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Short Wave

The Science Of Atomic Bombs At The Heart Of 'Oppenheimer'

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 β€’ 6K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 11 March 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Coming down from the buzz of the Oscars, we're taking a look at Christopher Nolan's award-winning film 'Oppenheimer.' It chronicles the life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the so-called "Father of the Atomic Bomb." The movie does not shy away from science β€” and neither do we. We talked to current scientists at Los Alamos about the past and present science of nuclear weapons like the atomic bomb.

Read more about the Manhattan Project.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:08.5

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Try it for yourself at HubSpot.com

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slash sales. Before we begin we have a content warning. This episode talks about

0:19.8

the film Oppenheimer and acknowledges the death and destruction that resulted from the US dropping atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.

0:28.0

Here's our episode.

0:30.0

You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

0:35.0

In December 1938, scientists in Nazi Germany made a breakthrough that alarmed other scientists around the globe.

0:42.0

Like Leo Zillard, he was a Hungarian. that alarmed other scientists around the globe,

0:43.0

like Leo Zillard.

0:44.3

He was a Hungarian Jewish physicist living in the US.

0:47.6

And almost immediately, he and another physicist

0:49.9

Enrico Fermi set out to conduct independent experiments to confirm this breakthrough.

0:56.1

Nuclear Fission, the first piece of the atomic bomb puzzle.

0:59.8

It was possible.

1:01.7

Zillard became so worried that in August of the following year he wrote a letter

1:05.5

for his friend Albert Einstein to sign and send directly to the President of the United

1:09.9

States. The letter warned that, to create the advisory committee on uranium.

1:17.0

The letter prompted President Roosevelt to create the Advisory Committee on Uranium.

1:25.0

It would soon morph into a much bigger project, the Manhattan Project.

1:30.0

The Manhattan Project was a top secret program established during World War II to essentially

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