Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945

by Lillian Hoddeson, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade

This volume is a lucid and accurate history of the technical research that led to the first atomic bombs. The authors explore how the "critical assembly" of scientists, engineers, and military personnel at Los Alamos, responding to wartime deadlines, collaborated to create a new approach to large-scale research. The book opens with an introduction laying out major themes. After a synopsis of the prehistory of the bomb project, from the discovery of nuclear fission to the start of the Manhattan Engineer District, and an overview of the early materials program, the book examines the establishment of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the implosion and gun assembly programs, nuclear physics research, chemistry and metallurgy, explosives, uranium and plutonium development, confirmation of spontaneous fission in pile-produced plutonium, the thermonuclear bomb, critical assemblies, the Trinity test, and delivery of the combat weapons.

Genres: History, Science, Physics

528 pages, Hardcover

First published May 28, 1993

Reviews

[Jon Bradley]

I read a hardback copy of this book checked out from the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, MO. This is another book that I've been seeking for years but didn't know it existed. It is centered on Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, and provides detailed accounts of the activities conducted there. It covers the laboratory organization (and many reorganizations as priorities shifted), the physical facilities, personnel, and the interfaces between Los Alamos and other Manhattan Project organizations like Oak Ridge TN, Hanford WA, the Met Lab in Chicago, and various universities and industrial concerns. Most of this I have read about in other works on Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. This book, however, takes a "deep dive" into the theoretical analyses, technical and engineering studies, chemistry, metallurgy, and the vast array of experiments carried out in pursuit of a workable atomic bomb. These subjects have been discussed at a high level or brushed up against in other works I've read, but in this book the authors roll up their sleeves and really dig into the details. The book also discusses the various approaches adopted at Los Alamos to accomplish a daunting scientific and engineering task in a very short period of time. The short time required for delivery of concrete results didn't allow for development of theories and models for some of the processes involved, especially concerning the plutonium-fueled implosion bomb design, so trial and error experimental approaches were applied to find what would work without always understanding the underlying process of exactly why it worked. This required theoreticians working side by side with experimentalists, chemists, metallurgists, engineers, technicians, and craftsmen, all focused on getting a result in the shortest time possible. I've always found the story of what was accomplished at Los Alamos amazing, but seeing the work at this level of granularity makes it all the more amazing. Five out of five stars.

[Dan Cohen]

This book does contain a lot of information, much of it very interesting. It suffers as a book for the lay reader due to its ambition to be a semi-official history, putting the emphasis more on providing sources than on providing an entertaining read or a strong narrative. If you're looking for anything like Richard Rhodes superb "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" then this is not the book for you. I'd say it would have most value for a historian looking for pointers to carry out further research. The other issue with the book is that the chapters appear to have been written and edited independently, so there are repetitions and seeming contradictions between different sections of the book. Worth reading if, like me, you have a particular fascination with the Manhattan Project, but not otherwise.

[Bill Spurlin]

Project Y, the subject of this book and many others, like an expedition to an 8,000 meter peak, must be approached with extensive planning, extreme caution and a willingness to accept failure: what route to take; what to deal with and leave out? How to assemble the members of the team? (Most unusually, this book is the product of a committee. Hoddeson is one of several authors. The skills and scientific knowledge of a single author were apparently not considered sufficient to adequately deal with the formidable technical challenges of the subject matter.)

The conclusion of project Y, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were either a magnificent success or a malevolent, even Satanic, demonstration of science gone mad, or both: what can be done, will be done. Regardless of morality, the 6,000 at Los Alamos created the world we live in, punctuated with the events of July and August, 1945 at the beginning, and with an end in sight, but not yet achieved: another use of nuclear weapons against humanity.

I would prefer to praise this work for its attempt on a formidable, even impossible goal, rather than criticize it for its many failings.

[natasha]

i think i read all i can about los alamos and the manhattan project so really i learned nothing extremely new from this book that i didn’t already know except the photos were a wonderful addition.