Now It Can Be Told: The Story Of The Manhattan Project

The duo of the late General Leslie Groves (1922 - 1970) and Robert J. Oppenheimer (1904 - 1967) were the midwives of the first atomic bomb and the birth of the nuclear age.General Leslie Groves as one of the main actors of those times penned a book that is unbeatably interesting and highly educating. My interest in the book delves from the point of view of project management. To this end, I was not disappointed at all. From the begining to the end, there is no let-off. You will keep on reading to the last page.The displayed leadership and management efforts needed to guide this monumental project from mere theoretical concepts to practical reality in a relatively short timeframe was quite unparalleled in history. Students of management and project managers will find invaluable insights here. While I am not celebrating the waste and loss of invaluable lives resulting from World War II (or any war for that matter), it is a testament to American ingenuity that a bomb that was decisively important towards winning the war was not yet completely assembled or tested just about three weeks before it was first deployed in the warfront. And yet it worked on first try! As stated by the author, the first gun-type atomic bomb was dropped in combat without a prior test to ascertain if it will work, "Nevertheless, the indications for success were strong enough so that no one urged us to change our plans of dropping the first gun-type bomb in combat without prior test."From the book, it is clearly evident that, it was World War II that made the development of atomic bomb and atomic energy possible. It would have been very difficult for any nation (America included) to contemplate and commit to such a costly project (running into several hundreds of billions of dollars in today's money) in the time of peace.I whole heartedly concur with the author that the world is a better place today and is still what it is because America was the first nation to create the atomic bomb and also developed and master nuclear energy. One can only imagine what would have happened if such power has fallen into the hands of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, or to Josef Stalin in the hey days of the Soviets. The bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, the Paris massacres of November 2015, and many others are unimaginably evil. Heinous as they were, these atrocities would have paled to mere children-plays in comparison to what these terrorists and their sponsoring power hungry individuals and nations would have done if they ever get access to these weapons of calimitous destruction first.NOTABLE EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK"Only strength can counter an adversary determined to enforce his goals by physical force.""… nothing would be more fatal to success than to try to arrive at a perfect plan before taking any important step.""I wanted a man who was experienced in the oil industry, feeling that he would be used to making quick, conclusive decisions, based, if necessary, on very limited information. I did not want anyone who would always insist on 100 per cent proof before making a move..""He reminded me that no weapon developed during a war had ever been decisive in that war.""I suggested that the time was fast approaching when we should begin to make plans for the bombing operation itself, even though we still had no assurance that the bomb would be effective.""… a nuclear war could never be fought on this earth without bringing disaster to all mankind.""… if we played it safe, we could never hope to win; chances had to be taken.""While it is tragic that the forces for destruction that we unleashed are stronger than man’s present ability to control them, it is fortunate indeed for humanity that the initiative in this field was gained and kept by the United States.""We know now that when man is willing to make the effort, he is capable of accomplishing virtually anything."All quotations and excerpts are from the book:Now It Can Be Told - The Story of The Manhattan ProjectBy General Leslie Groves©Da Capo Press, Inc. 1962

