Donna Laframboise's Blind Spot... and the Manhattan Project

Open note to Donna Laframboise,

I don't understand how your attacks on the IPCC and it's authors have received so much mileage.  Besides dishonestly portraying the IPCC as something looked at like a "Bible" you ignore most of the IPCC process and misrepresent the rest.  

Worst is your venomous attacks on young scientists.

Here's how you put it in your "The Delinquent Teenager":

"But rather than being written by a meticulous, upstanding professional in business attire (aka the world’s top scientists & best experts), the Climate Bible is produced by a slapdash, slovenly teenager who has trouble distinguishing right from wrong (aka, activists, 20-something graduate students, people appointed due to their gender or their country).

The world needs to confront the folly that is the IPCC."

Your shrill derision of young scientists totally ignores the fact that young men and women have been the backbone of science through the generations.  

For example, the Atomic Bomb could never have been developed without those 20-something graduate students; scientists; mathematicians you show such dripping contempt for.

Here is a review and I ask Donna to consider where the Manhattan Project would have been without these fine young minds? 

This information was gathered mainly from 

Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association

http://www.mphpa.org/classic/index.htm

and  Wikipedia.com searches:

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Manhattan Project Major Participants

Sorted by "20-something graduate students" and scientists
{includes some who made major contributions in their 20s though in previous decades}:

Abelson, Philip H.

1913 –  2004

Pioneered Liquid Thermal Diff.

Philadelphia Navy Yard

At 26 Abelson was among the first American scientists to verify nuclear fission in an article submitted to the Physical Review. 

At 26, he collaborated with the Nobel Prize laureate Luis Alvarez in early nuclear research, and was the co-discoverer of neptunium with Edwin McMillan. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Agnew, Harold

1921-

Group Leader

Tinian Scientific Team

At 21 Agnew joined Enrico Fermi's Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago and helped construction the "Chicago Pile-1" and witness the first controlled nuclear chain reaction.

At 22 was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alvarez, Luis

1911 - 1988

Group Leader - Detonation

Los Alamos, NM

In his 20s Alvarez worked concurrently in the fields of optics and cosmic rays. He is co-discoverer of the "East-West effect" in cosmic rays. For several years he concentrated his work in the field of nuclear physics. 

At 26 he gave the first experimental demonstration of the existence of the phenomenon of K-electron capture by nuclei. Another early development was a method for producing beams of very slow neutrons.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Allison, Samuel K.

1900 — 1965

Built CP-1 Pile

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

At 23 Allison's performance in Harkin's laboratory earned him an appointment as a National Research fellow at Harvard. 

At 25 he went onto a fellowship at the Carnegie Institution in Washington 

At 26 faculty appointment at the University of California, Berkeley, where at 30 he advanced from an instructorship to an associate professorship. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anderson, Herbert L.

1914 – 1988

Asst. to E. Fermi; 

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

BS at 22, Anderson started working on Nuclear Fission.

By 26 years old he was assistant in Nuclear Chain Reaction Research.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bacher, Robert

1905 – 2004

Weapons & Experimental Physics

Los Alamos, NM

At 30 Bacher assembled the plutonium core in an old farmhouse near the Alamogordo testing site. {close enough, he also did some good work in his 20s}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bainbridge, Kenneth

1904 - 1996

"Trinity" Test Director

Los Alamos, NM

At 28, Bainbridge developed a mass spectrometer with a resolving power of 600 and a relative precision of one part in 10,000.   He used this instrument to verify the equivalence of mass and energy, E = mc2.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bethe, Hans

1906 - 2005

Chief - Theoretical Division

Los Alamos, NM

At 24 Bethe had a travel fellowship of the International Education Board to go to Cambridge, England.  

At 26, he held a position as Acting Assistant Professor at the University of Tubingen which he lost due to the advent of the Nazi regime in Germany.


At 29 Bethe was appointed Assistant Professor at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. U.S.A., within two years he was promoted to Professor.

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Bohr, Niels

1885 - 1962 

Consultant to the Project

Los Alamos, NM

At 23, the announcement by the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen of a prize to be awarded for the solution of a certain scientific problem, caused him to take up an experimental and theoretical investigation of the surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets. This work, which he carried out in his father's laboratory and for which he received the prize offered (a gold medal), was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, 1908.

