This hourlong documentary talks with the scientists and those involved in the operation. Things change in time. In a moment in time in 1945, everything changed. The deserts of central new called therea theney of death, named by spanish conquistadors, because if you ran out of water, you would not survive did in a moment in time in this spot in july, 1945, things changed. Of what happened here, the life of a war changed, and changed the course of history. It began in years before and thousands of miles away. [drumbeats] hador years, adolf hitler forced not to rule on europe, and the rest of the free world saw his intentions were war and brutality was his message. I came from hungary and germany. I have seen many things firsthand. I was very, very worried about my family and all of my friends, and i do not believe that people today realized how tremendous things have been, because hitler indeed could have taken over. He had the power to do so. Those of us who came from we saw it came in stages. Dr. Bethe from very early on, the jewish were put in concentration camps. They were documented and it kept i think there so was no question that i should emigrate. There were other scientists from the best universities and scientific institutions in europe seeking also to get away. When they fled the not seas, they brought with them and International Relationship of friendships and acquaintances, along with research they had been doing on a relatively new field of nuclear fission. It had been discovered in germany in 1938 and was an emerging field that promised massive amounts of energy. There was also the lot that it could the thought that it could deliver energy in a bomb. A single, massive amount of energy that could destroy a city. Dr. Bethe we knew that there were a number of enemies that. Anted it so there was concern that we might be too late. Bade know that it was a time and it could quite possibly lead to a problem. Together with Albert Einstein and edward teller, this doctor composed a letter to Franklin Roosevelt, telling of the terrible possibility that germany had the talent and the knowledge to research and develop an atomic weapon. Delivering the letter to roosevelt on the scientists behalf was dr. Sachs. Your goalsaid, alex, is to make sure precisely that they germans do not blow us up. Intelligence reports from europe indicated that the nazis were working on such a weapon, but no one knew how much effort they were devoting to it. The one certainty was that if hitler developed the om, he would win the war. The bomb, he would win the war. It became a topsecret project and one that would have the tightest security. It would be named the manhattan engineering district. A. Teller finally we became little in doing something. It was a relief. The project was massive, it designed and built a project only in theory in a material that didnt exist in any who wereby many people not even u. S. Citizens. It was known that the nucleus of splitrm of uranium would when it absorbed a neutron. When this happens, energy is neutronsand more split. When it happens continuously, it is known as a chain reaction. No one knew at the start how much fissionable material would be needed to start an explosive chain reaction. That followed volume would be known as the Critical Mass. 1941. Later discovered in was named after the ninth planet from the sun, plutonium. Plutoniumtope was 238. By month later i was joined another researcher and we identified in this region this room the isotope of importance and isolated it so that it could be, have its fission properties measured. General leslie grove of the u. S. Army corps of engineers had just completed a major project at the instruction of the pentagon. Create a combat assignment overseas. The superior officer to hold grove that the secretary of war had selected him for an important assignment in washington. He was appointed the head of the Manhattan Project. General grove was a very difficult man to sum up. He had enormous devotion to determination to get the work over the war over as quickly as he could. Spacey worked in a underneath the university of chicago stadium and assembled a large pile of blocks with natural uranium in them. In 1942, they succeeded in bringing about the first manmade controlled Nuclear Chain reaction. Controlled fission could be accomplished, the next steps could proceed. Robert oppenheimer was a highly respected 38 year old theoretical physicist in 1942. Here been carefully examining the Science Behind this and in october of that year, he was at the university of chicago when grove came through on his first inspection two were tour. Saw something in oppenheimer, a leadership, and an understanding of what needed to be done. Or irst met up in time first met oppenheimer when he was a graduate student at stanford university. He had a reputation for being very quick and easily able to quash a questioner or objective objectioner. Oppenheimer was extremely intelligent, extremely quick. Understood everything when i had just glimpsed of what was being talked about. Grove selected oppenheimer for the leader of the Manhattan Project to be brought together into one place. Oppenheimer came to the project with an immediate controversy. His security was questioned because of college acquaintances within communism. By the time of the start of the war, he had become very leftist. One would undertake such a task, and when i met grove i realized they were very different persons. But they both had an intensity and determination and that is what one over groves. And once, he could see that oppenheimer was a man who understood his job and was determined to do the best he could. Groves wanted to department allies each of the positions. Oppenheimer immediately disagreed. To him, progress was made through interaction. Science was discovered through collaboration. He held weekly colloquiums, scientific meetings colloquiums, scientific meetings among the different scientist. Dr. Bethe he believe that everybody should know and should consider. The new lab would be devoted to experiment and engineering. Oppenheimer was a