astronomy, environ- policy, and security issues asso- mental studies, general physics, and ciated with nuclear weapons chemistry being popular choices. are never far from the headlines Alma operates on a “4-4-1” and will remain with us for gen- schedule: two traditional four- erations to come. If asked “What month terms (Fall and Winter), was the Manhattan Project and followed by a one-month Spring who was involved with it?”, term. The latter begins in late April many individuals would prob- and runs for about 3.5 weeks until ably answer that it had some- just before Memorial Day. During thing to do with the making of Spring term, students take one atomic bombs and perhaps offer course intensively, often meeting a name such as Oppenheimer or every day for 3-4 hours (or even Fermi or (erroneously) Einstein. more if a lab is involved); they are Beyond that, knowledge would Students at the Trinity Test Site monument. Photo required to complete two Spring likely become fuzzier, with some courtesy of Ed Neuenschwander and the Society of terms to graduate. This provides a aware that the Trinity bomb was Physics Students. venue for courses that would not tested in New Mexico before otherwise conveniently fit into a Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on Hiroshima and regular term: many offerings involve field work or a travel Nagasaki. While some respondents would know that those component. But since many students prefer not to travel for devices used uranium and plutonium as their “active ingre- their Spring terms, a demand for on-campus classes always dients,” how many could explain how those materials were exists, particularly ones that carry general-education credit obtained and why their properties demanded radically and have minimal prerequisites. different designs for the Hiroshima and Trinity/Nagasaki weapons? How many could give a cogent explanation Continued on page 3 of the term “critical mass?” Indeed, many of our physics majors probably graduate with little better understanding of the science underlying nuclear weapons than that with InsIde ThIs Issue which they emerged from high school. For several years I have taught a general-education Editor’s Corner 2 course on the history of the Manhattan Project to students at Alma College in an effort to address, in a small way, the general lack of knowledge in this area. In this article 2010 Pais Prize Winner 3 I describe my experience in developing and teaching this class. I would be interested in knowing about the experi- “April” Meeting Reports 4 ences of anyone else doing something similar. Alma College is a strictly undergraduate liberal-arts school of about 1,300 students located in central Michigan. Call for Nominations 13 In addition to choosing a major, every student must com- plete a requisite number of credits in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. These general-education New Books of Note 14 Editors’ Corner To all the authors who contributed discussions about nuclear weapons This past semester one student, a articles for this issue of our newsletter, and their consequences. As with so psychology major, wrote “This week I I express my appreciation. The article many topics, I find this one is best have been thinking a lot about the sci- by Cameron Reed on teaching the his- approached through its history. entists who developed nuclear weap- tory of the Manhattan Project hit me Although I cannot go into the depth ons. The video that we watched last rather close to home. For over twenty that Professor Reed does in his dedi- week [The Day After Trinity by Jon years I have taught a general-education cated course, I can affirm some of his Else, 1980] certainly shed a different course called “Science, Technology, experiences. I have seen the looks of perspective on the whole issue. I am & Society.” This has been a fulfilling surprise when students realize that the finding more and more that you really and enjoyable task. It allows me to authors of the first-generation nuclear do not understand a situation until you meet students of all majors across the weapons were people of warm human- are able to see it from the inside out…” campus community. It presents an ity who found themselves in unprec- The study of the history of physics opportunity to share a glimpse into edented circumstances. I have read the powerfully helps us to see physics, and evidence-based reasoning, and helps student essays and heard their in-class its interactions with the larger society, students discover how the methods of vocalizations as they struggle with the from the inside out. Thanks again to all science cannot be reduced to a univer- “what would I have done at the time” the authors who contributed articles for sal checklist. Together we think about questions. I have seen their astonish- this issue of our newsletter. With each the implications, for individuals and ment when they realize how much the article, I find that I learn something across societies and timescales, of sci- Cold War really cost. I have witnessed interesting. ence and its applications. their reactions when they see that poli- Each semester this adventure cies are not always consistent with a —Dwight E. (Ed) Neuenschwander, includes two or three weeks of nation’s mythos and rhetoric. Editor APS Policy on Peer Review Materials By Michael Riordan, Forum Councilor The Forum on History of Phys- At the November 2009 meeting at its 18 April 2010 meeting. This ics of the American Physical of the APS Council, Roger Stuewer statement can be accessed on the Society publishes this Newsletter moved that the APS establish a com- APS web site at: http://publish.aps.org/ semiannually. Nonmembers who mittee to make recommendations peer-review-materials-policy. wish to receive the Newsletter regarding release of peer-review mate- Briefly, it states that peer-review should make a donation to the rials on articles submitted to its jour- materials will not normally be released Forum of $5 per year (+ $3 addi- nals. He noted that the APS did not until 50 years have lapsed. No mate- tional for airmail). Each 3-year then have an official policy regarding rials that identify living individu- volume consists of six issues. such release to scholarly researchers, als will be released without their The articles in this issue repre- and that it was largely left to the dis- written consent. Exceptions can be sent the views of their authors cretion of the Editor-in-Chief. made only at the discretion of the APS and are not necessarily those of In the following months, a com- Editor-in-Chief. the Forum or APS. mittee chaired by Forum member The Council agreed that this Robert Crease of the State Univer- policy represents a fair compromise Editor sity of New York at Stony Brook, between the needs of historians and including current Forum Chair for access to this information and Dwight E. Neuenschwander Daniel Kleppner, formulated a for- the requirements of the APS pub- Department of Physics mal policy statement, which was lishing department to protect the Southern Nazarene University approved unanimously by the Council confidentiality of its reviewers. n Bethany, OK 73008 [email protected] (405) 491-6361 Archiving FHP Associate Editor FHP Webmaster George Zimmer- Valley, the history of telescopes, and Don Lemons man has been working with speakers so forth. Photographs from the ses- Department of Physics at FHP sessions to have their presenta- sions are also on the FHP website. In Bethel College tions posted on the FHP website, http:// progress is a posting of letters and North Newton, KS 67117 www.aps.org/units/fhp. These presenta- documents on the founding of the FHP [email protected] tions are valuable historical resources— itself (originally, the Division of the on John Wheeler, Lev Landau, Silicon History of Physics) during 1978-1980. 2 Volume XI, No. 2 • Spring 2010 • History of Physics Newsletter Manhattan Project Russell McCormmach, 2010 Pais Prize Winner Continued from page 1 Last fall this newsletter reported For many years I have person- that Russell K. McCormmach had been ally been interested in the history and selected as the recipient of the 2010 physics of the Manhattan Project. By Abraham Pais Prize for the History the year 2002 I felt that I had acquired of Physics, “for the study of German enough understanding of the physics science in the 19th and 20th centu- of the topic that I was ready to offer a ries and a major biography of Henry Spring-term course with a prerequisite Cavendish (with Christa Jungnickel, of basic algebra. I have now taught his late wife), and for founding the the course a total of five times since journal Historical Studies in the Physical then, as well as a spin-off “First-Year Sciences.” We promised at that time Seminar” course that was offered for to offer additional notes on Professor the first time in Fall 2009. McCormmach’s work. The text for the course is Richard Professor McCormmach’s work has Rhodes masterful book The Making had a profound influence in transform- of the Atomic Bomb, from which the ing the study of the history of physics course draws its title.
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