Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945Cambridge University Press, 12 févr. 2004 - 528 pages This volume is a lucid and accurate history of the technical research that led to the first atomic bombs. The authors explore how the "critical assembly" of scientists, engineers, and military personnel at Los Alamos, responding to wartime deadlines, collaborated to create a new approach to large-scale research. The book opens with an introduction laying out major themes. After a synopsis of the prehistory of the bomb project, from the discovery of nuclear fission to the start of the Manhattan Engineer District, and an overview of the early materials program, the book examines the establishment of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the implosion and gun assembly programs, nuclear physics research, chemistry and metallurgy, explosives, uranium and plutonium development, confirmation of spontaneous fission in pile-produced plutonium, the thermonuclear bomb, critical assemblies, the Trinity test, and delivery of the combat weapons. |
Table des matières
Introduction | 1 |
Early Research on Fission 19331943 | 12 |
The Early Materials Program 19331943 | 24 |
Setting Up Project Y June 1942 to March 1943 | 40 |
Research in the First Months of Project Y April to September 1943 | 67 |
Creating a Wartime Community September 1943 to August 1944 | 91 |
The Gun Weapon September 1943 to August 1944 | 111 |
The Implosion Program Accelerates September 1943 to July 1944 | 129 |
Exploring the Plutonium Implosion Weapon August 1944 to February 1945 | 267 |
Finding the Implosion Design August 1944 to February 1945 | 293 |
Building the Implosion Gadget March 1945 to July 1945 | 315 |
Critical Assemblies and Nuclear Physics August 1944 to July 1945 | 335 |
The Test at Trinity January 1944 to July 1945 | 350 |
Delivery June 1943 to August 1945 | 378 |
Epilogue | 398 |
The Legacy of Los Alamos | 403 |
New Hopes for the Implosion Weapon September 1943 to July 1944 | 163 |
The Nuclear Properties of a Fission Weapon September 1943 to July 1944 | 178 |
Uranium and Plutonium Early 1943 to August 1944 | 205 |
The Discovery of Spontaneous Fission in Plutonium and the Reorganization of Los Alamos | 228 |
Building the Uranium Bomb August 1944 to July 1945 | 249 |
Notes | 418 |
Name Index | 493 |
| 501 | |
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Expressions et termes fréquents
active Alamos Story amount assembly atomic August Bacher became began Berkeley Bethe bismuth blast Board bomb building calculations chamber Chapter charge chemistry Chicago committee communication completed Compton continued critical mass determine detonators difficult division early effect efficiency effort electric energy engineering equipment experimental experiments explosive Fermi final firing fission gadget Governing Groves Hawkins History implosion increased initiator July June Kistiakowsky laboratory late later Los Alamos March material measurements meeting metal metallurgy method military Minutes months needed neutrons nuclear observations obtained operation Oppenheimer Parsons PETN physicists physics placed planned plutonium possible prepared Press problems produce Progress Report purification reaction Report Robert scale Science scientists separation Serber shots Smith sphere spontaneous fission studies suggested technical Trinity United University uranium Water wave weapon World X-ray