On February 14-15, 2013, AHF hosted a workshop funded by the National Science Foundation, "Transforming the Relationship between Science and Society: Interpreting the Manhattan Project." The workshop featured experts in the humanities and informal science learning, representatives from Manhattan Project museums, the National Park Service and Department of Energy.
The workshop considered recent scholarship about the Manhattan Project and issues of science and society raised by the development of the atomic bomb. The workshop's goals were to advance interdisciplinary approaches and generate recommendations for the development of exhibits, programs and media about the Manhattan Project and its relevance to the 21st Century. The participants grappled with presenting issues raised by science in the context of history, society and culture.
Thanks to excellent presentations by the participants and the spirited discussions that ensued, we have a clearer idea of the issues that should be addressed. Presentations included analyses of successful exhibitions around the country; the scholarly debate among historians about the decision to drop the bomb; the moral responsibilities of scientists; the culture of secrecy and the Manhattan Project; and the Cold War.
We have uploaded video of all the presentations and some of the discussions to our YouTube page: AHF Workshop: Interpreting the Manhattan Project. We have also transcribed the entirety of the workshop; to download the transcript, click here.
In an informal evening session, National Park Service (NPS) officials engaged participants in a discussion of the challenges of interpreting the controversial history of the Manhattan Project. Stephanie Toothman, NPS Associate Director for Cultural Resources, and Julia Washburn, NPS Associate Director for Interpretation and Education, talked about history as a dynamic, ongoing process of discovery, with no single "accurate" version. At the Manhattan Project sites, visitors will be provided with multiple perspectives and asked to draw their own conclusions.
The workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation's Informal Science Education program in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and the Science, Technology and Society Program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).
The Atomic Heritage Foundation will be partnering with leading science and history museums to develop plans for a national traveling exhibit. The goal is to have an exhibition ready for the 75th anniversary of the Manhattan Project in 2017.