How the Manhattan Project Typifies the Concept of Big Science

Significant Historical Questions and Answers

Essay 1

In The Manhattan Project, Jeff Hughes claims that the development of atomic weapons in World War II did not create "Big Science," but simply accelerated trends in scientific research and development that had already taken place. Furthermore, he suggests that these "Big Science" trends created serious problems in the direction of scientific research by the second half of the twentieth century - problems which many argued could be remedied by moving away from (or at least softening) the stress on "Big Science."

In an essay demonstrating your knowledge of the text, analyze Hughes's argument, concentrating on the following questions: What, according to Hughes, is "Big Science," and how did the construction of the atomic bomb reflect such an approach to research and development? Do you believe such an approach was necessary? Why?

Although Hughes provides a thoughtful analysis of the emergence of “big science,” defined generally as scientific research and development (R&D) on a massive scale with projects that are typically funded by a national government or a consortium of governmental agencies, he fails to assign proper credit to the impact that the ultra-top-secret Manhattan Project had on this process. Indeed, the Manhattan Project was unprecedented in multiple ways that define big science, including most especially the fact that the U.S. government, in loose collaboration with the U.K., responded to a potential existential threat by recruiting tens of thousands of scientists and support staff. In other words, the Manhattan Project was the beginning of that point in modern history when national governments started throwing enormous sums of money at scientific research.

While it is reasonable to suggest that the Allies could have eventually won World War II without the atom bomb by using conventional weapons, this eventuality would have claimed far more lives, possibly running into additional tens of millions of more casualties. In fact, contemporary estimates indicated that at least one million Japanese lives would be lost and another 100,000 American lives would be claimed if an outright invasion of the Japanese homeland was needed to force Japan into unconditional surrender as mandated by the Potsdam Declaration. While most Americans celebrated the massive casualties that were caused by the atom bombing of Japan since Pearl Harbor was still fresh in the national consciousness, many observers today lament their use since they believe the war was all but over and would have ended quickly without their use. These observers are wrong.

Drawing on Einstein’s discoveries and theoretical framework and fueled by billions of dollars in national treasure, the scientific team at the Manhattan Project succeeded in outpacing Nazi Germany’s efforts to develop atomic weapons and used this scientific knowledge to good effect in bringing the Japanese Empire to its knees. Moreover, the drive towards big science did not end when Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, and the U.S. and other national governments continued to heavily invest in scientific research which contributed to the creation of many of the major research organizations that emerged during the last half of the 20th century (Hughes, 2016).

This is not to say, of course, that there had never been any “big science” enterprises prior to the Manhattan Project. Indeed, it is reasonable to posit that ancient Egypt’s counterpart to J. Robert Oppenheimer, Imhotep, managed to mobilize all of the scientific resources that were available to him to at the time in order to design the Great Pyramid and the other monumental monolithic structures that have endured to modern times. This point is also made by Hughes who points out, “The scale and complexity of a science must obviously be seen in the context of its time” (p. 15). It is to say, though, that the Manhattan Project was the demarcation point in modern history when unprecedented sums of money were focused on a specific scientific enterprise, a process that contributed to Americans landing on the Moon in 1969 (something NASA is still struggling to replicate today) as well as the International Space Station and numerous others (Bianco et al., 2017) and the CERN Hadron Super Collider (Canals et al., 2017).

In a more general sense, the same forces that drove the creation of big science to end World War II have also manifested in the private sector as can be witnessed by the SpaceX major successes as well as other technological aspects of modern life. As McClellan and Dorn (2006) point out, “In the twentieth and now twenty-first century, government and industry support for pure and applied science has only accelerated” (part IV). In reality, this outcome is not that surprising given the pace of research and development in both the private and public sectors in recent decades, fueled in large part by the development of computers and the Internet, but technological innovations in multiple other fields as well. This point is also made by Canals et al. (2017) who note, “One can find examples of big science in diverse disciplines such as genomics, astronomy, nuclear fusion, and high-energy physics. In these fields, a large part of the budget allocated to scientific research comes from governmental or international funding agencies” (p. 961).