theorist. He would question the process and so he would say we do know how star works and we do know how an explosion happens, but everything that goes into understanding our universe has first been tested out right here on planet earth. And that is what an experimentalist does. He tests those laws and see if they really hold up. The best scientific talent in the country, and even from outside the country, would be working in what would be known as site y. But where . A remotehave to be in and sparsely populated locale, at least 200 miles from the coast line or International Boundaries for safety from attacks. Good enough for construction to proceed your round and yearr ound and enough space for scientists to live. In oakund a location city, utah, but there was too many residents and too many farmland areas. Stranger towas no the southwest. His family had a vacation cabin in the Pecos Wilderness of new mexico. Drove toer and groves new mexico to have a look. Ath had a same both the same view that the Narrow Canyon was perfect. Oppenheimer had returned often as a visitor. Boys school at a place called los alamos. They drove there and the students were out on the playing this isnd gross said, it. Located on the eastern slope of the mountains, loss elements dream of anas the extra rough rider named ashley pond. This was based on a vigorous life. Students wore shorts yearround and slept in unheated sleeping porches. Each student was assigned a horse to care for and pack trips into the mountains were common. The school had spent its time lately since the nape 1920s, but now the school was starting to come to an end. School officials started noticing a lowflying planes going through the area. On december 4, 1942, the School Received notice from henry stimson, the secretary of war, that the school was being taken over. Condemnation proceedings were used and it was decreed that all records of the acquisition be sealed from public view. Almost 54,000 acres were required. Almost 9000 acres were public land. The cost of acquisition was 440,000. After pearl harbor, we all knew that we were kind of playing an endgame. We would get out of school and we were off to war. And so in the beginning of the 42, there was already surveyors around here from the government, and then they took it over. They brought around mega bulldozers. Actually fantastic construction in a very short. Period of time. Construction crews started throwing up buildings for administration, laboratories, housing, schools, and Everything Else the community needed to function. It looked more like a boom town that a war camp. All of this was around the ranch school. So all of this just before christmas, these two dudes show here, the show up first one in a porkpie hat and the second one in a fedora. It took two hours to know that this was oppenheimer and barnes. Them those of oppenheimer and lawrence. We call them by those names because we recognize them. The building was accelerated and the last graduation was held in 1943. New roads of son paved streets streets became mud in the rain. Wasuiting scientists difficult because prospective employees were already doing important work and needed good reason to change their jobs. Because of security, only scientific personnel could be told anything about the nature of the work. They were to tell no one about what they did, not even their families. New mexico, 15 miles south of los alamos. All parts of europe were the best Scientific Minds in the world. , some came dr. Bethe as consultants and the rest of permanent staff. Santa fe, new mexico. For those who came across the country, it was hard to see the small town as the states capital. The first stop was in office at 109 east palace avenue, run by dorothy mckibben, it was the welcome and checkin for all of those who came to disappear up on the plateau. Arranged for transportation, housing, and hundreds of other Little Things that took away from the apprehension of one of the things to come. One wife said i felt a Kindred Spirit with those who came and were resigned that they were journeying into the unknown. After leaving santa fe, the other road up to the site was rough, even for that day. Once they cross the bridge over the rio grande, they climbed up a steep road to the top of the mesa. There, they were met by the First Security gate. Once they made it in, it was a different world. Dr. Bethe this was a desolate place. The buildings were just being built, and the one thing that was the view from the other side. Dr. Teller my wife and son came to or three weeks later and we stayed in a big house, and it was sort of a mess. It wasnt easy to sleep. My son was beating his drama, which i did not like, but apart from that, of course, was the surroundings. I knew it was magnificent. It struck me as a military camp, and there were famous in european there and that was quite common to see them walk about. Thehe british were part of project and arrived as part of the mission to help work on the bomb. Rows of work family houses stretched to the north, named son homes sun homes. Everyone was a transplant from somewhere else. This became a tightknit community of scientists, spouses, children, and military personnel. Most people were in their 20s or 30s. The average age was 25. They were healthy and middle class. There was no unemployment. It is what you did at the lab dictated your social standing and controlled your social standing and are housing. Dr. Ramsey a lot of people there had pretty miserable times in their apartments, which were cheap and rather shoddy of construction, which was the ing to the europeans, when they discovered they did not have bathrooms. The acoustics were not good as well when your neighbors were having a party. Some senior lab officials lived in homes previously used by the schoolmasters. It became known as the top row since they were the only places that had them. 1943, beginning of april, oppenheimer assembled his staff, up thet 30, to sum studies of the weapon from the previous summer in berkeley. It also Incorporated Research done over the past year. It was determined that explosive