Bomb Flashcards
What did the FBI agents find in Harry Gold’s home that was so incriminating?
A map of New Mexico with in X at a certain location in Santa Fe
How many years of evidence did Harry Gold need to destroy before the FBI came to his door?
17 years
Why did Gold come clean to the FBI instead of continuing to proclaim his innocence?
He thought of the letdown and disappointment his friends and family would have when he was finally revealed to be a spy
Who is Harry Gold?
A courier and a spy for the Soviets
Who are Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner?
Physicists who helped initiate the Manhattan Project
Who discovered fission?
Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner
From where did Oppenheimer receive his college degree?
Harvard University in 1925
Why did Oppenheimer’s classmates sign a petition about him?
To let others in class speak
Where did Oppenheimer teach physics?
University of California in Berkeley
Why did Oppenheimer begin getting more involved in politics?
The country’s ongoing economic problems and he was greatly disturbed by and concerned about Hitler’s rise to power and Nazi violence against Jews in Germany
What kind of physics did Oppenheimer study?
Theoretical physics
What alarming discovery did Otto Hahn make?
That if you speed up neutrons enough and they hit uranium atoms hard enough, the atom would split in two
What did Hahn’s former partner, Lise Meitner, and her nephew, Otto Frisch, compare this new phenomenon to?
They compared the atom nucleus to a liquid droplet, like Niels Bohr did, that could stretch until it split into 2 “droplets”, if hit hard enough by a speeding neutron
What happens when atoms split?
They release energy, and if you split many atoms at once, it would create enough energy to make the most powerful bomb ever
What did physicists call the splitting of an atom?
Fission
What were physicists so afraid of with the discovery of fission?
It had been discovered in Germany and scientists in other countries were afraid that Hitler would develop an atomic bomb before anyone else
Why were Szilard and Wigner trying trying find and talk to Einstein?
To tell them about fission and get him to tell President Roosevelt
What important and frightening piece of information was at the end of Einstein’s letter to Roosevelt that spurred him into action about fission?
Germany had stopped the sale of uranium from Czechoslovakian mines
What was the Uranium Committee?
A group of military leaders and scientists whose goal was to figure out the basics of building an atomic bomb
How did Harry Gold get into spying for the Soviets?
He wanted to repay his friend, Tom Black, for getting him a job during the Depression. So when Tom, a communist, asked him to give him the cutting-edge process his plant used for the Soviet people to use, Gold agreed
What made Gold want to stop spying for the Soviets?
He found out that the Soviet Union was a ruthless police state that was run by a man just as bad as Hitler, Joseph Stalin
Why didn’t Gold stop spying for the Soviets?
His communist contact threatened to tell Gold’s boss about his illegal activities, thereby preventing Gold from ever getting a job
Who taught Gold the art and science of spying?
His new contact, “Sam”
What did the Soviets want Gold to do after they forced him back into working for them?
Act as a courier picking up files and other things, like a new kind of explosive in Tennessee, and bring everything to “Sam” in NYC
Who was “Sam”
Semyon Semyonov, a 30-year-old engineer who was really a secret agent for the KGB
How would Semyon Semyonov and Alexander Feklisov test to see if they were being followed by FBI agents?
They would go into a bar/store or hop on a bus
Before the development of the atomic bomb, what was the largest man-made explosion in history at that point and how much more powerful was the uranium bomb?
In 1917 in Halifax Harbor, Canada, a ship packed with millions of pounds of bombs and ammunition blew up, killing at least 2000 people and flattening every building within a mile. A uranium bomb had at least 10x that power
What brought the U.S. into WWII?
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
What was Oppenheimer’a official title when he was placed in charge of fast-neutron reasearch?
Coordinator of Rapid Rupture
How were the Soviet leaders going to get an atomic bomb anytime soon when they were constantly having to fight off the Nazis?
They were gonna have to steal it
What was the code name for the Russian project of stealing the atomic bomb?
Enormoz- The Russian word for enormous
Who was at the top of the Soviet list of scientists involved with developing the atomic bomb that were known to be sympathetic to the Communist Party in the past?
Robert Oppenheimer
Why was Colonel Groves put in charge of the atomic bomb project?
He managed the construction of the Pentagon, the biggest office building in the world, on time and budget
Why was the atomic bomb project given the codename the Manhattan Project?
