Atomic Women
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Chapter Five: IN EXILE
Some texts describing Lise Meitner’s discovery of nuclear fission are better than others. The ones below detail not only her scientific contribution to the field but also her life in exile in Sweden; her relationship with Otto Hahn and her Berlin group; her relationship with her nephew, Otto Frisch, which she valued; and how she felt upon realizing what her monumental discovery would mean for the scientific world at large.
Crawford, Deborah. Lise Meitner, Atomic Pioneer. New York: Crown, 1969.
Frisch, Otto. Oral history interview by Thomas S. Kuhn, May 3, 1967, transcript. American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives. http://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4616.
. What Little I Remember. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Frisch, O. R. “Lise Meitner, 1878–1968.” Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society 16 (1970): 405–20.
Hahn, Otto. Otto Hahn: A Scientific Autobiography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966.
Sime, Ruth Lewin. “Lise Meitner and the Discovery of Fission.” Journal of Chemical Education 66 (1989): 373–75.
. “Lise Meitner in Sweden 1938–1969: Exile from Physics.” American Journal of Physics 62 (1994): 695–701.
. Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Taton, René, ed. History of Science: Science in the Twentieth Century. Translated by A. J. Pomerans. New York: Basic Books, 1966.
Watkins, Sallie A. “Lise Meitner (1878–1968).” In Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Edited by Louise S. Grinstein, Rose K. Rose, and Miriam H. Rafailovich. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Weeks, Mary Elvira. Discovery of the Elements. 6th ed. Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education, 1956.
Chapter Six: A SECRET PROJECT
A number of adult books cover Otto Frisch’s reaction to his aunt’s discovery, Enrico Fermi’s reaction and future plans to use fission, and the use of uranium, as well as the kernel of the idea for the Manhattan Project. Here is a brief list of helpful works I consulted:
Compton, Arthur Holly. Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Frisch, Otto. What Little I Remember. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Groueff, Stephane. Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the Making of the Atomic Bomb. Boston: Little, Brown, 1967.
Groves, Leslie R. Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. New York: Harper, 1962.
Lanouette, William. Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2013.
Segrè, Gino, and Bettina Hoerlin. The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age. New York: Henry Holt, 2016.
Toomey, Elizabeth. The Manhattan Project at Hanford Site. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015.
Truslow, Edith C. Manhattan District History: Nonscientific Aspects of Los Alamos Project Y 1942 through 1946. Edited by Kasha V. Thayer. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1991.
Wilson, Jane, ed. All in Our Time: The Reminiscences of Twelve Nuclear Pioneers. Chicago: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1975.
Chapter Seven: TWO OF A KIND
To learn more about the pioneering scientist Maria Goeppert-Mayer, her life in Germany, her meeting Joseph Mayer, and her work in the United States, please look up the following:
Dash, Joan. A Life of One’s Own: Three Gifted Women and the Men They Married. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
Ferry, Joseph P. Maria Goeppert Mayer: Physicist. Women in Science. Langhorne, PA: Chelsea House, 2003.
Gosling, F. G. The Manhattan Project: Science in the Second World War. Energy History Series. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy, 1990.
Hoddeson, Lillian, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade, Catherine Westfall, Gordon Baym, Richard Hewlett, Alison Kerr, Robert Penneman, Leslie Redman, and Robert Seidel. Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Howes, Ruth H., and Caroline L. Herzenberg. “Women of the Manhattan Project.” Technology Review 96, no. 8 (1993): 32–40.
Rempel, Trudy D. “Maria Gertrude Goeppert Mayer (1906–1972).” In Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Edited by Louise S. Grinstein, Rose K. Rose, and Miriam H. Rafailovich. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Sachs, Robert G. “Maria Goeppert Mayer.” In Biographical Memoirs 50, 310–28. National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1979.
Chapter Eight: THE GENERAL AND THE SCIENTIST
Much has been written about General Leslie Groves’s involvement with the Manhattan Project. Much has also been made of his relationship with J. Robert Oppenheimer. Some helpful information can be found in these texts:
Compton, Arthur Holly. Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Graf, William L. Plutonium and the Rio Grande: Environmental Change and Contamination in the Nuclear Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Greenbaum, Leonard. A Special Interest: The Atomic Energy Commission, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Midwestern Universities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1971.
Groves, Leslie R. Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. New York: Harper, 1962.
Hawkins, David. Manhattan District History Project Y, the Los Alamos Project. Vol. 1, Inception Until August 1946. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory of the University of California, 1961.
Kelly, Cynthia C., ed. Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009.
Lawren, William. The General and the Bomb: A Biography of Leslie R. Groves, Director of the Manhattan Project. New York: Dodd Mead, 1988.
Nichols, K. D. The Road to Trinity. New York: William Morrow, 1987.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review 25, nos. 3 and 4. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1992.
Sanger, S. L., and Robert W. Mull. Hanford and the Bomb: An Oral History of World War II. Seattle: Living History Press, 1990.
