Julius Essays - McCarthyism, Manhattan Project,

Julius Robert Oppenheimer Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American physicist and government adviser, who directed the development of the first atomic bombs. To scientists, he was not only the builder of the atomic bomb and a pioneer in atomic energy, but a master of many languages, a good conversationalist and a brilliant mathematician. He was also a writer, and an expert in both the history of architecture and the religions of the world. Oppenheimer, who was born in New York City on April 22, 1904, and educated at Harvard University and the Universities of Cambridge and Gottingen, grew up in a middle class neighborhood. He was raised by his mother, who was an artist who provided a nice apartment with a subdued, tasteful atmosphere. His grandfather came from Germany where he was a peasant farmer and grain merchant. The Oppenheimer's family business was importing fabric for the clothing industry. As a child in grade school, Oppenheimer excelled in all subjects. This continued straight through all of his schooling. During his years at Harvard University, Oppenheimer excelled in Latin, Greek, physics and chemistry. He also published poetry and studied Oriental philosophy. After graduating in 1925, he sailed to England to do research in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University , which, under the leadership of Lord Rutherford, had an international reputation for its pioneering studies on atomic structure. Oppenheimer was fortunate to enter physics in 1925 because that is when modern quantum mechanics came into being. He was one of the first scientists to use quantum mechanics for the exploration of problems which had been insoluble with the old quantum theory. While at Cambridge, Oppenheimer had the opportunity to work with the British scientific community in its efforts to advance the cause of atomic research. Shortly thereafter, Max Born invited him to Gottingen University, where he met other prominent physicists, such as Niels Bohr and Paul Dirac, and where, in 1927, he received his doctorate. He then returned to the United States. After serving with the International Education Board from 1928 to 1929, Oppenheimer became a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology where he worked from1929 to 1947. There he built up large schools of theoretical physics. He was noted for his contributions relating to the quantum theory, the theory of relativity, cosmic rays, positrons, and neutron stars. He was also able to show that a baffling movement of a deuteron (heavy hydrogen nucleus), being loosely bound, surrenders its neutron on entering the field of a heavy nucleus. The effect was that the heavy nucleus captures the stripped neutron, becomes unstable and then radioactive. This discovery helped to later develop the hydrogen bomb, which is thousands of times more powerful than the atomic bomb. In his early years of teaching, Oppenheimer had little success and many students complained to the head of the physics department about how quiet he was and how he overestimated his audience. The department head, Raymond T. Birge, knew that Oppenheimer already knew that he was not getting through to the students and therefore did not need to be told. Soon enough he began to interact with his audience by dropping his pace of delivery and going to great lengths to make connections between ideas clearer. By doing this he attracted a small group of some of the brightest students. These students thought of him as a brilliant lecturer and some remarked that he was one of their most inspiring professors. In 1940 Oppenheimer married a woman named Katherine Harrison. They had one son whom they named Peter and a daughter whom they named Katherine. They lived in a beautiful house on Eagle Hill in the San Francisco Bay area. During a leave of absence that lasted from 1943 until 1945, Oppenheimer served as director of the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos, New Mexico. After warnings from Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard, both respected scientists, that the world would be in grave danger if the Nazis were the first to create an atomic bomb, Oppenheimer began to seek a process for the separation of uranium-235 from natural uranium. He also strove to discover a way to determine the critical mass of uranium required to make such a bomb. On July 16, 1945, the joint effort of outstanding scientists at Los Alamos created the first nuclear explosion. This took place at Alamogordo, New Mexico. That October, Oppenheimer resigned from the project. His leadership and organizational skills during the project earned him the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1946. In

World War I and Race Relations from Reconstruction essays

World War I and Race Relations from Reconstruction essays The reconstruction process beginning in 1865 brought on new race relations in America that would change the lives of every American. After the Civil War, newly freed slaves faced many challenges. Whites, especially in the South regarded blacks as inferior more than ever. While blacks were trying to move on and support their families outside the plantation that they were used to, Whites were engineering new ways to keep blacks as second class citizens. Sharecropping, which emerged as the dominant form of working the land, allowed freedom from white supervision and control but curtailed blacks from becoming wealthy and from owning land. Black Codes were supposed to give "persons of color" their freedom in a constitutional form. The real purpose, however, was to restrict the freedom of the black labor force and keep freed people as close to slave status as possible. These codes stated that although persons of color do have some rights such as the right to own land, make contracts, and t o sue and be sued, they are not entitled to social or political equality with white persons. The codes were outrageous, actually stating that if a "person of color" makes a contract for service or labor, they shall be known as servants, and those whom with they contract shall be known as masters. These "masters" were given the right to "inflict moderate chastisement and impose reasonable restraint" and to "recapture" his apprentice if he "departs from his service." It also placed many other restrictions on "persons of color." The federal government was outraged from finding out of the mistreatment of formerly freed slaves in respect of the Black Codes. The Republican-dominated Congress concluded that old Confederates were back in power and Black Codes and racial violence caused reason for increased protection of African Americans. To protect African Americans, Congress passed two important bills. The first was the landmark Civil Rights Bill. This bill b...

Chevrolet manufactures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chevrolet manufactures - Essay Example So, this paper will analyze the various processes and issues that took place in the departments of production and operation, when GM or more specifically Chevrolet manufactured its Corvette Z06 range of cars. Corvette Z06 comes under the brand of Chevrolet Corvette C6, which is the sixth and also the current generation of sports car produced by the Chevrolet, a part of General Motors. Launched in the year 2006, Corvette Z06 debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month. As Z06 are the latest models, it can be considered as the most powerful production Corvette till date. This reputation of being a powerful car, can be held till 2012, because the only C7 will make a entry. According to Motor Trend magazine, the C6 will not be superseded by a new C7 generation at least until the 2012 calendar year. (Connor, 2008). The production and the operation process of Z06 were optimized, when compared to the C5 generation. Apart from the major overhaul in the aspects of engine (a larger 6.0 L with 364 cu in and 5967 cc engine), interior space and other technicalities, the production process of Z06 was mainly geared to using aluminum as the preferred metal for the body of the car. The body frame was constructed using aluminum, thereby saving 136 pounds, which would be the extra weight if a standard steel frame was used. â€Å"In place of the steel frame on the conventional C6, GM is substituting an almost identical aluminum spaceframe, thereby reducing mass by over 30%† (Whitfield, 2005). Although, GM decided to use Aluminum, it did not have the resources to come up with the Aluminum car body structure and this where the coordination processes came into the picture, with GM using the services or working in coordination with Structural Solutions Group’s, Dana Corp. Although it seemed like a simple substitution, transforming a spot-welded steel frame into an aluminum