The document profiles 7 scientists who were key figures in the Manhattan Project: Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard conceived the idea of the nuclear chain reaction and helped initiate the project; Italian physicist Enrico Fermi demonstrated the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction; American general Leslie Groves oversaw the entire project; American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos laboratory; Hungarian-born American physicist Edward Teller developed the hydrogen bomb; German physicist Hans Bethe calculated critical mass for the weapons; and American physicist Richard Garwin worked on bomb design and later campaigned against nuclear weapons.

1. The Men of Manhattan Project

2. Hungarian-American
physicist who conceived
the nuclear chain reaction,
patented the idea of a
nuclear reactor with Enrico
Fermi and in 1939 wrote
the letter for Albert
Einstein’s signature that
resulted in the Manhattan
Project

3. Italian born Nobel Prize
winning physicist who
demonstrated the first
artificial, self-sustaining
chain reaction. He proved
that an atomic bomb could
be made. He excelled both
theoretically and
experimentally.

4. In 1942, he was placed in
charge of the Manhattan
Project. In ran all phases
of the project: scientific,
production, security and
planning for the use of the
bomb. Oak Ridge,
Hanford, and Los Alamos
were all created under his
direction.

5. Known as the “father of the
atomic bomb,” he was the
chief scientist in charge at
Los Alamos. After his success
at creating the bomb,
Oppenheimer remarked,
“Now I am become Death,
the destroyer of worlds”
After the war, his security
clearance was revoked as
some claimed he had
Communist sympathies.

6. Hungarian-born
American physicist
known as the “father of
the hydrogen bomb.”
After the war, he
advocated a strong
nuclear arsenal, a
vigorous nuclear testing
program, and the
development of nuclear
energy technology.

7. Nobel Prize winning
German -American nuclear
physicist who was Head of
the Theoretical Division at
Los Alamos. He played a
key role in calculating the
critical mass of the
weapons and developing
the theory behind the
implosion method used in
the bomb dropped on
Nagasaki.

8. MIT Professor and
acclaimed physicist, he was
one of the youngest to
work on The Manhattan
Project. He worked on the
bomb’s plutonium core.
After the war, he spent his
career campaigning against
militaristic use of nuclear
weapons.