Manhattan: How to Build an Atomic Bomb

I can neither confirm nor deny my involvement with America's nuclear weapons.  When I left my last Navy job they told me to forget everything.   I wish it were that easy.   I can tell you this story, though.

Thanks to the infinite wisdom of the United States Navy I found myself studying physics at Holy Cross College.   The professor was a very nice Vietnamese man who illustrated most of the topics with bullets and bombs examples.  He had allegedly studied at Princeton with Einstein, an interesting claim since the faculty at Princeton's Institute of Advanced Study didn't teach any courses.   They did, however, lead seminars and work with students, so I may in fact have studied physics with one of Einstein's students.

One day in class someone asked a question about atomic bombs.   The professor lit up and said:  Oh, they're easy to make.  Here's how.   Then he drew illustrations of the mechanisms for the first two U.S. atom bombs and explained how they worked.   He said in the beginning the bomb builders had trouble with the triggering explosives, but that it would be easier today (1967) to find electronics to set off the bombs.  Then he smiled,  There you go now you know how to build the bomb.   Then he smiled again.  Good luck finding weapons grade uranium and plutonium for your bomb.  That's the hard part... and staying alive after you start playing with plutonium.

I did very well in that course.  Straight As going into the final.  Must have been all the bullets and bombs examples that kept me focused.  Unfortunately,  I lost focus the night before the final and had a terrible hangover in the morning.   I rolled the dice and went into the professor's office.   Professor T, I have straight As in your course.  Is it really necessary for me to take the final?   Professor T eyed me carefully, perhaps noting that I appeared under the weather,   Ok, Jim, enjoy your summer vacation (it appears you've already started).