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, Paperback

First published May 28, 1993

Reviews

[Dan Cohen · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.