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These two interviews provide a close look at the research conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratory during World War II. The interviewees are both former physics professors at Indiana University who were heavily involved with the Manhattan Project. They reveal the circumstances surrounding their involvement and discuss the Los Alamos Laboratory in detail including many of the personalities present, such as Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller.
| Interviewee: | Konopinski, Emil Jan |
| Call number: | 82-061 |
| Date(s) of Interview: | September 7, 1982 |
| Physical Description: | 39 pp.; 2 tapes, 1 7/8 ips, 105 minutes; no index |
| Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
| Access Status: | Open |
| Interviewer: | Sellers, Vincent |
Emil Konopinksi, born in Michigan City, Indiana in 1911, discusses his involvement with the Manhattan Project during World War II. He begins by speaking of his early education and how he came to Indiana University as a physics professor. He explains how the committee in Los Alamos came to be and reflects on some of the personalities working to build the atom and hydrogen bombs. Dr. Konopinski reveals his major contributions to the project, such as the development of the first hydrogen bomb and his grasp of scientific theory. He reflects on how the war has changed physics and comments on the nuclear arms race.
Atomic Energy Commission
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Bethe, Hans
Compton, Arthur
Fermi, Enrico
Fuchs, Klaus
Oppenheimer, Julius Robert
Serber, Robert
Teller, Edward
Los Alamos, New Mexico
nuclear physicist
physics professor
World War II
astrophysics
atomic bomb
hydrogen bomb
laboratory security
nuclear arms race
nuclear theory
| Interviewee: | Langer, Lawrence M. |
| Call number: | 82-060 |
| Date(s) of Interview: | August 25, 1982 |
| Physical Description: | 35 pp.; 2 tapes, 1 7/8 ips, 100 minutes; no index |
| Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
| Access Status: | Open |
| Interviewer: | Sellers, Vincent |
Lawrence Langer, born in 1913 and a former physics professor at Indiana University, discusses his involvement building the Hiroshima atomic bomb. He talks about completing his schooling during the Great Depression and the circumstances surrounding his arrival at Indiana University. Dr. Langer reflects on his contribution to the Manhattan Project as an experimental physicist.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Alvarez, Luis
Fermi, Enrico
Konopinski, Emil Jan
Mitchell, Alan
Oppenheimer, Julius Robert
Tinian
experimental physicist
physics professor
Enola Gay
Great Depression
Hiroshima bomb
Nagasaki bomb
World War II
cyclotron