The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer the Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb (James Kunetka) - a podcast by Rob Mellon

Author and historian of the atomic age James Kunetka details the birth and exponential growth of the Manhattan Project during WWII.  He describes the unlikely partnership between Army General Lesley Groves and lead scientist Dr. Robert Oppenheimer that led to phenomenal achievements in the program.  He discusses the discovery of nuclear fission in Germany in 1938 and the exodus of Jewish scientists from Nazi Germany to the United States.  He explains the great challenge of producing enriched and refined nuclear material and how that led to a massive project that included many locations around the U.S. participating in the Manhattan Project, including the creation of the massive town of Oak Ridge, TN and Los Alamos in New Mexico.  Kunetka details the recruitment efforts to get the preeminent scientists in the world to work on the project.  He describes the first test of the bomb at Trinity and the use of the atomic bomb against imperial Japan to end WWII.  He explains the amazing story of Project Crossroads and what happened to General Groves, Dr. Oppenheimer, and the Manhattan Project after the war.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Plutonium 239 Coconut Porter, Manhattan Project Beer Company, Dallas, Texas

BOOK:  The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer the Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb
https://www.amazon.com/General-Genius-Oppenheimer-Unlikely-Partnership/dp/1504671023

MUSIC:  Bones Fork

SONG:  Louvin Brothers, Great Atomic Power, 1952

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