The Manhattan Project

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The Manhattan Project

• A look at Project
• Managements Origins

Presented by Team Awesome
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What was the Manhattan Project?

• The US Governments secret project to research,
  develop, and test an atomic weapon.

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Scope Management of the Manhattan Project
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Scope

• Research and Develop an Atomic Bomb
• Uranium-235/Plutonium
• Scientists
• Resources
• Packaging

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Scope

• A huge undertaking like no other.
• Production of ample amounts of "enriched" uranium
  to sustain a chain reaction .

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Scope

• Scientists

Robert Oppenheimer
Enrico Fermi
Albert Einstein
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Scope

• Resources
• Money
• Buildings/Sites
• Oak Ridge and Hanford Laboratories
• Los Alamos, NM
• Materials

Oak Ridge Facility
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Scope

• Complete and Test the Bomb

The two bombs. "Little Boy" is seen on the left,
and "Fat Man" is seen on the right
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Time Management of the Manhattan Project
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Germans had an early lead

• Originally the Manhattan Project was a race
  against the Germans to be the first to make an
  atom bomb
• In 1938 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann's
  discovery of fission steered Germany toward
  developing an atomic weapon. This motivated the
  U.S. to launch the Manhattan Project
• By 1941, the Germans were leading the race for
  the atomic bomb
• Germans had a heavy-water plant, high-grade
  uranium compounds, a nearly complete cyclotron,
  capable scientists and engineers, and the
  greatest chemical engineering industry in the
  world

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WWII Slows German Research

• Time became an ever increasing factor in the
  Manhattan Project
• As WWII continued, many factors including
  internal struggles, scientific errors, and the
  destruction from war limited any successful
  research toward a German atom bomb
• Unlike the American program, the Germans never
  had a clear mission under continuously unified
  leadership

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The Project Succeeds

• From the creation of the Manhattan Engineer
  District in 1941, time was more important than
  any other metric
• July 16, 1945 - At 52945 a.m. the first atom
  bomb, Gadget, is exploded at Los Alamos
• August 6, 1945 Little Boy is dropped over
  Hiroshima
• August 9, 1945 Fat Man is dropped over Nagasaki
• September 2, 1945 Japan surrenders

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Cost Management of the Manhattan Project
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Cost

• Initially 6,000 was invested
• The entire project cost totaled 1.9 billion
• 20 Billion now (1996)
• Approximately 12.7 of ammunitions for WW2

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How the money was spent
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Project Management in the Manhattan Project
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Project/Program Manager

• Leslie Richard Groves
• Lieutenant General,
• United States Army
• In command of the Manhattan Project
• 10b experience in construction projects
  including the Pentagon

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Groves understood the challenge

• Groves asked for what he needed, and got what he
  asked for
• Overtook all other programs in priority
• Virtually unlimited money available
• Limited only by how quickly the program could
  find qualified personnel

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Insisted unity of PMs

• January 11, 1944 - An implosion theory group is
  set up with Teller as head.
• May, 1944 -Teller is removed as head of the
  implosion theory group, and also from fission
  weapon research entirely, due to conflicts with
  Bethe and his increasing obsession with the idea
  of the Super (hydrogen bomb).

Source http//www.childrenofthemanhattanproject.o
rg/MP_Misc/atomic_timeline_2.htm
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Redundant, parallel RD

• All promising solutions were pursued
  simultaneously
• Prevented unexpected problems from affecting
  critical path
• When the best solution became apparent, other
  solutions were frozen
• Example implosion vs. gun technique to use for
  detonation

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Aggressive Timelines

• Any timeline is better than no timeline
• No one knew exactly how long RD would take, but
  through building a timeline the critical path
  could be assessed
• Refining Plutonium and Uranium was on the
  critical path
• Other components were prepared during refining
  process

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References

• http//www.childrenofthemanhattanproject.org/MP_Mi
  sc/atomic_timeline_2.htm
• http//inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa050300
  a.htm?rd1
• http//www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/th
  e.bomb/history.science/
• http//www.me.utexas.edu/uer/manhattan/index.html
  
• http//www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/FP/PROJECTS/NUCWCO
  ST/MANHATTN.HTM
• http//www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lggroves.htm