The Atomic Heritage Foundation (AHF), founded by Cynthia Kelly in 2002,
is a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, dedicated to the
preservation and interpretation of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic
Age and its legacy. The Foundation's goal is to provide the public not
only a better understanding of the past but also a basis for addressing
scientific, technical, political, social and ethical issues of the 21st
century.
We will follow the Federal government's decision on closing on Tuesday and Wednesday. If there is a Federal snow day on Tuesday, the National Park Service will cancel the meeting at the Old Post Office Pavilion. If there is a Federal snow day on Wednesday, the Atomic Heritage Foundation will cancel the meeting at Latham & Watkins. Otherwise, we will make every effort to be at Latham & Watkins at 9 AM on Wednesday.
Thanks for your patience. We'll be in touch and will keep you posted on our website.
Tennessee Governor Advocates Manhattan Project Park in Oak Ridge
In a letter to NPS Project Manager Carla McConnell dated 4 February 2010, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen urged the Park Service to withdraw its recommendation for a Manhattan Project National Historical Park located in Los Alamos, NM, and to present a new plan including Oak Ridge, TN, in a future park. Click here to read a copy of the letter.
The Atomic Heritage Foundation
910 17th Street, NW
Suite 408
Washington, DC 20006
202-293-0045 info@atomicheritage.org
Atomic Story of the Week
There were a lot of rumors about what was going on at Hanford. Everything was coming in, nothing was going out. And some people said, "Oh, that's a sandpaper factory. They hold up a glued sheet of paper and the dust coats it." Others said that the gigantic facilities rising from the desert were going to be FDR's winter place. At a show-and-tell session at school, a kid says, "I know what they're making. They're making toilet paper. My dad brings home two rolls in his lunch bucket everyday."
I remember an incident when one of the workers was leaving the plant with a bunch of copper wire wrapped around his waist. A patrolman noticed him, gave him a pat search and said, "Step over here, please." The rest of us went on. We never saw the guy again.
ROGER ROHRBACHER, HANFORD
Did You Know?
"We (the military leaders at Los Alamos) came up through kindergarten with them (the scientists). While they could put elaborate equations on the board, which we might not be able to follow in their entirety, when it came to what was so and what was probably so, we knew just about as much as they did. So when I say that we were responsible for the scientific decisions, I am not saying that we were extremely able nuclear physicists, because actually we were not. We were what might be termed "thoroughly" practical nuclear physicists." (General Leslie R. Groves, Commanding Officer, Manhattan Engineer District, 1955)