Because it’s offices were located in Manhattan
Who did Groves want to be the lead scientist in charge of the Manhattan project and what big problem between counter in trying to get this person to be in charge?
He wanted Robert Oppenheimer in charge because as an American scientist, his background was easier to check, but Oppenheimer couldn’t get security clearance from the army because of his past associations with the Communist Party
What was the name of the facility where Haukelid trained in England and what did the Germans call it?
Special Training School No.3 and the Germans called it the International Gangster School
What is heavy water and how is it important?
It’s water that is made up of hydrogen molecules that have a neutron in addition to the regular proton, making it 10% heavier than regular water. It was a key ingredient in the German atomic bomb program.
Where was heavy water produced in large quantities?
Vemork in Rjukan, Norway
Describe the Allied attempt to take down the heavy water plant and what went wrong
?
Who is Klaus Fuchs?
A German–born British physicist who was a double agent for the KGB and was working for the British government on their atomic bomb project
What decision haunted Oppenheimer for the rest of his life?
That he didn’t tell General Groves that he’d been approached by the Soviets to tell the Soviets about what work was being done on the American atomic bomb project.
What are the requirements for a site to build an atomic bomb lab?
It had to be remote, close to railroad lines, and have some buildings already in place.
Where was the American atomic lab?
Los Alamos Ranch school in Los Alamos, New Mexico
What was Enrico Fermi and his team working on it with nuclear fission at the university of Chicago?
Producing a chain reaction of nuclear fission
What Fermi and his team demonstrate for the first time in history?
The controlled release of atomic power.
What were Knut Haukelid and his crew given when they went to parachute in Norway?
The death pill – cyanide enclosed in a rubber cover that causes death in three seconds once bitten through
How many of the Norwegians that blew up Vermok were caught by the Germans?
0
What were some of the rumors circulating in Santa Fe about all of the activity that they were witnessing in Los Almos?
A secret military project, making some breeds, making death race, home for pregnant military personnel, or nudist colony.
What were the scientists arriving in Los Alamos told not to do so as to avoid drawing attention?
Don’t call each other Dr. or Prof. so people wouldn’t wonder why so many scientists were in town.
What rumor did General Groves want to plant so people wouldn’t stumble onto the truth?
That the army was building electric rockets in Los Almos
What did everyone at Los Almos call the bomb they were building?
The gadget
What was the gun assembly method?
A bomb design of the specially adapted artillery gun that could create a fast enough uranium chain reaction to release enough energy in a massive explosion.
What did General Groves request Oppenheimer do while working at Los Alamos and what was his reason for these requests?
He asked that Oppenheimer not fly, refrain from driving for a long time without protection, and to always have a guard with him when driving about town. Groves made these requests because intelligence officers still believed Oppenheimer was secretly a communist
Who was Douglas MacAuthur?
A top American general
What was Laboratory Number 2?
A secret lab in the pine woods outside of Moscow and where the Soviets worked on their atomic bomb project.
Who was Igor Kurchatov?
The physicist in charge of the Soviet atomic bomb project
Who was the Soviets inside man of the Manhattan Project?
Klaus Fuchs
What was Knut Haukelid’s 2nd mission regarding the heavywater in Norway?
Stop the barrels of heavy water from reaching Germany
How did Haukelid carry out this mission?
He and his team sank the ferry boat, named Hydro, carrying the heavy water
Who is Werner Heisenberg?
The number one physicist in Germany who is most likely in charge of the German atomic bomb project.
What is the Office of Strategic Services?
The new top-secret government agency of the US
Why was Richard Feynman in trouble at Los Alamos?
He had his family write to him in code because he enjoyed deciphering the codes and he would pick the locks of his colleagues’ filing cabinets when he wanted a document from them and they weren’t around.
Where was the uranium for the atomic bomb prepared?
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
What was the difference between U-238 and U-235?
U-238 does not fission and is useless in bomb making. U-235 has a total of 235 protons and neutrons, can split and releases energy when it splits and is used for atomic bombs
What was the job of the Oak Ridge plant?
To separate U-235 atoms form the U-238 and send just the U-235 atoms to Los Alamos
Why was the Hanford, Washington plant built?
To produce plutonium, an element created when U-238 atoms are hit with flying neutrons and are absorbed in the nucleus of the uranium
What government official started investigating what was going on in the secret more plants?
Sen. Harry Truman from Missouri
Why did Fuchs miss two meetings with Gold?