By 28 Bohr carried out a theoretical piece of work on the absorption of alpha rays which was published in the Philosophical Magazine, 1913, he passed on to a study of the structure of atoms on the basis of Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus.

That same year he held a Lectureship in Physics at Copenhagen University followed by a similar appointment at the Victoria University in Manchester.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bradbury, Norris

1909-1996

Interim Lab Director

Los Alamos, NM

In his mid 20s Bradbury built up a reputation as an expert on the subjects of conduction of electricity in gases, properties of ions, and atmospheric electricity.

At 36 Norris replaced Robert Oppenheimer as director of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Critchfield, Charles

1910 - 1994

Group Leader - Ordnance

Los Alamos, NM

By 28 Critchfield wrote a paper with Hans Bethe that analyzed the nuclear fusion of protons into deuterons.

At 33 joined the Los Alamos Ordnance Division.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas, Nick

1921 - 2007

Made 1st Button of Plutonium

Los Alamos, NM

At 23 Dallas, together with Ted Magel, fabricated history's first gram-scale sample of plutonium metal (weight 520 milligrams).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dunning, J. R.

1907 - 1975

Director of Lab

Columbia University

At 28 promoted to assistant professor at Columbia where he became the central figure at Columbia on neutron research, and his activities complemented those of Enrico Fermi in Italy.  He was able construct a cyclotron using many salvaged parts to reduce costs and funding from industrial and private donations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Einstein, Albert

1879 - 1955

Consultant to the Project

Los Alamos, NM

At 26 Einstein had what came to be known as his “Annus Mirabilis” — or “miracle year”. It was during this time that the young physicist obtained his Doctorate degree and published four of his most influential research papers, including the Special Theory of Relativity. In that, the now world famous equation "e = mc2" unlocked mysteries of the Universe theretofore unknown.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fermi, Enrico

1901 - 1954

Group Leader - Theoretical

Los Alamos, NM

At 25 Fermi discovered the statistical laws, nowadays known as the «Fermi statistics», governing the particles subject to Pauli's exclusion principle (now referred to as «fermions», in contrast with «bosons» which obey the Bose-Einstein statistics).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Feynman, Richard

1918 - 1988

Group Leader - Theoretical  (at 24 years of age)

Los Alamos, NM

At 15, Feynman taught himself trigonometry, advanced algebra, infinite series, analytic geometry, and both differential and integral calculus.

At 21 he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1939, and in the same year was named a Putnam Fellow. While there, Feynman took every physics course offered, including a graduate course on theoretical physics while only in his second year.

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Frisch, Otto

1904 -1979

British Mission

Los Alamos, NM

At 29 Frisch produced novel work on the diffraction of atoms (using crystal surfaces) and also proved that the magnetic moment of the proton was much larger than had been previously supposed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goudsmit, Samuel

1902 – 1978

Scientific Head of ALSOS Mission

Europe

At 28 Goudsmit co-authored a text with Linus Pauling titled The Structure of Line Spectra. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kennedy, Joseph

1916 - 1956  

Chemistry & Metallurgy

Los Alamos, NM

At 24 Kennedy was on the team that produced the first Plutonium button.

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Kistiakowsky, George

1900-1982

Director - Implosion Program

Los Alamos, NM

 At 26, Kistiakowsky came to the United States and taught at Princeton University for two years.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kolodney, Morris

1911 - Nov. 29, 2009

Manager - DP Site

Los Alamos, NM

At 31 Kolodney joined Los Alamos Laboratory where he produced the first plutonium used in making the first atom bombs. {a touch old but hey.}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lawrence, Ernest O.

1901 - 1958

Director - Berkeley Lab

U. C. - Berkeley

At 24 after receiving his Ph.D Lawrence's research centered on nuclear physics. His early work was on ionization phenomena and the measurement of ionization potentials of metal vapours. 

At 28 Lawrence invented the cyclotron, a device for accelerating nuclear particles to very high velocities without the use of high voltages.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Magel, Ted 

1911 - 2008 

Los Alamos, NM

At 29 Magel was on the team that made 1st Button of Plutonium.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manley, John H.

