2021
DOI: 10.1080/00295450.2021.1927625
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Thirty Minutes Before the Dawn

Abstract: The Trinity test of July 16, 1945, marked the scientific apex of the Manhattan Project. Often recognized as the symbolic birth of the nuclear age, Trinity's multifaceted legacy remains just as captivating and complex today as it did 75 years ago. This paper examines why the test was necessary from a technical standpoint, shows how Los Alamos scientists planned the event, and explores the physical and emotional aftermaths of Trinity. The author also uses rarely accessed original records to reconstruct the story… Show more

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Cited by 6 publications
(6 citation statements)
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“…Subsequent 1944-1945 Los Alamos reports in the NSRC continue to refer to the Christy Gadget. The Gadget Physics (G) Division, led by Bacher, reported in its first progress report, Oct. 1,1944, that "an alternative form of limited objective is now being considered quantitatively by Christy, viz a gadget that is integrated in compact solid sphere form with tamper and then compressed by H.E." On Oct. 30, in LA-164, Christy and Bethe presented calculations of a solid-sphere implosion as a limiting case of shell implosions, noting that the "compression will be finite even for a solid sphere."…”
Section: Theoretical Division Monthly Progress Reportsmentioning
confidence: 99%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…Subsequent 1944-1945 Los Alamos reports in the NSRC continue to refer to the Christy Gadget. The Gadget Physics (G) Division, led by Bacher, reported in its first progress report, Oct. 1,1944, that "an alternative form of limited objective is now being considered quantitatively by Christy, viz a gadget that is integrated in compact solid sphere form with tamper and then compressed by H.E." On Oct. 30, in LA-164, Christy and Bethe presented calculations of a solid-sphere implosion as a limiting case of shell implosions, noting that the "compression will be finite even for a solid sphere."…”
Section: Theoretical Division Monthly Progress Reportsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Oppenheimer reorganized the laboratory in August 1944 to orient the laboratory mission around the implosion device, establishing two divisions, the Weapons Physics or Gadget Division (G) and the Explosive Division (X), both intended to primarily focus on the implosion design. 1,2 As a sign of the urgency, when Arthur Compton visited the laboratory on August 1, 1944, he gave a colloquium and advised the audience that they had already used "half of the time of the estimated maximum to produce a successful gadget." 3 In September 1944, Christy proposed a new conservative design for the plutonium pit, suggesting a change from the hollow plutonium shell to a solid sphere of plutonium with a modulated neutron source.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…These required constant refurbishment and calibration to known quantities of a given beta-emitting species and their corresponding proportionality to fission events. 8 Indeed, one aspect of the non-nuclear "100 Ton Test" that preceded Trinity was to ascertain how well the group could quantify dispersed amounts of known beta activity using GM tubes. 9 Lower activity species (e.g., low-production neutron activation products or isotopes with long half-lives) were exceedingly difficult to quantify.…”
Section: Radiochemistrymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The summer of 1944 at Los Alamos was a defining moment for the Manhattan Project. 1 Not only did the focus and direction of technical research and development change drastically in its aim to build a war-ending weapon by August 1945, but it also marked the beginning of a successful new era-the era of big science and technology, where technical collaboration went beyond the theoretical and developed practical applications that could make a difference in the world. Aside from ending World War II and greatly altering the direction and history of the world, the completion of the implosion project at Los Alamos, culminating in the Trinity atomic test of the "Christy Gadget" 2 near Alamogordo on July 16, 1945, proved that a multidisciplinary, multi-facility endeavor with steadfast leadership can be successfully undertaken even though believed impossible by most, including by other major nations in the world, such as Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Here we focus on the development of the convergent explosive implosion system that was employed in the Trinity "Gadget" test device and in the Fat Man bomb that was * corresponding author: en_brown@lanl.gov detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The Manhattan Project team of dedicated scientists and engineers, led by a secret contingent in Los Alamos, NM, succeeded in their quest despite the fact that, by the spring of 1944, many important concepts needed for an implosion weapon were still practically unknown. These unknown concepts included (1) the spontaneous fission rate of reactor-made plutonium; (2) the theoretical and practical challenges of turning many diverging explosions into a single converging "implosion"; (3) the ability to do so simultaneously and in a short period of time; (4) the lack of any significant quantity of plutonium to test, and (5) the theory and safety of dynamically-critical plutonium at different densities. The challenges faced at the time by the Los Alamos group spanned many engineering technical fields as well as scientific disciplines.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%