15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
====Oppenheimer selects Los Alamos for nuclear labatory====
The final link in [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451677618/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451677618&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=842b96ebde857f3c22696617713761f0 the Manhattan Project's ] far-flung network was the bomb research and development laboratory at Los Alamos, located in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Codenamed "Project Y," the laboratory that designed and fabricated the first atomic bombs began to take shape in spring 1942 when James Conant suggested to Vannevar Bush that the Office of Scientific and Research Development and the Army form a committee to study bomb development. Bush agreed and forwarded the recommendation to Vice President Henry Wallace, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and General George Marshall (the Top Policy Group). By the time of his appointment in late September, Leslie Groves had orders to set up a committee to study military applications of the bomb.
Meanwhile, the sentiment was growing among the Manhattan Project scientists that research on the bomb project needed to be better coordinated. Robert Oppenheimer, among others, advocated a central facility where theoretical and experimental work could be conducted according to standard scientific protocols. This would ensure accuracy and speed progress. Oppenheimer suggested that the bomb design laboratory operate secretly in an isolated area but allow the free exchange of ideas among the scientists on the staff. Groves accepted Oppenheimer's suggestion and began seeking an appropriate location. By the end of the year, they had settled on an unlikely site for the laboratory: an isolated boys' school on a mesa high in the Jemez Mountains (map at left).
