Jewish People

Often referred to as the "father of the atomic bomb", physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer directed atomic bomb development at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. The top-secret work at Los Alamos culminated in Trinity, the world's first successful nuclear test on July 16, 1945. Learn more about Oppenheimer's role in developing the atomic bomb at the link.

Although Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a very talented theoretical physicist and was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to nuclear and hydrogen weapons at the Los Alamos Laboratory, it was not science for which he is most remembered during and after the Manhattan Project. It was espionage.

Bessie Altman Kosman was a survivor. An entrepreneur, inventor, mother, sister, daughter, and wife, she rose from tragedy and struggle to success.

Julius Rosenwald, one of the most important and socially impactful sons of Springfield, Illinois, is also one of the least known. The man who grew up in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln became the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, eventually amassing a fortune, most of which he dedicated to helping those who faced the injustices of a racially divided America.

Edward Teller is often referred to as the father of the hydrogen bomb. Prior to the hydrogen bomb’s creation in 1951, Teller worked for the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and was influential in urging President Roosevelt to create the project. Read more about Teller’s life and work at the link.

For decades, the name “Einstein” has been connected with genius and science. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is best known for his work with relativity and quantum mechanics. His physics theories played a large part in the work of the Manhattan Project, but he never worked for the project.

Physicist Leo Szilard contributed to the "Einstein Letter", warning President Roosevelt of Nazi Germany's attempt to create an atomic weapon. During the Manhattan Project, Szilard became chief physicist at the University of Chicago's Met Lab. Learn more about Leo Szilard, including his aversion to using the atomic bomb, at the link.

As part of the war effort Hans Bethe worked on a theory of armor penetration, with Edward Teller clarified shock-wave theory, and worked on radar at the Radiation Laboratory. When he was invited to Los Alamos as part of the Manhattan Project, he became head of the Theoretical Division. There he worked on aspects of implosion and radiation propagation, and, with Richard Feynman, calculated explosive yields.

In 1940 Isidor Rabi became associate director of the Rad Lab at MIT, working with radar. He strongly believed it was critical to the war effort, and when Robert Oppenheimer offered him the position of associate director at the Los Alamos site of the Manhattan Project, he turned it down. But like others including E.O. Lawrence and Niels Bohr, he visited Los Alamos often as a consultant. He was present at the Trinity Test.

Charles and Hester Freeman Meehan were an interracial couple from Canada. They met at the age of eight and were childhood sweethearts. In 1875 they were married in Raleigh Township, Ontario considered by many to be a mecca for people escaping enslavement. Between 1902 and 1907, the Meehan family and several other Canada-Nebraska black homesteaders left for Cherry County. They settled near Brownlee, Nebraska where Charles and his oldest sons filed homestead claims.