we were never told we were working on an atomic bomb
Untitled Document: "Mon Jul 11 12:22:58 2005 Pacific Time
Purdue Engineer Still Recalls His Job on Manhattan Project
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Six decades ago, when Lyle Albright was a 23-year-old engineer newly hired to work at a lab in wartime Cleveland, his supervisor picked up a slug of metal and informed him it was uranium.
"I immediately realized our group was dealing with atomic energy, but we were never told we were working on an atomic bomb," says Albright, who is still an emeritus professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University. "I speculated that the energy would be used in military equipment like tanks and airplanes."
Over the next 18 months, Albright and his colleagues eventually realized the true nature of the work they were involved in, the Manhattan Project - a task that took him across the country to remote lab sites in Washington state. Before nearly anyone else had ever heard of gamma radiation or plutonium, Albright was assigned to become one of the world's first health physicists, and in addition to his other duties was charged with keeping people safe around the "atomic piles," as nuclear reactors were then called. Now Albright is one of the last remaining scientists who remembers those earliest days that led up to the bombing of Hiroshima 60 years ago on Aug. 6.
"Of the three atomic piles they initially built on the Hanford, Washington, lab site, I was present at the startup of two," Albright smiles. "No accidents ever occurred, and no one ever got exposed to too much radiation. But I remember they told me that if there were a runaway reaction, I should get everyone out of the building - and run."
Albright can offer many anecdotes about the war effort's atomic research, as well as the frequently humorous events that would happen behind the fences and behind the scenes.
"One day we received some wooden boxes from Los Alamos, where they were assembling the bombs," he says. "When I arrived to check them out for radiation, a colleague was waiting for me, sitting on one box, as there were no chairs in the room. But I approached a box and detected a high level of alpha radiation!"
"He quickly got off his box, as you can imagine," Albright continues, laughing. "He was all right, thankfully. But the next day, we gave the boxes a highly dignified burial among a beautiful clump of sagebrush. My colleague was not invited to either the wake or the burial."
- - - -
Lyle Albright, 765-463-1660, albright@purdue.edu
Chad Boutin, Purdue News Service, 765-494-2081, cboutin@purdue.edu
Media Contact: Chad Boutin, 765-494-2081, cboutin@purdue.edun"
Purdue Engineer Still Recalls His Job on Manhattan Project
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Six decades ago, when Lyle Albright was a 23-year-old engineer newly hired to work at a lab in wartime Cleveland, his supervisor picked up a slug of metal and informed him it was uranium.
"I immediately realized our group was dealing with atomic energy, but we were never told we were working on an atomic bomb," says Albright, who is still an emeritus professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University. "I speculated that the energy would be used in military equipment like tanks and airplanes."
Over the next 18 months, Albright and his colleagues eventually realized the true nature of the work they were involved in, the Manhattan Project - a task that took him across the country to remote lab sites in Washington state. Before nearly anyone else had ever heard of gamma radiation or plutonium, Albright was assigned to become one of the world's first health physicists, and in addition to his other duties was charged with keeping people safe around the "atomic piles," as nuclear reactors were then called. Now Albright is one of the last remaining scientists who remembers those earliest days that led up to the bombing of Hiroshima 60 years ago on Aug. 6.
"Of the three atomic piles they initially built on the Hanford, Washington, lab site, I was present at the startup of two," Albright smiles. "No accidents ever occurred, and no one ever got exposed to too much radiation. But I remember they told me that if there were a runaway reaction, I should get everyone out of the building - and run."
Albright can offer many anecdotes about the war effort's atomic research, as well as the frequently humorous events that would happen behind the fences and behind the scenes.
"One day we received some wooden boxes from Los Alamos, where they were assembling the bombs," he says. "When I arrived to check them out for radiation, a colleague was waiting for me, sitting on one box, as there were no chairs in the room. But I approached a box and detected a high level of alpha radiation!"
"He quickly got off his box, as you can imagine," Albright continues, laughing. "He was all right, thankfully. But the next day, we gave the boxes a highly dignified burial among a beautiful clump of sagebrush. My colleague was not invited to either the wake or the burial."
- - - -
Lyle Albright, 765-463-1660, albright@purdue.edu
Chad Boutin, Purdue News Service, 765-494-2081, cboutin@purdue.edu
Media Contact: Chad Boutin, 765-494-2081, cboutin@purdue.edun"
posted by Greta Jane at Monday, July 11, 2005
1 Comments:
'nobody got TOO much radiation' - how much do you think is 'too much'.
great blog.
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