Chapter Nine: AMERICAN LIFE
On the Mayers’ home life in America, Maria Mayer’s work in Baltimore, and her eventual work for the Manhattan Project, please refer to the following:
Bailey, Martha J. American Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary. Denver: ABC-CLIO, 1998.
Dash, Joan. A Life of One’s Own: Three Gifted Women and the Men They Married. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
Ferry, Joseph P. Maria Goeppert Mayer: Physicist. Women in Science. Langhorne, PA: Chelsea House, 2003.
Howes, Ruth H., and Caroline L. Herzenberg. “Women in Weapons Development: The Manhattan Project.” In Women and the Use of Military Force. Edited by Ruth H. Howes and Michael R. Stevenson. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1993.
Kelly, Cynthia C. Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009.
McNulty, William. “World’s Most Famed Scientists, En Route to Los Alamos Project, Go Through Ancient City Office.” Santa Fe New Mexican, May 10, 1946.
Rayner-Canham, M. F., and G. W. Rayner-Canham. “Pioneer Women in Nuclear Science.” American Journal of Physics 58 (1990): 1036–43.
Sachs, Robert G. “Maria Goeppert Mayer.” In Biographical Memoirs 50, 310–28. National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1979.
Taton, René, ed. History of Science: Science in the Twentieth Century. Translated by A. J. Pomerans. New York: Basic Books, 1964.
Wilson, Jane, ed. All in Our Time: The Reminiscences of Twelve Nuclear Pioneers. Chicago: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1975.
Chapter Ten: RECRUITING
On Joan Hinton’s involvement in the Manhattan Project, pleas
e consult some of the following:
Bailey, Martha J. American Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary. Denver: ABC-CLIO, 1998.
Gibson, Toni Michnovicz, and Jon Michnovicz. Los Alamos: 1944–1947. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Los Alamos: Beginning of an Era, 1943–1945. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 2008.
Manley, Kathleen E. B. “Women of Los Alamos During World War II: Some of Their Views.” New Mexico Historical Review 65, no. 2 (1990): 252–66.
McKibbon, Dorothy. “109 East Palace.” In Standing By and Making Do: Women of Wartime Los Alamos. Edited by Jane Wilson and Charlotte Serber. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1988.
McNulty, William. “World’s Most Famed Scientists, En Route to Los Alamos Project, Go Through Ancient City Office.” Santa Fe New Mexican, May 10, 1946.
Shroyer, Jo Ann. Secret Mesa: Inside Los Alamos National Laboratory. New York: Wiley, 1997.
Ulam, S. M. Adventures of a Mathematician. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976.
Wilson, Jane S., and Charlotte Serber, eds. Standing By and Making Do: Women of Wartime Los Alamos. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1988.
Chapter Eleven: LEONA
For additional information on Leona Woods, her meeting with John Marshall, and her meeting with Enrico Fermi and involvement with the Chicago Met Lab, please read the following:
Compton, Arthur Holly. Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Fermi, Laura. Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954.
Folkart, Burt A. “Leona Marshall Libby Dies; Sole Woman to Work on Fermi’s 1st Nuclear Reactor.” Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1986.
Libby, Leona Marshall. The Uranium People. New York: Crane, Russak, 1979.
Segrè, Gino, and Bettina Hoerlin. The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age. New York: Henry Holt, 2016.
Chapter Twelve: COWORKERS
On Natalie Goldowski, please see the following sources:
Brown, Anthony Cave, and Charles B. MacDonald. The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Dial, 1977.
Compton, Arthur Holly. The Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Gosling, F. G. The Manhattan Project: Science in the Second World War. Energy History Series. Washington, DC: US Department of Energy, 1990.
Howes, Ruth H., and Caroline L. Herzenberg. “Women of the Manhattan Project.” Technology Review 96, no. 8 (1993): 32–40.
Libby, Leona Marshall. The Uranium People. New York: Crane, Russak, 1979.
Nichols, K. D. The Road to Trinity. New York: William Morrow, 1987.
Chapter Thirteen: THE REACTOR
For information on Joan Hinton and Los Alamos, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s involvement there, Leona Woods’s visit, the Technical Area, Enrico Fermi’s arrival, the handling of the plutonium, and the incident Joan Hinton described, please refer to the following:
Fermi, Laura. Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954.
. “The Fermis’ Path to Los Alamos.” In Reminiscences of Los Alamos 1943–1945. Edited by Lawrence Badash, Joseph O. Hirschfelder, and Herbert P. Broida. Studies in the History of Modern Science. Dordrecht, Netherlands, and Boston: D. Reidel, 1980.
Graf, William L. Plutonium and the Rio Grande: Environmental Change and Contamination in the Nuclear Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Groves, Leslie R. Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. New York: Harper, 1962.
Hoddeson, Lillian, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade, Catherine Westfall, Gordon Baym, Richard Hewlett, Alison Kerr, Robert Penneman, Leslie Redman, and Robert Seidel. Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Libby, Leona Marshall. The Uranium People. New York: Crane, Russak, 1979.
