Berkeley/UC History

July 16, 1945 test of first atomic bomb

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Manhattan Project’s test explosion of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico. The Project was co-directed by Prof. J. Robert Oppenheimer of UC-Berkeley’s physics department.

In 1980, BBC produced a seven-part series about the Project, Oppenheimer, and goings on at the time at Berkeley. You can now see the whole series on YouTube. Highly recommended by yours truly.

Links below:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sSOprKCEME

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX0fvoPHOZM

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io3WSJwVk1I

Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo0jZqxcrWE

Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo6s9G1W8Ng

Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msadwfwjWfo

Part 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0dfw_uPlQo

 

The Manhattan Project and its connection to Berkeley are the reasons UC remains involved in the Dept. of Energy labs, a review of which will be on the agenda for next week’s Regents meeting.