1907 – 1990

Asst. to J. R. Oppenheimer

U. C. - Berkeley

At 24 Manley received his PhD in physics from the University of Michigan.

Appointed professor at the University of Illinois by 30, Manhattan Project at 35.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

McMillan, Edwin

1907 - 1991

Group Leader - 

Los Alamos, NM

At 23 was on the team that produced the first Plutonium button.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morrison, Philip 

1915 – 2005

Tinian Island

At 27 Morrison was recruited to the Manhattan Project to head the Fat Man Pit Team

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Neddermeyer, Seth

1907 - 1988

Implosion Research

Los Alamos, NM

At 29, he and Anderson discovered the muon, using cloud chamber measurements of cosmic rays.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Neumann, John von

1903 – 1957

Theoretical Division

Los Alamos, NM

In his mid 20s von Neumann did groundbreaking work on quantum mechanics and computing theory.  Also, on various forms of operator theory; on the ergodic theorem.  Along with Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, von Neumann worked out key steps in the nuclear physics involved in thermonuclear reactions and the hydrogen bomb. 

{before reaching 30}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nier, Alfred O.

1911 - 1994

Pioneered Electro-Magnetic Meth.

University of Minnesota

At 25 Nier's spectroscopic skills won him a fellowship and substantial grant at Harvard University.  His work there led to the 1938 (at 27) publication of measurements of the relative abundance of the isotopes of uranium, measurements that were later used to estimate the age of the Earth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oliphant, Mark

1901 – 14 July 2000

British Mission

Los Alamos, NM

At 26 Oliphant earned a position at Ernest Rutherford's Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.

Still in his 20s Oliphant worked on the artificial disintegration of the atomic nucleus and positive ions, and he designed and built complex particle accelerators, being the first to conceive the concept of the proton synchrotron.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oppenheimer, J. Robert

1904-1967

Scientific Director - Project "Y"

Los Alamos, NM

During Oppenheimer mid 20s Oppenheimer published more than a dozen papers, including many important contributions to the new field of quantum mechanics. 

At 23 he and Max Born published a famous paper on the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, which separates nuclear motion from electronic motion in the mathematical treatment of molecules, allowing nuclear motion to be neglected to simplify calculations. It remains his most cited work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peierls, Rudolf

1907 - 1995

British Mission

Los Alamos, NM

At 22 Peierls studied solid-state physics in Zurich under the tutelage of Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli.

WIKI: "His early work on quantum physics led to the theory of positive carriers to explain the thermal and electrical conductivity behaviors of semiconductors. He was a pioneer of the concept of "holes" in semiconductors. He actually established "zones" before Léon Brillouin, despite Léon's name being currently attached to the idea, and applied it to phonons. Doing this, he discovered the Boltzmann equations for phonons and the Umklapp process. 

{all this in his early 20s}

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Perlman, Isidore (Iz)

1915 — 1991 

Chemistry Division

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

At 22 Perlman became interested in the use of radioactive tracers in physiology and began graduate studies under Professor Israel L. Chaikoff at the University of California, Berkeley. 

In his mid 20s he participated in pioneering work on radioactive tracers to study metabolism

From age 22 to 28 Perlman published nineteen papers in this field and demonstrated the usefulness of radioactive tracers of phosphorus, bromine, and iodine to physiology. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rainwater, Leo J.

1917 - 1986

Asst. to J. R. Dunning

Columbia University

At 22 Rainwater began graduate study in physics as a teaching assistant at Columbia University.

Spent his 20s doing uranium enrichment work including helping in the development of pulsed neutron spectroscopy using the Columbia cyclotron.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ramsey, Norman

1915 - 2011

Deputy Director - Project "Alberta"

Los Alamos, NM

At 25 Ramsey was recruited to the MIT Radiation Lab where he spent the next two years heading up the group developing 3 cm wavelength radar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Schwinger, Julian

1918 - 1994

Asst. to J. R. Oppenheimer

U. C. - Berkeley

At 16 Schwinger debuted as a professional physicist. Although his thesis had been written some two or three years earlier, it was in 1939 at 21 that he received the Ph.D. degree.

