November - December 2000 Newsletter

Volume I - Issue 6

This newsletter is sponsored by the Society for the Historical Preservation of the Manhattan Project (http://www.manhattanprojectmemorial.org and the Children of the Manhattan Project (http://home.att.net/~cotmp)

Topics covered in this issue:

1)  Site Statistics for the First Year

2)  Introducing eGroups

3)  Site URL Change

4)  Looking for Quotes

5)  Question of the Month

6)  New Message Board Community

7)  Questions from Visitors to our Site

8)  What's Ahead?

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who visited our web sites during the past year. I apologize for being somewhat lax over the past 5 or 6 months, but pressing issues elsewhere required almost all of our attention.

Now that we enter the new Millenium (for real this time), we have renewed wind in our sails and look forward to many additions and improvements to our sites. I hope that the year 2001 brings good fortune to each of you and your families...

1)  Site Statistics for the year 2000...

It's amazing what a little publicity will do. During the past 6 months we have succeeded in rising to near the top in many of the major Internet search engines including AOL, NBCi, Google, Yahoo, and NorthernLights. This has resulted in us finishing the year with close to 4,000 visitors and 12,000 page hits. In addition, we had 56 foreign visitors in December from 20 different countries including New Zealand, Croatia, Samoa, and Israel.

Many thanks to Dan Meeks, the webmaster for General Paul Tibbet's web site "The Enola Gay" (http://theenolagay.com), for including links to both of our web sites.  As always, we continue to receive many visitors from Tom Lynch's web site at New Mexico State University.  Thanks again, Tom! (http://web.nmsu.edu/tomlynch/swlit.losalamos.html).

2)  Introducing eGroups.com...

eGroups is a service of Yahoo.com and distributes our newsletters via e-mail.  Please enter your e-mail address in the eGroup box at the bottom of this page if you wish to receive our newsletters via e-mail.

3)  Site URL Name Change...

We have recently changed the URL address of the Manhattan Project Memorial web site from box1663.org to manhattanprojectmemorial.org. Also, we have moved the site to a new Hosting Service because we ran out of disk space. We now have 50MB of available space at our disposal which will allow us to exhibit many more photos in the upcoming months.

4)  Looking for Quotes...

We have received many favorable comments on the monthly quotes that we have included in these newsletters. If you know of an appropriate quote that would be of interest to our readers, please e-mail them to Joseph Calabrese ( j_calabrese@angelfire.com)

5)  Question of the Month (repeated from our previous newsletter)...

Each month we will include a question concerning some little known factoid about the Manhattan Project.  The correct answer will be included in the following month's newsletter. 

Last Month's Question - What Device was Code-Named "Jumbo"? 

Answer:  "A steel pressure vessel that was constructed and delivered to the Trinity site to contain the Plutonium 236 in case the implosion (fat man prototype) device did not work. It was never used. "Comment:  Everyone associated with the Manhattan Project realized that at some point a satisfactory "test" would have to be conducted.  The first formal arrangements were made in March 1944 with the formation, in George Kistaikowsky's Explosives Division, of group X-2 under the leadership of Kenneth T. Bainbridge.  With doubt and uncertainty hanging over the project throughout 1944 it is not surprising that one of the first and most heavily emphasized efforts in the test preparations was planning for the recovery of active material (PU-236) in case the nuclear explosion failed to take place.  One idea put forth that was criticized by many was for the design and construction of a giant steel vessel that would envelop the "gadget" and prevent the loss of the Plutonium should the test fail.  J. Robert Oppenheimer, in a letter to Groves, wrote: "...the probability that the reaction would not shatter the container is extremely small.  "Nevertheless, the vessel, dubbed "Jumbo", was built by Babcock &Wilcox in Ohio. It measured 25 feet long and was 12 feet in diameter with 14 inch thick walls and weighing 214 tons. A special railroad flat car was constructed and several railroad bridges had to be reinforced to accommodate the load.  Finally, a specially built 64-wheel trailer was used to carry Jumbo from the Santa Fe Railroad siding at Pope, NM across the desert to White Sands, NM.  This was in May of 1945.  Jumbo was never used.  If you know why it wasn't used, please let us know..

January Question of the Month:

Fuller Lodge was where visitors to the Los Alamos site often stayed while on assignment to the Manhattan Project.  One room at the lodge was referred to as "The Throne Room Suite". Why was this room so named?  If you know the answer, please e-mail us back at  j_calabrese@angelfire.com

6.  New Message Boards...

Message Boards are becoming very popular because they provide a convenient forum for individuals with similar interests to converse with each other on the Internet.

We have initiated a new Message Board service that will eventually be one of the cornerstones to the overall success of the web site and our mission to locate Manhattan Project veterans and learn more about this unique time in our country's history.

To get the ball rolling, we have set up 10 initial discussion "topics". We can set up many more based upon feedback from you. The 10 topics on the message board are:

a)  General Discussion

b)  Suggestions and Comments About Web Site

c)  A Meeting Place for Visitors From Countries Other Than USA

d)  Help us Locate Manhattan Project Veterans

e)  Little Known Facts About the Manhattan Project

f)  Fact or Fiction? Your Input Please

g) Manhattan Project Photos

h)  Manhattan Project Documents

i)  The Bombing of Hiroshima - Right or Wrong

j)  The 509th Composite Group

If you do nothing else with respect to our web site, I encourage each of you to visit the Message Board center ("click" on message boards on the home page of both of our web sites). When there, post a message or comment under one or more of the topics above. For instance, if you are looking for more information about a friend or loved one who worked on the Manhattan Project, post your question under "Help us Locate Manhattan Project Veterans".

7) Questions form Visitors to Our Site...

We are constantly receiving inquiries about various individuals and/or events involving the Manhattan Project.  Each month we will select two for inclusion in our newsletter.  

Request #1 - Our first request comes from Nicholson Baker - He states: I'm working on a book about libraries and I'm trying to gather some information about one Joseph C. Morris, a Vice President of Tulane in the 60s, who (according to an article in the New Orleans Times picayune and assuming its the same Joseph Morris of Tulane), worked on the Manhattan Project.  Here for your information is the passage from the Times Picayune Article: "It was the product of a three-year, $2 billion effort known as the Manhattan Project. With contributions from some of the leading thinkers of the era, the project involved thousands of scientists and engineers, among them physicists Rose Mooney of Newcomb College and Joseph Morris of Tulane University.  The work, which was top secret up and down the line, was driven by a race with the Germans, who were headed in the same direction. ""ONE PLANE ONE BOMB ONE CITY," by ELIZABETH MULLENER, New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 6, 1995 Sunday, A1.  Do you by any chance have any listing for Joseph C. Morris or any other information about him?  Many thanks for any pointers, and congratulations on the excellent websites.

Request #2 - Our second request comes from Mike Lechuga - He states: Can you e-mail me the formula for the atomic bomb?

8) What's Ahead...

Over the next few months we will be totally revising the Children of the Manhattan Project web site as well as uploading as many as 100 photos to both of our web sites.

Please give us your suggestions for making this the most informative site dealing with the Manhattan Project on the Internet

Thank you very much for your continued interest...

Joseph Calabrese e-mail: j_calabrese@angelfire.com