#103 The Manhattan Project: Visions of a Nuclear Future, Dr. Marty Sherwin
The Not Old - Better Show
Paul Vogelzang
4.7 • 106 Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2017
⏱️ 14 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Manhattan Project: Visions of a Nuclear Future, Dr. Marty Sherwin
Art of Living series, Smithsonian Associates
In 1939, the world's scientific community began a desperate race against an imagined German project to unlock the process of splitting a uranium atom. Under a cloak of secrecy, the Manhattan Project—code name for the 1941 wartime initiative to develop nuclear weapons—began. The next year, a group of physicists produced the first nuclear chain reaction under the grandstands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. This success generated a renewed sense of urgency, and nuclear facilities were built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Our guest today, Dr Martin J. Sherwin, professor of history at George Mason University explores the history and legacy of this world-changing mission. He is the author of Destroyed: Hiroshima and its Legacies, and co-author with Kai Bird of Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Enjoy.
Talk About Better™ The Not Old Better Show on Radio & Podcast!
Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Not of a Better Show on you host Paul Vogel Singh. |
| 0:05.0 | Today's show is an important one. |
| 0:07.0 | It's timely and as part of our Smithsonian Associates Partnership Program, |
| 0:12.0 | our guest today is Dr. Marty Sherwin. |
| 0:15.1 | Dr. Sherwin is a Cold War era politics, diplomacy, and cultural expert. |
| 0:21.8 | Dr. Sherwin will be presenting on these wide-ranging subjects, |
| 0:25.7 | along with his work on the Manhattan Project, |
| 0:28.2 | May 17, 2017, Washington, D.C. |
| 0:32.3 | at the Ripley Center. For ticket information please check out our |
| 0:36.4 | website not old better or Smithsonian Associates.org. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Marty Sherwin to the shirt. |
| 0:47.0 | We are with Dr. Marty Sherman and Marty. |
| 0:51.0 | Thanks so much for joining us today on the Smithsonian Associates program. |
| 0:56.0 | My pleasure, Paul. |
| 0:58.0 | It's really great to talk to you. |
| 1:00.0 | I think this is such an interesting subject. |
| 1:02.0 | You're of course going to be talking about the Manhattan Project. |
| 1:05.2 | I think it's just going to be fascinating for the audience of the Smithsonian |
| 1:09.1 | to hear more about this. |
| 1:10.5 | But I think, kind of let's start at the start, Marty. Tell us a little bit about your work. about this |
| 1:15.0 | but I think kind of let's start at the start Marty tell us a little bit about your work well I've |
| 1:16.0 | concentrated since the days of my dissertation on the on the impact of nuclear weapons on American society |
| 1:28.6 | culture uh... foreign policy uh... and so on uh... began with a book uh... called |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Paul Vogelzang, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Paul Vogelzang and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.