While in his 20s Schwinger first approached electromagnetic radar problems as a nuclear physicist, but soon began to think of nuclear physics in the language of electrical engineering... leading to the effective range formulation of nuclear scattering... then electron accelerators, which led to the question of radiation by electrons in magnetic fields.  Making significant contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Seaborg, Glenn

1912 – 1999

Chief - Plutonium Separation

Los Alamos, NM

At 17 Seaborg graduated from Jordan at the top of his class and by 21 he received a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

While in his 20s Seaborg contributed to the discovery of more than 100 isotopes of elements. 

At 25 using a advanced cyclotrons Seaborg helped created a new isotope of iron, iron-59 (Fe-59). Iron-59 was useful in the studies of the hemoglobin in human blood. 

At 26, Seaborg and Livingood collaborated to create an important isotope of iodine, iodine-131 (I-131).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Serber, Robert

1909 - 1997

Group Leader - Theoretical

Los Alamos, NM

At 25 Serber received his Ph.D. at University of Wisconsin.

At 32 became Oppenheimer's assistant

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Szilard, Leo

1898 – 1964

Group Leader - Met Lab

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

At 26 Szilard was appointed as assistant to von Laue at the University of Berlin's Institute for Theoretical Physics.  

At 30 he submitted a patent application for the linear accelerator and, 

at 31 he applied for a patent for the cyclotron. During that period, he worked with Einstein to develop a refrigerator, notable because it had no moving parts. 

At 31 Szilárd's paper: "On the Reduction of Entropy in a Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intelligent Beings"  introduced the thought experiment now called Szilárd's engine and became important in the history of attempts to understand Maxwell's demon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Teller, Edward

1908 – 2003

Thermonuclear Research

Los Alamos, NM

At 27 Teller was invited to the U.S. to become a Professor of Physics at the George Washington University

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuck, James

1910 – 1980

British Mission - Implosion

Los Alamos, NM

At 27 Tuck received an appointment as a Salter Research Fellow at Oxford University, where he worked with Leó Szilárd on particle accelerators.  Later joining the Manhattan project.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ulam, Stanislau 

1909 – 13 May 1984

Hydrodynamics of Implosion

Los Alamos, NM

Between the age of 26 to 32 Ulam made major contributions to mathematics as highlight by "The Scottish Book". Of the 193 problems recorded between 1935  and 1941 Ulam contributed 40 problems as a single author, another 11 with Banach and Mazur, and an additional 15 with others.  

At 34 he was recruited into the Manhattan Project.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wahl, Arthur C.

1917 –  2006

Chemistry Group

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

At 24 as PhD student of Glenn T. Seaborg at UC Berkeley, Wahl was first to isolated plutonium.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Weinberg, Alvin

1915 - 2006

Theoretical Physics under Wigner

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

At 30 Weinberg was appointed Director of Physics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Weisskopf, Victor

1908 – April 22, 2002

Theoretical Division

Los Alamos, NM

At 23 Weisskopf earned his doctorate.

While in his 20s Weisskopf made major contributions to the development of quantum theory, especially in the area of Quantum Electrodynamics.

At 29 he was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of Rochester. 

Earned his doctorate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wheeler, John A.

1911 – 2008

Consultant to the Project

Princeton University

At age 26 Wheeler introduced the S-matrix, which became an indispensable tool in particle physics. Wheeler was a pioneer in the theory of nuclear fission, along with Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi. 

At 28 Wheeler collaborated with Bohr on the liquid drop model of nuclear fission.

Earned his doctorate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wigner, Eugene

1902 - 1995

Group Leader - Met Lab

Univ. of Chicago (Met Lab)

In his 20s Wigner laid the foundation for the theory of symmetries in quantum mechanics. 

At 25 he introduced what is known as the Wigner D-matrix.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Williams, John

1908-1966

Deputy Test Director

Los Alamos, NM

In his 20s Williams published important early work on the widths and intensities of x-ray lines.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wilson, Robert

1914 - 2000

Cyclotron Group

Los Alamos, NM

At 27 Wilson's team produced the "Isotron," which, unlike the Calutron,  it used an electrical field to separate the uranium instead of a magnetic one.

At 29 Robert Oppenheimer hired Wilson to head of the Cyclotron Group (R-1)

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