Hiram Weekend College
Tues. Apr. 20
A. The Science Behind the Bomb
- Discovery of Radioactivity
- Discovery of the Nucleus (Rutherford’s Gold Foil)
- Fission: Changing Mass to Energy
- Current Views of the Atom
B. World War II
- The Nazi Threat in Europe
- A Nuclear Race with the Germans
- Norwegian Heavy Water
C. Ethics and Uses of Scientific Knowledge
Readings from Rhodes “The Making of the Atomic Bomb”: pp. 13-15 (¶3), 23 (¶2 )-52, 81 (last ¶) -95 (middle of the page), 100 (1st full ¶) -103, 134-141 (the break), ch. 7, 168-197, ch. 9, 233-275, 303-317, 321 (¶2) -327, 346 (¶2 – ¶4), 355-356
Video from CBS on Norwegian Interference with Germans
Sat. Apr. 24 The Players: Scientists and Politicians
- Churchill
- Truman
- Stalin
- Hirohito
- Stimpson
- Oppenheimer
- General Groves
- Albert Einstein
- Leo Szilard
- Edward Teller
Paper 1: Two pages per player outlining your understanding of his personality and background and how these played a role in the decision making process.
Role play the decision making process. Questions: whether to drop the bomb or invade; whether to make the bomb
Readings from Rhodes: pp. 357-383, 383-389, 389-393, 401-407, 423-428, 443-455, 457-459, 459-468, 481-485, 505-512, 512-517, 522-538, 605-610. Also read the handout, Chapter 8, The Burdens of Power: The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
Video: “The Day After Trinity” – J. Robert Oppenheimer story
Tues. Apr. 27 The Development, Testing and Dropping of the Bomb
- Procurement and Useable Uranium
- Secret Cities–Los Alamos, Oak Ridge
- The Scientific Process-Openness vs Secrecy
- Nevada Test Sites and Military Guinea Pigs
- The Enola Gay and Bock’s Car, The Crews, The Cargo
- Hiroshima, Nagasaki–the chosen targets
Readings from Rhodes: pp. 407 (¶2)-415 (¶1), 468 (¶3)-476 (¶1), 500 (¶2)-top 505, 517 (¶4)-521, 554 (¶2)-bot 556, 561-564, 564-573 (¶1), 580 (¶3)-582 (¶2), 592 (¶3)-593 (¶2), bot 593-600 (¶1), 610 (¶3)-614, 617-624, 624-651, 651-678
Video: “Fat Man and Little Boy”
Due: Paper 2a on some aspect of the development of the bomb (may choose paper 2b instead)
Tues. May 4 Japan
- Japan’s View of the War
- Pearl Harbor
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki–the after effects
- The Bombs’ Influence on Japanese Society
Readings from Rhodes: Part Three, chs 18, 19, Epilogue
Video: “Black Rain”
Music: Fred Small “Cranes over Hiroshima”
Due: Paper 2b on some aspect of Japan in WWII (if you did paper 2a, you do not need to complete this assignment)
Sat. May 8 The Bombs’ Reverberations
- Environmental
- Political–The Cold War
- Social
- Scientific
Readings: Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Interview with Joe Denham – a Trinity eyewitness
Video: “Nuclear War: A Guide to Armageddon”, “Atom: Year of Purpose”
Music: Fred Small–“Dig a Hole in the Ground”, Pete Seeger “Old Man Atom”, Kate Wolf or Simon and Garfunkel “The Sky is Burning”
Due: Paper 3 on life since the bomb
Tues. May 11 Fiction and the Future
Reading: A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Due: Course Journals
