Q 01/05

Which Army general directed the Manhattan Project from 1942 to 1946?

A) Kenneth Nichols

B) Leslie Groves

C) George Marshall

D) Brehon Somervell

Answer · why

B) Leslie Groves

He was promoted to brigadier general before taking over because it was felt the title would carry more weight with the scientists.

Q 02/05

Who was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the bombs?

A) J. Robert Oppenheimer

B) Enrico Fermi

C) Arthur Compton

D) Ernest Lawrence

Answer · why

A) J. Robert Oppenheimer

Compton recommended him even though he had no Nobel Prize, little administrative experience and communist associates.

Q 03/05

The project took its name from what?

A) A codename picked at random from a list of cities

B) The New York bankers who quietly financed it

C) The location of the Army's first headquarters

D) The warehouse where the first uranium was stored

Answer · why

C) The location of the Army's first headquarters

Colonel Marshall's temporary HQ was at 270 Broadway, and engineer districts were named for their cities; the earlier codename was 'Development of Subs...

Q 04/05

What was the code name of the British atomic bomb programme that the Manhattan Project absorbed?

A) MAUD

B) Project Y

C) Operation Alsos

D) Tube Alloys

Answer · why

D) Tube Alloys

The MAUD Committee's 1941 report had convinced the Americans a bomb was feasible; the Quebec Agreement later formalised cooperation.

Q 05/05

Roughly how many people did the Manhattan Project employ at its peak?

A) About 50,000

B) About 500,000

C) About 130,000

D) About 12,000

Answer · why

C) About 130,000

In June 1944 that included 84,500 construction workers, 40,500 plant operators and 1,800 military personnel.