The secret location of the atomic bomb project
In the courtyard of the "The Rainbow Man" souvenir shop decorated with colorful ceramic frogs and dragonflies, it’s easy to miss the historical spot. Perhaps that is suitable for a secret location. In the early 1940s, the world’s leading scientists and their families trudged through the yard after a tiring trip on a cross-country train. Most don’t know where they are going. All they know is that they are ordered to go to "109 East Palace, Santa Fe, New Mexico".
When the heavy iron gate opened, they actually stepped into what the National Historical Landmark sign called the "Secret Mission Gate" led to - in other words, to started making atom bombs.
A "National Historic Site" is a building, place, building or area that is officially recognized by the US Federal Government because of its prominence in American history. Maryne Kapoun, the woman and her husband, owns the souvenir shop "The Rainbow Man" - once a secret area, saying: "They walked across the large yard."
Visitors now enter the store through the front door - this is the historic entrance that scientists like Enrico Fermi and Richard Feynman have ever walked through. Today the path is cluttered with dangling ceramic peppers and hand-painted pumpkin lanterns.
Newcomers, including a team of British scientists, were issued a security card and taken to the facility by bus or jeep for the last leg of the journey. Their destination is located about 60 kilometers away, across a winding unpaved mountain road and to the private settlement of Los Alamos. And what they eventually achieved was "one of the greatest scientific achievements in human history".
But very few modern visitors to Santa Fe - a Spanish colonial city famous for its buildings and art galleries - realize they’re crossing the streets that Nobel laureates say - Another way is "a spy team" - once upon a time.
During World War II, this small city was on the front line of the race to make an atom bomb. Over a period of 27 months, the US Army built the secret laboratory of Los Alamos on the Jemez Mountains and designed an unimaginably powerful weapon, eventually destroying two Japanese cities. Ban, ending the war and opening up the atomic period.
"The Rainbow Man" souvenir shop is currently located in the former classified property of the Manhattan Project.
Address 109 East Palace, half a block from the historic Santa Fe Plaza, is the location of the Manhattan Project - the codename for the effort to make the atomic bomb. The souvenir shop front, marked with the symbol: "US ENG-RS" - short for "US Engineers" (US engineers), which used to handle correspondence for Los Alamos and "residents" people ”.
"These rooms right here used to be offices," Ms Kap Kapoun said, pointing to guidebooks and historical photos of Native Americans sold in the back room of the store. The souvenir shop occupies only one corner of a 17th-century park that once belonged to a conqueror of Spain and covered most of a city block. This building is also home to the famous Shed Restaurant.
The story of the US military at 109 East Palace dates back to 1939, when scientist Albert Einstein wrote to US President Franklin D Roosevelt warning that the Germans were on the road to developing nuclear weapons. Finally, Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist at the University of California, was tasked with leading the effort to create a counterweight. Oppenheimer then chose Los Alamos Ranch School (a private boarding school for boys in Los Alamos County) to build a remote study site.
When the project began in 1943, Oppenheimer established a Santa Fe office of five rooms at East Palace and hired a young widow named Dorothy McKibbin as an assistant. She became the famous face of the atomic bomb project, responsible for welcoming scientists and rookies but always shunning curiosity from curious locals asking about it every day.
Dorothy McKibbin.
Now, historians call Dorothy McKibbin the "First Lady of Los Alamos". The US military hopes the isolation of Los Alamos will keep their activities hidden. Officially, the lab doesn’t exist. The whole project and thousands of residents eventually shared the mailing address "PO Box 1663, Santa Fe" which is even listed on the birth certificates of babies born during the war.
Where the agents are still loitering
Oppenheimer recruited leading scientists to join the effort but tried to provide little information to them due to security concerns. A number of historical researchers missed the small office sign and wandered around the square for hours looking for 109 East Palace. Even now, the search for the historic atomic bomb project site is still complicated.
Beverly Andorfer, who works at "Chocolate + Cashmere", which specializes in sweets and women’s clothing, said: "Many ordinary people come to the store to ask about the location every day."
Although the store is located at 109 East Palace, it is not the exact location. The remodeling in previous years changed the address of the building, so visitors who know the history of the atomic bomb project must find a poster next to the bronze plaque. Those who want to see the current entrance must follow the path of scientists up the hill to Los Alamos, which is still the US Department of Energy laboratory.
It only takes 45 minutes to drive by car, and a part of the city of 12,000 people - today still within the restrictions imposed on visitors - has some public heritage. For example, at the Los Alamos History Museum, the iron gate from 109 East Palace hangs at the end of a gallery. Going down a slope toward the entrance, in a moment, you can step into the shoes of an Oppenheimer theoretical physicist and will wonder what awaits them on the other side of the pillar. .
A few blocks from the "Bradbury Science Center", visitors can take selfies with copies of Little Boy and Fat Man - two bombs developed at the lab and eventually falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And at the nearby "Manhattan Project National Historical Park", children can put on a pig-shaped jacket and hat to dress up as Oppenheimer; or wear a sweater and pretend to be Dorothy McKibbin.
Santa Fe is known for its buildings and art galleries.
Another walking tour leads you to the "Bathtub Row" - a block from Los Alamos Ranch School that was originally the only military building with a bathroom. During the war, residents endured poor conditions as the army rushed to build facilities, and the population soared to more than 6,000. Finally, amenities such as schools, medical clinics and shops have been added.
Indeed, the city of Santa Fe became a true "pressure cooker" as researchers attempted to race to develop nuclear weapons. Strict security adds to the stress. Residents are not allowed to share their location with friends and family members who do not live at the location.
Although secret, but the activities at Los Alamos still not escape the attention of the spies. In fact, Santa Fe is considered by historians to be the place where Soviet espionage was most active in the 20th Century. Just two months before the bomb hit Japan, scientist Klaus Fuchs - German theoretical physicist and atomic spy providing information from the United States, Britain, and the Manhattan project to the Soviet Union during and shortly after World War II - meeting a Soviet agent named is Harry Gold.
Scientist Klaus Fuchs.
Visitors can trace the path of the spies, synchronize their watches with the watches at a jewelry store west of 109 East Palace, as the old men did, and then go. one by few blocks to the small Paseo de Peralta bridge. At an intersection, agents exchanged a bundle of papers describing the explosive mechanism of the bomb Fuchs stole from the laboratory. It would launch Soviet nuclear ambitions and launch the Cold War.
La Fonda Hotel, a large tourist resort located south from 109 East Palace, is a place where many spies with the hope of gathering information from scientists in Los Alamos are relaxing at. bar. Allen Steele, a private guide who leads spying-themed walking tours in the area, commented: “I am sure there are spies around here today. Conspiracies have happened right here in this hall. This is the center of espionage. ”
Because, Allen Steele also noted that Los Alamos is still a classified government research center.
