The Dayton Project was a research and development project to produce polonium during World War II, as part of the larger Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs. Work took place at several sites in and around Dayton, Ohio. Those working on the project were ultimately responsible for creating the polonium-based modulated neutron initiators that were used to begin the chain reactions in the atomic bombs.
The Dayton Project began in 1943 when Monsanto's Charles Allen Thomas was recruited by the Manhattan Project to coordinate the plutonium purification and production work being carried out at various sites. Scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory calculated that a plutonium bomb would require a neutron initiator. The best-known neutron sources used radioactive polonium and beryllium, so Thomas undertook to produce polonium at Monsanto's laboratories in Dayton. While most Manhattan Project activity took place at remote locations, the Dayton Project was located in a populated, urban area. It ran from 1943 to 1949, when the Mound Laboratories were completed in nearby Miamisburg, Ohio, and the work moved there.
The Dayton Project developed techniques for extracting polonium from the lead dioxide ore in which it occurs naturally, and from bismuth targets that had been bombarded by neutrons in a nuclear reactor. Ultimately, polonium-based neutron initiators were used in both the gun-type Little Boy and the implosion-type Fat Man used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. The fact that polonium was used as an initiator was classified until the 1960s, but George Koval, a technician with the Manhattan Project's Special Engineer Detachment, penetrated the Dayton Project as a spy for the Soviet Union.
The DaytonProject was a research and development project to produce polonium during World War II, as part of the larger Manhattan Project to build the...
Charles Allen Thomas of the Monsanto Company and became known as the DaytonProject. Testing required up to 500 curies per month of polonium, which Monsanto...
Charles Allen Thomas of the Monsanto Company and became known as the DaytonProject. Testing required up to 500 curies per month of polonium, which Monsanto...
research physicist who contributed to the DaytonProject from 1943 to 1947, an initiative within the Manhattan Project focused on polonium development. Parker...
Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords (Serbo-Croatian: Dejtonski mirovni sporazum, Дејтонски мировни споразум), and colloquially known as the Dayton...
The laboratory grew out of the World War II era DaytonProject (a site within the Manhattan Project) where the neutron generating triggers for the first...
The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist...
Dayton International Airport (IATA: DAY, ICAO: KDAY, FAA LID: DAY) (officially James M. Cox Dayton International Airport, formerly Dayton Municipal Airport...
55440" Peloquin, Jahna (October 22, 2017). "Can the Dayton'sProject Bring Back the Magic of Dayton's?". Minnesota Monthly. Archived from the original on...
Dayton Arcade is a collection of nine buildings in Dayton, Ohio. The Arcade is a historic, architecturally elegant complex in the heart of Dayton's central...
Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He served as a United...
with beryllium in the triggers of atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project'sDaytonProject, part of which was conducted on the estate of his wife's family...
Jonathan Dayton (born July 7, 1957) and Valerie Faris (born October 20, 1958) are a duo of American directors and producers for film and music videos....
Dayton Mall is a shopping mall in Miami Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Dayton. The mall's anchor stores are Dick's Sporting...
become co-director of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos with Robert Oppenheimer, but Thomas was reluctant to leave Dayton and Monsanto. He joined the NDRC...
Jonathan Dayton (October 16, 1760 – October 9, 1824) was an American Founding Father and politician from New Jersey. At 26, he was the youngest person...
United States, polonium was produced as part of the Manhattan Project'sDaytonProject during World War II. Polonium and beryllium were the key ingredients...
The Dayton Family is an American hip hop group from Flint, Michigan, composed of Ira "Bootleg" Dorsey, Raheen "Shoestring" Peterson and Matt "Backstabba"...
he obtained information from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the DaytonProject about the Urchin detonator used on the Fat Man plutonium bomb. His work...
obtained information from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the DaytonProject about the Urchin (detonator) used for the Fat Man plutonium bomb. Irving...
The Great Dayton Flood of 1913 resulted from flooding by the Great Miami River reaching Dayton, Ohio, and the surrounding area, causing the greatest natural...
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