The foregoing examples of big science research suggest that Hughes was accurate in asserting that the Manhattan Project accelerated existing trends in scientific research and development, but he underestimates the significance of the Manhattan Project in demonstrating what big science actually looks like and what it is capable of achieving in the modern era. In addition, big science per se is not responsible for the problems that are associated with technological developments, just as the Manhattan Project was not strictly responsible for delivering the two atom bombs that were dropped on the Japanese Empire. In sum, what humans actually do – or fail to do -- with the results of big science-type research are the fundamental source of any problems that may result, as clearly witnessed in the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 and the looming threats of all-out nuclear war with the Russian Federation today. There is not turning back, however, and the big science juggernaut will continue to create new technologies for which humankind may or may not be ready but which will become reality regardless of how they are used.

References

Bianco, W., Gerhart, D., & Nicolson, C. S. (2017). Waypoints for Evaluating Big Science. Social Science Quarterly, 98(4), 1144–1150.

Canals, A., Ortoll, E., & Nordberg, M. (2017). Collaboration Networks in Big Science: The Atlas Experiment at Cern. El Profesional de La Información, 26(5), 961–971.

Hughes, J. (2016). The Manhattan Project: Big Science and the Atom Bomb (Revolutions in Science). Columbia University Press.

McClellan, J. E. & Dorn, H. (2006). Science and Technology in World History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Essay 2

Over the course of the last 500 years, the development of modern science has transformed our vision of nature and advanced a distinct method of inquiry which is often held to be the benchmark of all rational knowledge. In an essay which shows attention to historical detail, choose key milestones in the development of modern science and show how they exemplify the way that that scientific knowledge and practice emerged as part of a historical process. Your essay should also include reflections on the following points: Why, historically speaking, do you believe people came to accept the value of science both as a conception of nature and as a means of investigation? Also, it is often thought that the advent of modern science has given human beings unprecedented command over their destiny. To what extent do you think it makes sense to say that science and technology in the modern world are gradually liberating human beings from their "natural" condition?

Although there are literally hundreds of choices and the selection process is daunting, some of the key milestones in modern science (defined as those occurring during the 20th century) that most clearly exemplify the manner in which scientific knowledge and practice emerged as part of a historical process include those set forth in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Key milestones in modern science

Key milestone

Date

Description and Implications

Wright Brothers fly at Kitty Hawk, NC

Orville flew the “Wright Flyer” (now hanging prominently in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum) in the first powered, controlled flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft, directly leading to modern aviation and space exploration.

Einstein’s theory of relativity is introduced

Einstein’s publication of his work on the theory of relativity identified the relationship between matter and energy and space and time, making the development of nuclear energy – and weapons -- possible.

Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

The discovery of the germ that fights infections in humans revolutionized infectious disease control and the understanding of these pathogens, including the development of a wide array of antibiotics in the 1930s.

Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invent the electron microscope

The electron microscope has provided the ability for humans to investigate biological and other samples at the cellular level.

The Manhattan Project

This initiative created the world’s first atomic weapons used in 1945 and which has since led to the development of a staggering range of peaceful (and military) applications.

Invention of the transistor

Bell Laboratory scientists invent the transistor which replaced hot, bulky vacuum tubes and facilitated the development of digital computing and microprocessors.

Expanded applications of plastics

The discovery of polypropylene made it possible to manufacture an infinite array of products that are ubiquitous today.

Sputnik is placed in Earth orbit

The successful launch of the Soviet Union’s satellite led to a truly crowded near-earth orbit environment today.

The microchip is invented

Working independently, researchers from Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor invent the microchip which is used in almost everything humans use today.

ARPANET is created

The humble linking of two computers at Stanford would lead to the creation of the Internet which has profoundly changed humanity’s existence.

Clearly, the above listing is not exhaustive, but it does highlight the manner in which scientific knowledge and practice emerged as part of a historical process. Historically speaking, humankind came to accept the value of scientific inquiry because it worked. After millennia of costly guesswork, trial and error and suppositions about the universe, scientific inquiry finally provided a framework in which natural phenomena could be studied, interpreted and understood by the masses. Centuries of believing in animism may have produced some spiritual benefits, but it did nothing otherwise to advance the evolution of the human species’ ability to negotiate a hostile world and stay on top of the food chain.