The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean cover image

The Curse of Knowing Too Much

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

CHAPTER

The Secrets of the Manhattan Project

The real barrier to atomic bombs was not secret knowledge. Runaway chain reactions require enriched uranium, which takes ruinous amounts of time and energy. During World War II, enriching uranium costs something like a billion dollars. The military ran the project and military people didn't understand that with uranium bombs, there wasn't that much of a secret to guard.

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