"History of 10,000 Ton Gadget": The Authors and the Bomb it describes

Chapters in PDF format

Chapter 5

"History of 10,000 Ton Gadget":
The Authors and the Bomb it describes

National leaders in atomic program "The "History of 10,000 ton gadget" is the most comprehensive mathematical description of the progression of the explosion of a World War II atomic bomb that the public will ever see. The "History of 10,000 ton gadget" is a technical document that provides a complex mathematical model of the detonation and anticipated physical effects of the atomic bomb proof-fired at Trinity site in New Mexico 16 July 1945. That bomb design, with combat modifications, was detonated at Nagasaki 9 August 1945. The energy of the weapon described by the "History" is equivalent to 10,000 tons of TNT (10 kilotons, or abbreviated as 10 kt). The document mathematically models a "nominal" 10 kt atomic bomb explosion."

Photo Credit
Source: U.S. National Archives. August 1945
Tinian Island, South Pacific. Left to right: Captain William Sterling Parsons, USN, 1901-1953, Associate Director Manhattan Project Los Alamos Laboratories; bomb commander, Hiroshima combat bombing mission. Rear Admiral William R. Purnell, USN, Navy member Atomic Bomb Military Policy Committee. Brigadier General Thomas Farrell, USA, Administrative Deputy Director Manhattan Project.

"For The Record" interview with Author Peter Vogel
Part 1 (30 min.) and Part 2 (30 min.)