Shroyer, Jo Ann. Secret Mesa: Inside Los Alamos National Laboratory. New York: Wiley, 1997.
Ulam, S. M. Adventures of a Mathematician. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976.
Wilson, Jane S., and Charlotte Serber, eds. Standing By and Making Do: Women of Wartime Los Alamos. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1988.
Chapter Fourteen: DIZ
Information on Elizabeth “Diz” Graves and the Los Alamos site can be found in the following:
Bailey, Martha J. American Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary. Denver: ABC-CLIO, 1994.
Groves, Leslie R. Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. New York: Harper, 1962.
Hoddeson, Lillian, Paul W. Henriksen, Roger A. Meade, Catherine Westfall, Gordon Baym, Richard Hewlett, Alison Kerr, Robert Penneman, Leslie Redman, and Robert Seidel. Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Lamont, Lansing. Day of Trinity. New York: Scribner, 1965.
Manley, Kathleen E. B. “Women of Los Alamos During World War II: Some of Their Views.” New Mexico Historical Review (1990): 251–66.
Wilson, Jane S., and Charlotte Serber, eds. Standing By and Making Do: Women of Wartime Los Alamos. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1988.
Chapter Fifteen: THE PROFESSOR AND THE APPRENTICE
On Leona Woods, her relationship with Enrico Fermi and Fermi’s wife, Laura, and the Chicago Met Lab, please refer to the following:
Compton, Arthur Holly. Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Fermi, Laura. Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954.
Folkart, Burt A. “Leona Marshall Libby Dies; Sole Woman to Work on Fermi’s 1st Nuclear Reactor.” Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1986.
Howes, Ruth H., and Caroline L. Herzenberg. “Women in Weapons Development: The Manhattan Project.” In Women and the Use of Military Force. Edited by Ruth H. Howes and Michael R. Stevenson. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1993.
Libby, Leona Marshall. The Uranium People. New York: Crane, Russak, 1979.
Nichols, K. D. The Road to Trinity. New York: William Morrow, 1987.
Chapter Sixteen: CHICAGO PILE-1
On Enrico Fermi, Leona Woods, the experiment beneath the University of Chicago stadium, the bottle of Chianti, Arthur Compton’s decision to test the pile at the university, and the subsequent work in the Argonne Forest and at the Hanford site, please refer to the following:
Butler, Margaret, Caroline L. Herzenberg, and Jane Andrew. Women in Scientific and Technical Positions at Argonne National Laboratory—Women and Argonne, Partners in Science: Five Decades of Memories and Meaning: 1946–1996.
Compton, Arthur Holly. Atomic Quest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Fermi, Laura. Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954.
Gibson, Elizabeth. Richland, Washington. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Greenbaum, Leonard. A Special Interest: The Atomic Energy Commission, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Midwestern Universities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1971.
Groves, Leslie R. Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. New York: Harper, 1962.
Libby, Leona Marshall. The Uranium People. New York: Crane, Russak, 1979.
Toomey, Elizabeth. The Manhattan Project at Hanford Site. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015.
Chapter Seventeen: THE LOS ALAMOS VISIT
On Maria Goeppert-Mayer’s visit to Los Alamos and her ambiguous feelings about building the bomb, the following have been helpful:
Conant, Jennet. 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Dash, Joan. A Life of One’s Own: Three Gifted Women and the Men They Marrie
d. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.
Ferry, Joseph P. Maria Goeppert Mayer: Physicist. Women in Science. Langhorne, PA: Chelsea House, 2003.
Gibson, Toni Michnovicz, and Jon Michnovicz. Los Alamos: 1944–1947. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
Hunner, Jon. Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth of an Atomic Community. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
Rempel, Trudy D. “Maria Gertrude Goeppert Mayer (1906–1972).” In Women in Chemistry and Physics: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Edited by Louise S. Grinstein, Rose K. Rose, and Miriam H. Rafailovich. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Sachs, Robert G. “Maria Goeppert Mayer.” In Biographical Memoirs 50, 310–28. National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1979.
Wilson, Jane S., and Charlotte Serber, eds. Standing By and Making Do: Women of Wartime Los Alamos. Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1988.
Chapter Eighteen: COMING TO AMERICA
On Elizabeth Rona’s coming to America, Lise Meitner’s memories, Rona’s life in the United States, and the telegram she received from Brian O’Bryen, refer to the following:
Groueff, Stephane. Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the Making of the Atomic Bomb. Boston: Little, Brown, 1967.
Hampel, Clifford A., ed. The Encyclopedia of the Chemical Elements. New York: Reinhold, 1968.
Parkinson, Claire L. Breakthroughs: A Chronology of Great Achievements in Science and Mathematics, 1200–1930. London: Mansell, 1985.
Rona, Elizabeth. How It Came About: Radioactivity, Nuclear Physics, Atomic Energy. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge Associated Universities, 1978.