He had left New York City and hadn’t told anyone why or where
How old was Theodore Hall when he graduated from high school and what were his top three career options?
He was 13 and he wanted to be a comedian, journalist, or physicist
Why did Theodore Hall decide to share with the Soviets information about the American atomic bomb project?
He thought the world would be safer if two major powers each knew how to build an atomic bomb
What was Amtorg?
A Soviet import/export business, where many of the employees doubled as KGB spies
Where had Fuchs gone when he suddenly left NY?
To Los Alamos
Who is the pilot chosen to fly the plane that would drop the atomic bomb?
Col. Paul Tibbets
Where did Tibbets select to be his training site and why did he pick that place?
A base in Wendover, Utah because there was no place nearby for men to get the trouble and possibly leak information
What was Tibbet’s group known as and when was it officially activated?
The 509th composit group and it was activated on December 17, 1944
Why did Donovan tell Eifler that the plot to kidnap Hinesburg was called off when it really hadn’t?
Donavin wanted to take a Eifler off the job without hurting the Eifler’s feelings because he no longer thought he was fit for the delicate job
Who did Donovan give the job to instead?
A former baseball player named Moe Berg
What was Alsos?
The code name for a secret mission whose job was to follow advancing Allied forces in Europe and look for any scraps of information about the German atomic bomb program
What made Berg believe Germany was not that far along in developing an atomic bomb?
Heisenberg believed the war was lost for Germany
What famous book of poems did Theodore Hall use to encode a letter he sent to Sax?
Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’
Why did Sax copy Hall’s notes with milk?
Milk is a good invisible ink because you can’t see it once it dries unless the paper is heated
What was Oppenheimer’s solution to building a working plutonium bomb?
Implosion
Why did Pres. Roosevelt pick Truman as his vice president?
To win votes in the Midwest
When was Truman sworn in as President?
April 12, 1945
Where was Heisenberg’s secret lab?
Haigerloch, Germany inside a cliff
How far behind was Germany’s atomic bomb project from the Americans and why were the Germans behind in the atomic race?
More than 2 years because they couldn’t produce a uranium chain reaction since the heavy water plant had been destroyed
What were Soviet soldiers looking for as they made their way through Germany?
Important papers from German labs and to capture top German physicists
When did Hitler commit suicide?
April 30, 1945
Why was it so important for the US to continue working on developing an atomic bomb when the Nazis had been defeated?
Still had to win a war against Japan
What was Trinity?
The name of the site where the plutonium bomb was tested, which was a section of New Mexico desert near the Alamogordo Air Force Base
What information did Fuchs give Gold when they met in Santa Fe in June of 1945?
Information about the bomb test and the principle of design of the plutonium bomb
Who else did Gold meet in Santa Fe besides Fuchs?
David Greenglass, and army sergeant assigned to Los Alamos
Where did the British soldiers take German physicists and why?
An English country estate called Farm Hall to isolate the scientists so no one would know about the existence of an atomic bomb
What was the telegram message that Oppenheimer send out to Manhattan Project physicists what did it mean?
“Any time after the 15th would be a good day for our fishing trip” It meant that the test was on
Why didn’t the plutonium core fit into the bomb at first?
The plutonium expanded in the heat, so they waited for it to cool and shrink back down to it’s original size
Why was Oppenheimer so concerned about the weather around the time of the test?
They need clear skies to get a good look at the explosion and the wind would cause deadly radioactive elements to rain down on nearby towns
Who is the only non-scientist in the caravan traveling to witness the first atomic bomb test?
William Lawrence, a New York Times reporter
When was the first test of the atomic bomb?
July 16, 1945
How did the scientists describe the explosion?
A flash a blinding light and heat that was many times more intense than the midday sun that kept changing colors as it grew into a giant mushroom cloud
How long after the blast the did explosion sound come?
About 30 seconds
How far away was the blast seen?
450 miles and Armarillo Texas
What was the cover story General Groves released to reporters to explain the tremendous sound and light in the sky?
The explosives dump Alamogordo Air Base blew up
What was Stalin’s reaction when Truman told him about America’s new weapon and why did Stalin have this reaction?
He never changed expressions because he already knew all about the American bomb project.
How many Americans were estimated by Gen. George Marshall to be killed or wounded at an invasion of Japan?
A quarter of 1 million
What was the Potsdam Declaration and what was the Japanese response to it?
