A MOVIE ABOUT THE TESTING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
When he first heard the hype about a new movie named for the creator of the atomic bomb, a Park University archivist couldn’t wait to further research an alumnus he knew played a role in the powerful test explosion that preceded the famous ordered bomb drops credited with ending World War II.
But, as Tim Westcott, the archivist at the helm of Park University’s expansive collection, searched for ties to “Oppenheimer,” he learned of a second Park alumnus, Joseph McKibben, whose role was detailed in a 1985 newspaper article.
He also discovered an obituary for John Cory, another Park graduate and nuclear physicist, who also may have contributed to the development of the test bomb.
Westcott was well aware that Hugh Richards, a 1939 graduate and nuclear physicist, wrote of his experiences in his memoir. Richards, who was born in Colorado and grew up in Wisconsin, even working on the family farms of two relatives following his graduation from Park. Richards is from a family with a long lineage of Park graduates who have kept in touch with Westcott and others at Park.
The archives include copies of Richards’ memoir. Richards was leading the group that recorded the neutron measurements and developed special cameras to record the test, dubbed “Trinity,” which was performed at Los Alamos, New Mexico prior to the official drop. Richards, who went on to earn higher degrees at other universities, developed special cameras to record the test and “measure radio activity of fission fragments,” according to a copy of his memoir.
His book, “Through Los Alamos, 1945: Memoirs of a Nuclear Physicist,” Richards wrote of the Trinity test: that a thunderstorm had halted the original test, scheduled for 4 a.m. July 16. Upon the advice of a meteorologist, the test was postponed until later that day, Richards wrote. He said the test blast followed a countdown from 10 to zero and, at the time of the firing, he and the other scientists in the room were told to lay on the ground. Although “facing away from ground zero, it felt like someone had slapped my face: it was of course the heat radiation from a most successful test.”
When he stood to watch the explosion’s aftermath, he said the blast formed a “luminous fireball” that changed colors and expanded as it rose from the ground. He went onto describe the “strength of the shock wave” although it was nearly ten miles from where the group was stationed. The subsequent sound and “shock wave” from the blast arrived about 40 seconds after the explosion, wrote Richards, who went onto a career as a teacher and researcher.
The surprise connection was a 1933 Park graduate named Joseph McKibben, another nuclear physicist, also at the Trinity test site. In fact, McKibben’s role was so important that he is known as “the man who pushed the button” on the Trinity test before the actual bomb drops as ordered by President Truman. A 1985 article by United Press International said McKibben “threw the switch that set off the world’s first atomic bomb” and that the Kansas native “had no regrets following its use in Hiroshima because it ended the war.”
Upon the 50th anniversary of McKibben’s graduation, he wrote in a 1983 letter to his fellow alums, “As the time approached to test the bomb in southern New Mexico, it was determined considerably more support staff for the timing system was needed. I was selected for that job. As a consequence, I had the responsibility of closing all the switches that detonated the first bomb.”
McKibben’s role was further explained in a 1945 history project detailing the test at Los Alamos, as discovered by Westcott during his research. McKibben supervised a group that worked to create and perfect accelerator and he was in charge of a group that had to troubleshoot how to sync a light source for a system of cameras used to record the Trinity blast.
A 1985 United Press International article credited McKibben with throwing the switch that set off the first ever atomic bomb explosion, following about two years of research and development. “I think that many of us thought when we came here that this thing would not work, but we were going to give it the best chance,” he is quoted in the article as having said. “It did work and of course we were delighted and it stopped the war.”
The article further explained that McKibbens also said scientists were surprised by its performance. We “didn’t take very seriously the concern that (the bomb) would set off the atmosphere. Our concern was whether it really would go above 10,000 tons (of TNT)…We were surprised at the 20,000 tons of explosion.”
John Cory, a 1942 Park alum, was mentioned as having worked as a researcher for the early stages of the Trinity project. An obituary stated that the Leavenworth, Kan. native “developed an interest in nuclear science and pursued independent studies using the works of Niels Bohr (as portrayed in the “Oppenheimer.”) Cory “became a researcher at the time when the project was actually located in Manhattan. Following this early involvement, “Cory resigned from the Manhattan Project and joined the Army Air Corps,” his obituary stated.
Westcott’s research reveals the obituary is the only mention of Cory’s role in the project. “Due to the nature of the project and the short period between graduation and enlistment, there is no means to confirm or refute his association,” Westcott wrote of his research.
Although Westcott was pleased to learn of the Park connections, he stopped short of saying he was surprised.
“Any day can be a wonderful day in the archives,” he said of his role in managing, searching, and maintaining a space in the academic underground on campus filled with such documents. “They all have their own uniqueness,” he said of the nearly 90,000 graduates during the institution’s nearly 150 years of existence.
Westcott said he never knows whose name will be significant, if not now, in the years to come. Westcott declined to rank the discovery compared with others he’s made during his more than 20 years in the position.
“I never prioritize any of them because tomorrow I could find another,” he said, adding, “These are the wonderful stories I get to tell.”