They Changed the World: People of the Manhattan Project

by A.J. Melnick

In the early years of World War II it was known that Germany had split the atom, and some feared that they might be working on an atomic bomb. Scientists in the United States urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pursue one lest the enemy have it first. This resulted in what was called the Manhattan Project, and many famous scientists were involved. However, more was needed than a few prominent scientists. A whole infrastructure was scientist and engineers, of course, but also clerks, truck drivers, teachers, cooks, technicians and all the other people necessary for the new city, Los Alamos, on the remote New Mexico plateau where the first atomic bomb would be created. It was referred to as 'The Hill.' Sixty years later, Santa Fe photographer AJ Melnick set out to find many of the people who were involved and capture their portraits while there was still time. As she visited with them, they told her stories of what it was like to live on The Hill from 1943-1945. Many of them also gave her access to their photos and documents from that era. Their portraits, their stories, and their memorabilia are presented in this book. Not only are there the striking portraits and stories about creating the bomb and the excitement of the first atomic blast, but there are also stories about the human side of everyday practical jokes, Saturday night dances, secrecy, muddy streets, coping with shortages, doing the laundry, getting married. This may be the best, possibly the only collection of current portraits and individual stories about life on The Hill, Los Alamos, during those momentous years.

136 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2006

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic group of bios for quite a few of the contributors to the Manhattan Project. Interesting that none of the men regret the work or the development of the atom bomb. Several women expressed concern about the use on civilians.