Friday, May 21, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 157
emerald
__l_._//■
Los Alamos: From day one
Olum, Novick recall,
regret first A-bomb
An afternoon breeze sifts through loosely woven
drapes in the University president's office.
Paul Olum runs his fingers through his thinning
gray hair. He shifts in his chair, then fidgets with a yellow
legal pad and a felt tip pin set before him. Across the
round oak table Aaron Novick. the head of the biology
department, settles back into a cushy leather chair. His
hands are still, loosely folded in his lap.
The arid New Mexico desert seems like another
world. The world s first atomic bombs, like ancient
history.
"Where do we start?” Olum asks
At Los Alamos, 1942 Olum and Novick were both
working on the first nuclear development mission — the
Manhattan Project — while taking graduate courses;
Olum at Princeton and Novick at the University of
Chicago.
Olum headed for Los Alamos, research head
quarters for the project, in the first few months of 1942.
Novick followed in the last few months of 1943.
Both went eagerly, but now, 40 years later, both
have regrets about their contribution to the birth of the
nuclear age.
Emerald: When you were first asked to go to Los
Alamos, how much of a decision was involved7
Olum: For me, not much The decision was made to
stop the Princeton prefect and go to Los Alamos to be a
part of the project of building the bomb it wasn't a
hard decision The project at Los Alamos seemed like
the most important, most exciting work
Novick: I lost interest in what I was doing and
wanted to get into (Enrico) Fermi’s (one of the leading
scientists at the project) group at Los Alamos. My boss
said absolutely not, so Fermi called, and my boss said,
“You have an hour to pack."
Olum: We went at different times, I went at the
beginning
Novick: (Pointing at Olum) He was a pioneer
Olum: Pioneer1
Novick: Yeah, he was one of the Daughters of
American Revolution
Emerald: There have been accounts that there was
a "cloak and dagger" atmosphere
Olum: There was no cloak and dagger We knew
what it was We knew where we were going, and we
knew what we were going to work on We had to
know what we were doing it for
Novick: We didn't know any details There was an
article that appeared in Time magazine that gave me a
clue as to how the bomb would probably be built When
I got there, my friend said, "How do you take the
quegs?” I told them, and they were absolutely horrified
that I knew
Emerald: How much did you know before you
went?
Olum: We knew we were going to build a bomb
University Pres. Paul Olum (left) and Aaron Novick, head of the biology deparment, share 40-year-old memories
about their part in the development of the first atomic bomb.
Novick: We were working on the pile going super
critical.' How they were going to ignite it, we didn’t
know. But we knew they were making plutonium to use
in the bomb
Emerald: What was it like to work with so many
famous scientists at Los Alamos?
Olum: If you could forget what you were working
on If you could forget the implications and anything like
that it is the best in our history.
If you leave aside the moral issues, which I don’t want
to leave aside in the long run. If you’re asking what it
was like, then for a young scientist, a young physicist in
the beginning of your career and surrounded by people
like Hans Bater, Fermi and Nils Dohr, the greatest
names in science in the world. r.
Novick: never before in history was there such
a concentration of people like that.
Olum: And here we were listening to these people
and getting a chance to discuss their ideas. Seeing
them informally. Talking science night and day —
there’s nothing else like it on earth for a young scien
tist you could hardly imagine a better place to be
Emerald: What were the living conditions and the
social activities like?
Novick: There were dormitories and they really
were quite comfortable They had ping pong tables, one
played endless ping pong. There were parties on the
weekend were one drank much too much. Some people
broke ankles and legs playing ping pong while drunk,
but there wasn't a lot to do otherwise.
Olum: And we played touch football whenever we
could. You could play all year round at Los Alamos.
With the mention of the lighter side of Los Alamos,
the tension in Olum's face eases; Novick grins.
Novick: I also played softball.
Olum: So did I.
Novick: They were short a pitcher, so when they
heard I was coming to Los Alamos, they said ‘Oh good!
Aaron can be our pitcher.’ God
Olum: One softball pitcher I remember well. He was
a professional player. I batted against this guy, and I’ve
never seen anything as frightening. . . The ball came, I
would say, about 150 m.p.h. I was paralyzed.
Olum and Novick both laugh at the exaggeration.
Olum: We built our own ski slope the mountain
behind us, Paharika I think, went up to 9,000 feet. There
was a nice slope there, with some trees on it. Our
ordinance division, which was blowing up things all the
time anyhow, was delighted to practice blowing up the
trees. So they cleared the slope and we put together
some old circus tent rope and an automobile motor and
Continued on Page 16
Green story had errors, says dean
By Ann Portal
Ot the Emerald
A Thursday article about a confronta
tion between Affirmative Action Director
Bean McFadden and audience members
at a Women's Symposium discussion
had a "number of errors of fact,” ac
cording to Robert Berdahl, dean of the
arts and sciences college
The article described the outrage of
audience members who felt that History
Prof Barbara Green had been unjustly
served with a dismissal notice
Green, a visiting assistant professor,
had been brought to the University this
year on a two-year contract, but her
position was changed to a one-year
contract and the position was offered to
a black man from Wayne State Universi
ty, audience members charged
They protested the action, which they
said discriminated against Green, a
black woman and therefore a member of
two protected hiring classes.
Berdahl said Thursday that Green was
hired last June for only one year. Her
contract stated that her term would be up
June 15, Berdahl said, adding that there
has been no "dismissal notice" sent to
Green.
“It was not a matter of firing Barbara
Green,” he said.
Green was later informed that the po
sition would be filled on a permanent
basis next year, and that she was wel
come to apply, Berdahl said She did
apply, and was one of three finalists, but
Tyrone Tillery of Wayne State University
was the first choice of the search com
mittee, he said
Tillery was subsequently offered ten
ure at Wayne State, and he asked to
come to the University for a year as a
visiting professor. The history depart
ment, hoping to recruit him on a per
manent basis, agreed that he could
come in September as a visiting profes
sor, Berdahl said.
The entire search and hiring process
was an “affirmative action procedure.”
McFadden said Thursday she is in the
process of taking action on the matter,
“in accordance with what I was hired to
do at this University.”
She said the symposium audience
seemed not to understand exactly what
someone in her position is able to do. "I
can’t think of any position in the Univer
sity that is so misunderstood. ”
McFadden characterized the anger of
the men and women at the Wednesday
discussion as "entirely legitimate ” They
'are right to be concerned about a black
man being brought in to replace a black
woman, she said, adding that she has
told them how to get answers from the
University.