World War II Honoree

Philip Morrison

Hometown

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Honored By

Ralph Bozorth

IN 1945, AS THE SCIENTISTS OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT PREPARED TO DETONATE THE WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, DR. MORRISON, THEN A LIEUTENANT OF HIS FORMER GRADUATE SCHOOL TEACHER J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, THE LEADER OF THE PROJECT, RODE IN THE BACKSEAT OF A CAR TO THE TRINITY SITE IN ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO. THE BOMB'S PLUTONIUM CORE WAS BESIDE HIM IN A CASE STUDDED WITH RUBBER BUMPERS. A LITTLE LATER, WHEN HE POKED HIS HEAD UP FROM BEHIND A SAND DUNE IN TIME TO CATCH SIGHT OF THE EXPLOSION, HE RECALLED BEING SURPRISED, NOT BY ITS BRIGHTNESS, BUT BY ITS HEAT. SHORTLY AFTERWARD, HE WAS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF PHYSICISTS SENT TO THE ISLAND OF TINIAN TO ASSEMBLE THE BOMB THAT WAS DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA. A MONTH LATER, HE WAS PART OF TEAM THAT TOURED THE DEVASTATED CITY.