means would do the job by taking makingritical mass and it critical so that the Radioactive Material would detonate. Gun method, where it you would have a sub critical material shot together to form the Critical Mass and starting the nuclear detonation. It was discovered that the gun method would work with uranium but not plutonium. Ramsey it worked with plutonium uranium all the time, but if you have the gun Assembly Shooting two pieces together, if it got big enough, you would have a the explosion that was called a predetonate. We had assembly which there was the and idea of implosion, which in the turned out the beetle turned out to be the way to do it. Dr. Ramsey we eventually shifted over to the plutonium model. This required science and engineering that when an angel that would enable the explosive material of plutonium. The plutonium weapon would have to be tested. It would be many months before the material would be delivered. The four that could happen, there were many questions which came down to the central problem, how to make the uraniumble serial of 235 or the plutonium 239 to release their Energy Efficiently in a casing that an airplane could deliver . One of the biggest problems of p238 was u235 or another location. Thousands of miles of piping was remove the metal from the uraniumrich gas. Method was used to produce and refine the material. Required thousands of workers. There was also a method for extracting plutonium. Hanford, washington was selected for the location of refining the plutonium. Dr. Seaborg we had been working with what you called tracer amounts, invisible amounts detected by its radioactivity, but we couldnt deduce the properties with certainty that way. We needed to work with actual w eighable amounts, and that is why we produced weighable amounts of plutonium in this way. The chemists working with me call this the ultra micro chemical weighable. Slowly, the materials started ing to los alamos in 1934 1944. All of the material came to po box 1663 in santa fe. All of the mail came to the same address in santa fe. 80s born at the base had their birth certificates delivered to that address, car insurance, letters, bills, and in the first and, 80 babies were born, by 1945, there were over 300 infants at the site. Orderedlmost literally oppenheimer to stop the population explosion. The population doubled every nine months. Water was scarce and the electricity was intermittent. The threat of structure fire was always in the back of everyones mines. Then there was security. Residents could not travel more than 100 miles from los alamos. If you ran into a friend on the outside of the project, you had to give a detailed report to security. Occupations were never mentioned and everyone was an engineer. Saying physicist was forbidden. Monitored,alls were which was easy, because there was only one phone line in 1940 three. By 1945, there were three. The entire project was surrounded by high, barbed wire tenses and controlled by armed guards. Work weeds were six days. 1213 hour days were normal. Saturday nights there were parties. They were big and small and interval parts on the mesa. We would tend to go to a dinner with six people. Several affairs were usually scheduled every saturday night. Single men and women scheduled door and parties dorm parties and the furniture was pushed back for dancing and parties often lasted well into the night. At the lodge, they had a wente dance, and we certainly once a month or twice a month. We went to the mountains, we went to the indian pueblas, we pueblos, weruins went to the ruins, it was an intense time. We all worked. By thework, governed urgency from events waged on the battlefields in europe and the pacific, never got easier. What those working on the bomb the science, it was the engineering created the problem. Partly regarding the circumstances, we thought about how difficult it was, what an intellectual feat it was. Some of it was selfserving. The scientist like to say it, and it looked difficult, but it wasnt very difficult. I entirely agree with Phil Morrison on this point. Movedk on the gun weapon ahead, but the implosion method was slow, frustrating, and at times, seemingly hopeless. A new weapon was needed, but no one knew how no one knew exactly how powerful the weapon would be. In late 1943, planning for the test had begun. It was 210 miles south of los alamos, 27 miles from the nearest town, and 12 miles from the nearest inhabitant. In november 1944, construction of the base camp began. The test was initially scheduled for july 4. The activity at the test site increased, despite things like snakes, scorpions, heat, and dust. Herds of antelope and some range beef started to disappear, showing up on the menu. Hunting often took place with the aid of submachine guns. On april 12, 1945, president Franklin Roosevelt died. Flags across the country and around the world flew at half staff. Including the flag at the test site named trinity by oppenheimer. Sworn in to taken leadership of the country was thenvicepresident harry truman. Less than a month later, on may 8, the war in europe, which had been raging since 1939, and it ended with the surrender of the german forces. The race to beat hitler in building an atom bomb was at an end. As worried about the u. S. Government developing a nuclear weapon, there had been no effort during the war. As the allies advanced into germany, a team of paramilitary operators searched for evidence of a German Nuclear effort. Among their finds, germany could not have an atomic bomb and was not likely to have had had one anytime soon. But there was still the war in the pacific against the japanese. They work at los alamos continued. Seth and other explosive experts had been laboring to discover the nature of creating a symmetrical implosion. Lenses were created. Explosive lenses that would focus the shockwaves inward to compress the subCritical Mass to critical. At f site, near los alamos, high explosives were mixed to form a cocoon the material would rest in. The explosives had been cooled just right to prevent air bubbles. The lenses required