Eleven men who helped design, build, and detonate the first nuclear bomb gathered in Washington, DC, in July, 60 years after the Trinity Test, to reflect on the Manhattan Project and its legacy.
The near-capacity symposium was organized by former SLAC director Wolfgang Panofsky and sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on International Security and Arms Control. Today’s decision-makers have not seen an atomic bomb explode, and to many of them, nuclear weapons have become primarily symbols of strength and prestige and tools for diplomatic bargaining, Panofsky warned. In addition to Panofsky, the bomb builders in attendance were Harold Agnew, Hugh Bradner, Robert Christy, Val Fitch, Donald Hornig, Lawrence Johnston, Arnold Kramish, Louis Rosen, Maurice Shapiro, and Rubby Sherr.
The participants’ views on the Manhattan Project’s legacy varied widely. Christy said, “The ‘have–have not’ situation doesn’t work” because smaller countries believe they can negotiate with the US only...