Joshua Zou

Project 2609
Process Paper
I first gained interest in the atomic bomb when I was discussing with my mother the most
controversial decisions in history. The events we chose were all concerned with the atomic
bomb, from Oppenheimers bomb to Tellers. When I realized I would be doing National History
Day again, I decided that the making of the atomic bomb would be the perfect project for
Leadership and Legacy.
As I researched, I realized there was much more to the Manhattan Project then I first
thought. Where I had thought that Oppenheimer had made many of the discoveries concerning
the atom, I found that there were many unsung heroes of the Manhattan Project, the
Metallurgical Laboratory, Leo Szilard and other discoverers, even the construction workers, who
had pulled together Los Alamos in record time. To mention all of those who contributed in
making the atomic bomb would be impossible.
I did, however, find three individuals who stood out, but even they were different from
what I had first thought. Leo Szilard, the first to conceive the idea of nuclear fission, was a name
that I had never heard of until I began my research. Leslie Groves too, a mere shadow compared
to that of Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, when in reality, Groves had
overseen the whole project while Julius Robert Oppenheimer, whom I had always seen as a kind
of Doctor Strangelove, had really kept the scientists of Los Alamos together, urging them on
towards discovery.
My research was originally primarily books, then I expanded to websites in order to read
from all kinds of sources. My interviews were picked based on the sources that were most
valuable in my research, such as Alan B. Carr, since he is historian for the Los Alamos National
Laboratory.
I was extremely lucky in my researching this year, I was able to find many sources and
interview a number of incredible historians. I had slight troubles with the word count, but I was
able to rectify that when I took quotes from a number of my most descriptive resources.
If I could redo this entry again, I would change the way I approached the website creation
part of my website, and I would begin with quotes and then flesh it in with my own descriptions.
The hardest part of my project was perhaps adding photos and videos, since each of my
sources had so many it was hard to pick which were the best.