A final demand by Truman and Churchhill that Japan end the fighting. Japanese leaders were divided but ultimately ended up ignoring it and decided to fight until the end
What did Serber and his team name the first uranium bomb that was to be dropped on Japan?
Little Boy
What was the name of the plane that carried the first bomb?
Enola Gay, after the pilot’s, Tibbet’s, mother
How much more weight was the B-29 plane carrying that it was designed to?
15,000 pounds more
Which Japanese city was selected to be the site of the first atomic bomb?
Hiroshima
What was the bomb site in Hiroshima and why was it selected?
The Aioi Bridge, because it was centrally located and could be identified from high in the air
How much did the uranium bomb weigh?
9000 pounds
Why was Hiroshima so dark after the blast?
The blast caused an enormous amount of dust and debris to be blown in the air
How did Otto Hahn feel when he was first told of the bombing of Hiroshima?
Tremendous guilt and personal responsibility
How did Stalin react in hearing the news about Hiroshima?
He was furious that the balance was shaken by the Americans having an atomic bomb and not Russia
When was the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima?
August 6th, 1945*
What was Japan’s war minister toured Hiroshima, what were the damages?
70,000 of the 76,000 buildings were destroyed, 70,000 people were dead, and over 100,000 more would die of worms, burns, and radiation poisoning.
Why did Truman not want Japan to keep their emperor as long as they surrendered?
The United States had demanded an unconditional surrender since Pearl Harbor and Truman thought it would be a betrayal of US troops to accept anything less and it would make him look weak politically if he negotiated with Japan
What did dropping a second bomb in less than a week indicate?
That the US had an endless supply of atomic bombs
What was the nickname of the second bomb and what was different about it from the first bomb?
Fat Man, and it was a plutonium bomb whereas the first bomb was uranium bomb
Who is the pilot of the plane that dropped the second bomb?
Charles Sweeney
When did Japan surrender and who made the final call to surrender?
They surrendered on August 15, 1945. Emperor Hirohito made the final call
How did Cohan try to hide Ted Hall’s atomic bomb plans and sketches to get past FBI agents?
She put them in a tissue box with the tissues on top of them. It was the one thing of hers the agents didn’t search
Why did the Soviets not have to go through the trial and error the Americans did to build their first atomic bomb?
Fuch’s at Hall’s plans were nearly identical, when corroborated with that of the Soviets had the correct information
What did the press call Oppenheimer?
Father of the Atomic Bomb
Why did Oppenheimer feel grief when he returned Los Almos?
Because he was told to build more bombs what he wanted to stop making bombs and ask other countries not to
When did Truman think the Russians will be able to build their own atomic bomb?
Never
When did Russia test their first atomic bomb?
August 29, 1949
How did the U.S. intelligence discover that information had been stolen from the Manhattan Project?
They cracked the Soviet code in 1949 and when they decoded telegrams during the war sent to the KGB, they discovered a note with information that could only have come from inside the project.
Why couldn’t the coded Soviet telegrams be used in court as evidence against Fuchs?
The Americans didn’t want the Russians to know that they had broken the Russian code
How did the British get evidence against Fuchs?
They kept hounding him until he caved under the pressure and confessed
Why did Fuchs get just 14 years in prison instead of the death sentence for handing over secret information to Russia?
Because Russia was an ally to Great Britain during the war, not an enemy
What happened to Fuchs after sentencing?
He was released after 10 years for good behavior, move to East Germany, got married, and continued atomic research until his death in 1988 at the age of 76
What crucial mistake did the KGB make five years before Gold was caught?
In 1945, they had Gold pick up information from both Fuchs and David Greenglass, which cross-contaminated two separate spy rings, allowing the US to catch more Soviet spies
What was the most famous espionage trial of the century and why was it significant?
The trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who recruited Greenglass. The trial exposed many more names of Soviet agents and the Soviets were never as effective in spying on America. It also started the Red Scare of the 1950s
Which spy was the one that got away when he was finally exposed?
Ted Hall. He was exposed 1995 when the KGB’s decoded messages were made public
What is the “Super”?
A bomb made of fusion energy, when hydrogen atoms are fused together at extreme temperatures and pressures, creating helium atoms and powering stars
What happen on November 1, 1952?
The US test of the world’s first hydrogen bomb, which is 500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb
Who is Lewis Strauss?
The chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission who led the takedown of Oppenheimer
Who was the author of “Bomb”?
Steve Sheinkin