`NOW IT CAN BE TOLDThe story of the Manhattan Project' by Leslie R. GrovesAcademics record memoirs. So the story of the atomic bomb by and about physicists, mathematicians, and other academics are many. Military people, in comparison, write less frequently. So General Leslie Groves `Now it Can be Told' fills a unique need, particularly for the post-WW2 anti-Vietnam generation.The philosophical clash is obvious: military discipline v's academic freedom; force of arms v's pursuit of knowledge; free enquiry v's security with "compartmentalization of knowledge"; freedom v's discipline; management v's theoreticians; power v's idealism; or such comparisons.Groves presents a factual account of the project management being "an even greater adventure into the unknown than the first voyage of Columbus" in which "never in history has anyone embarking ... had so little certainty" as "there has never been an improvement in weapons comparable in degree and sudden impact to the atomic bomb". From grand construction, security, relations with the British, intelligence from Germany and Japan, often minor detail, plus insights of honesty such as General Eisenhower "I have so many things to deal with that it puts an undue burden on me to be given any secret information, as I am forced to think what is secret and what is not."Groves shoves the physics into place: "The need for a sound knowledge of atomic physics was much less vital..." for "...it is not extraordinarily difficult for anyone who will apply himself ... to understand the basic principles of atomic physics". He describes the priority of the nation to achieve success partly because of the amazing response of USA firms such as du Pont and Allis Chalmers. He dismisses academic anti-management advice. And when it is all over the withdrawal symptoms are clear.Yet our generation can but wish for more personal detail. Here is a man who dealt with Einstein, Oppenheimer, Teller, etc plus USA presidents and politicians. Here is a disciplined management/military general who intersperses, perhaps surprisingly, at least six welcome humorous paragraphs. It matters not that the neutron waits 55 pages for a fleeting mention. But it is regretful that General Groves neglects his own background, his CV and prior knowledge of physics for example. We wait for the third last paragraph of the book to find:"When I was a boy, I lived with my father in a number of the Army posts that had sprung up during the Indian wars ... There I came to know many of the old soldiers and scouts who devoted their active lives to winning the West. And as I listened to the story of their deeds, I grew somewhat dismayed, wondering what was left for me to do now that the West was won." Yet he does not mention that his father was a military pastor.There is sadly no feeling for the inter-relationships between Groves and Oppenheimer who he appointed while "thoroughly familiar with everything that had been reported about [him]" but gives no detail. How theoretical physics cascaded down to management requirements. Or even why 1250 tons of uranium ore had been previously mined in the Belgium Congo. What for? And finally why two bombs, U235 and plutonium, were necessary to end the war and save lives rather than one.In comparison, Groves gives satisfying detail in describing the reaction of captured German physicists - including Otto Hahn and Werner Heisenberg - to the news "If they have really got it, they must have been very clever in keeping it a secret" ... "That shows the Americans are capable of real co-operation on a tremendous scale".

Bought as I’ve had a (morbid?) fascination with the Manhattan Project since visiting Los Alamos over 30 years ago and it’s been rekindled by the news Christopher Nolan is to make a film about Oppenheimer, the father of the A bomb. Whilst Oppenheimer is the name most associated with Manhattan it was Leslie Groves that ran the whole project including setting up the massive infrastructure required to produce the minuscule amounts of atomic material required to make the bomb. He wasn’t a scientist but he was able to recruit, organise and motivate staff, and clearly had influence in the corridors of power in Washington and without this ability the bomb ( for good or bad…) might not have been made in the timescale it was. His style is a bit flat but the story is fascinating, and gives a wider perspective about the project beyond Los Alamos. A couple of interesting (to me) points; the book avoids any technical details of the two bombs, presumably as these were still secret at the time of writing; and a whole section is given over to what I assume was a controversial decision to destroy some cyclotrons in Japan after the war, which means nothing to me and probably not to most recent readers. What holds the attention reading this is that it’s written by the person responsible for driving the success of the project, as much as Oppenheimer.

¨This excellent book is the story of the Manhattan Project written by the man who was in charge. General Groves gives an in depth and very interesting account of how he got involved with the project, how they managed to achieve this scientific breakthrough and how they solved all the problems along the way. Although Groves is neither a professional writer or historian this book is well written and quite interesting. For anyone interested in history its well worth reading. Its only about the project itself so if you want to learn more about Groves himself i can highly recommend the book Racing For The Bomb by Robert S.Norris which is a biography of General Groves.It also covers the Manhattan Project

Brilliant insight into managing a massive, complex, ambiguous and constantly-changing project

This autobiographical account of one massive engineering project, from the man at the top, puts even Apollo in the shade.Oppenheimer described the science challenge and Gen. Groves gives us the engineers' view, and a remarkable first-hand description of the Trinity test.

Excellent true story