Oppenheimer, Frank, 132, 135
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 37n, 38, 39
and 1942 conference, 93, 96, 127
1943 meeting with Teller, 43
at 1954 hearing, 153–154
his “frustrated gratitude,” 147
as GAC chairman, 106
GAC special role on, 40
at June 1951 meeting, 152–153
relation to Teller, 107
and September 1950 GAC meeting, 106–108
as wartime head of Project Y, 97
Otowi Mesa, 74
P. O. Box 451, 142
Packard, 72
Pakistan in nuclear club, 184
Palmer Physical Lab, 129, 135
paper tape input, 168
Parcheesi, 89
Parry Island, 179
Pasadena, California, 124
patents, 52, 53n, 90–91, 99
Pauli exclusion principle, 60
Pearl Harbor, 96–97
Pennington, Ralph, 141, 173
Pension Domecq, 30
photons, 68
Pike, Sumner, 41, 152n
“pile,” 97
Planck, Miriam, 84–85, 105, 106, 148
plasma, 9, 100, 101
plasma physics, 134
plug boards, 149
plutonium, 59
plutonium-239, 110, 157
PM-B-37. See Matterhorn, final report of
polonium, 46
Pond, Ashley, 85
Princeton Junction, 143, 152
“Princeton physics,” 89, 123
Princeton University, 55, 120
1950 Wheeler visit to, 34
approves Matterhorn, 169
graduate work at, 24–27
and military research, 121
programming, 148
Project Matterhorn. See Matterhorn
Project Y, 94, 97
Pupin Hall, 95
Q clearance, xiii, 79, 136
quadrupole moments, 28
Quakers, 186
qualifying exam, 24
quantum mechanics
course in, 134, 138
fundamentals of, 133, 135
Rabi, Isidor Isaac (I. I.), 37n, 39
radiation
energy of, 69, 70
from fission bomb, 8
identified by Becquerel, 44
pressure of, 70
as a substance, 8, 67–70
temperature of, 67, 68
in von Neumann-Fuchs invention, 91
See also cosmic background radiation
radiation implosion, 1–12 (Chapter 1), 96, 151
as Teller’s idea, 9
in the USSR, 10
Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, 102n, 182
“radio-actif” coinage, 45
radioactive fallout. See fallout
Radio-Activity, 46
radium, 46, 47
Rainwater, James, 29
Ranger, 113
reactors, 59
Reagan, Ronald, 19n
“Red scare,” 135
Reiffel, Dorothea, 141
Reines, Frederick (Fred), 85, 104
Reines Raum, 85, 88, 89
Renault, 32
Rhodes, Richard, 158, 174n
Richards, Caroline, 190
Richtmyer, Robert, 5, 10
Rio Grande, 76
Rockefeller, Laurance, 130
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 130
Rockefeller University, 130
Rongelap, 160
Rongerik, 160
Röntgen, Wilhelm, 45
Rose Bowl Parade, 124
Rosenbluth, Marshall, 159
and design of Mike’s fission trigger, 175
use of SEAC by, 168
Route 66, 74
Route 285, 75
Rowe, Hartley, 37n, 38
runaway Super. See Super, runaway
Reupke, William (Bill), 189
Rutherford, Ernest, 46–49, 47
and “moonshine” comment, 52
Sakharov, Andrei, 10, 11
and Sloika (“layer cake”), 5, 10
Saletan, Gene, 25
Sandia Labs, 105, 144, 151
Sandstone, 112
Sangre de Cristo mountains, 74, 78
Santa Fe, New Mexico, 75, 76
East Plaza Avenue, 75, 76
Plaza, 75
Santa Fe Railroad, 144n
sausage (Mike shape), 156, 159, 160, 180
Garwin’s first report on, 155
Savannah River, 104
Saxon, David, 81n
Schmitz, John, 186n
Schweber, Silvan (Sam), 25
Science Talent Search, 29n
Scientists Committee on Loyalty Problems. See SCLP
SCLP, 136–137, 185
Seaborg, Glenn, 15, 37n
SEAC, 163–164, 165, 166, 167, 170
“second idea,” 10, 11
secrecy, xiii
Segrè, Emilio, 93n
Segrè, Gino, 189
seismic waves, 182
seismometer, 182
Serber, Robert, 91, 94
and 1942 conference, 93n
Serber Says, 5
Shack, Christine, 141
Sheldon, John, 151
Shenstone, Allen, 35, 121
his reaction to author’s choice, 35
his reaction to Wheeler’s choice, 35
Shepley, James, 14n
Shrimp, 160
Singer roadster, 165
six-day work week, 83–84, 101–102
Slaughter, Aimee, 190
“slingshot effect,” 3
Sloika. See “ layer cake”
Slovenia, 184n
Smith, Cyril Stanley, 37n, 38
Smyth, Henry (Harry), 41
his call to Wheeler, 30
at June 1951 meeting, 152n
his support for Matterhorn, 121
Smyth Report, 30n
Socorro, New Mexico, 161
South Africa, 184, 184n
Soviet Union. See USSR
sparkplug, 157, 158
Spektor, Mariya (Masha), 189
Spitzer, Lyman, 126, 127
and naming Matterhorn, 129, 130
and SCLP, 136
spreadsheet on paper, 105
square dancing, 84, 161
St. Francis Cathedral, 76
St. George, Utah, 114n
St. Jean de Luz, 27, 32
Standing, Kenneth (Ken), 162
Stanford Linear Accelerator, 139n
Stanford University, 139n
Staver, Tor, 25
steady-state burning, 163, 164, 173
Stellarator, 130
Steward, Sarah, 189
stockpiles, 184
United States, 112
Strassmann, Fritz, 53
Strauss, Lewis, 41, 42
strong force, 60
Sublette, Carey, 174, 183, 189
Sun
central temperature of, 108
energy generation in, 92
surface temperature of, 67
Super
coinage of, 96
von Neumann-Fuchs version of, 90, 91, 99
Super, classical, 16, 68, 92–105
(Chapter 9), 96, 143
1946 conference on, 91
as of summer 1950, 107–108
Ulam’s calculations on, 14
Wheeler group calculations on, 146
Super, equilibrium, 1–12 (Chapter 1), 8, 118, 153
later accounts of, 13–23 (Chapter 2)
Super, runaway, 6, 7, 12, 68, 98
Sweden, 184n
“Swiss cheese,” 5, 148
Swordtail, 173
Szilard, Leo, 51
and idea of chain reaction, 50–52
and patent on chain reaction, 52, 53n
and uranium chain reaction, 93
Tannenwald, Nina, 190
Task Force 132, 178, 179
Taylor, Theodore (Ted), 87
T Division, 4, 14, 87
T-Division Office (T-DO), 87
tear gas, 186
“technically sweet,” 152, 153
“telephone book,” 107, 146, 147
teletype output, 163, 168
Teller, Edward, 3
and 1941 idea, 96
and 1942 conference, 93n
1945 departure from Los Alamos, 101
and 1949 GAC report, 43
1949 trip east by, 43