Women of the Manhattan Project Coloring Book

COLORING BOOK Dr. Lilli S. Hornig CHEMIST Blanche Lawrence BIOCHEMIST Irene Joliot-Curie CHEMIST & PHYSICIST Floy Agnes-Lee BIOLOGIST Calutron Girls EQUIPMENT TECHNICIANS Blanche Lawrence BIOCHEMIST ABOUT THE SCIENTISTS Irene Joliot-Curie CHEMIST & PHYSICIST Dr. Lilli S. Hornig CHEMIST DR. LILLI HORNIG BLANCHE LAWRENCE IRÈNE JOLIOT-CURIE Dr. Lilli Hornig was a chemist who Blanche J. Lawrence worked in the Irène Joliot-Curie is the daughter of worked on the Manhattan Project Health Division of the University of famous scientist Marie Curie. But she in Los Alamos, New Mexico. She Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory is famous in her own right as a Nobel studied plutonium and chemistry, and or “Met Lab” during the Manhattan Prize winner, science groundbreaker, Project. She was one of the few and talented mathematician. later worked in the explosives group African-American women scientists alongside her husband. of her day. During WWI, she and her mother worked as nurse radiographers in field Hornig was originally offered a job as a She graduated from Tuskegee hospitals — using the X-ray equipment typist, even though she had a bachelors University, where she belonged created by her parents’ research. in chemistry and a masters from Harvard. to the Physical Education Club and She quipped she was an awful typist, the Creative Dance Group. After the war, Irène taught a young and showed her credentials for a chemical engineer, Frédéric Joliot, research position. After World War II, she continued who later became her husband and working at the Met Lab’s successor, research partner. The duo discovered After witnessing the first detonation Argonne National Lab. the positron and neutron. Although of the atomic bomb from the Sandia they didn’t claim these discoveries and Mountains near Los Alamos, she In September 1949, she was didn’t work directly on the Manhattan featured in an Ebony Magazine Project, Irène and Frédéric’s research later signed a petition advocating for issue focusing on “Atom Scientists.” was instrumental in nuclear science demonstrating the bomb as a warning and creating the atomic bomb. instead of dropping it on a population. She was the widow of a Tuskegee Airman, Captain Erwin Lawrence. Irène was active in promoting women’s After the war, Lilli Hornig founded Higher Her husband died on a mission over education, and had a son and a Education Resource Services (HERS), enemy airfield near Athens, Greece. daughter who also became noted which researches historic discrimination scientists. She died from leukemia against women and challenges sexist at the age of 59, after years of hiring practices. She was also the first radiation exposure. director of the Committee on the Education and Employment of Women in Science and Engineering at the National Academy of Sciences. Floy Agnes-Lee Calutron BIOLOGIST Girls EQUIPMENT TECHNICIANS FLOY AGNES-LEE CALUTRON GIRLS Floy Agnes “Aggie” Lee worked as a hematology “Calutron Girls” were young women hired to work technician, testing the blood of scientists who’d at Y-12 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Many been exposed to massive amounts of radiation were just out of high school, and were tasked with during the Manhattan Project. monitoring the Calutron, which was the machine that separated enriched uranium isotopes. One of the scientists whose blood she tested was Louis Slotin, who was exposed to a severe Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the Calutron was dose of radiation during an experiment in May located, is often called the “Secret City.” It wasn’t 1946. He died nine days after the experiment. on any maps, but at the height of the war, 75,000 The radioactive core that killed him had earlier people lived and worked there. However, the claimed the life of another scientist and became culture of secrecy ran very deep. Because of this, known as the “demon core.” most of these young women didn’t know what they were working on. All they were told was that their Before becoming a scientist, Lee wanted to work would be vital to the war effort. Letters were become a member of the Women’s Airforce heavily censored and some Calutron operators Service Pilots or WASPs. She worked in a grocery saw that when their colleagues asked too many store to pay for flying lessons and was only one questions, they were soon out of a job. flight shy of qualifying when the program was disbanded in 1944. In a contest, Oak Ridge proved the young women were more effective at their work than a group of After the war, Lee moved to Chicago and worked scientists. They also proved to have a better touch for Argonne National Laboratory doing research when adjusting the dials than the scientists who on cancer and radiation biology. She eventually were constantly fiddling with them. earned her doctorate in zoology from University of Chicago. One of these women, Ruth Huddleston, was interviewed for our Direct Current podcast. You can Lee passed away in 2018, but her legacy as hear directly from Ruth and learn more about what a fierce advocate for STEM education and a it was like to work at Y-12 during the Manhattan minority woman who did pioneering research on Project in the episode titled “Ruth’s Story.” radiation and cancer lives on. Listen at energy.gov/podcast. Don’t miss our two-part Direct Current podcast series on the Manhattan Project at energy.gov/podcast. WORDS: Allison Lantero ART: Cortney Kreer LEARN MORE AT.

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