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The 20th Century
Lot 197
FEYNMAN WITNESSES THE TRINITY TEST. FEYNMAN, RICHARD. 1918-1988. Autograph Letter Signed ("Dick") to Carol Field describing his naked view of the Trinity atomic test, as well as the atmosphere at Los Alamos after the news of Hiroshima,
21 November 2023, 10:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$32,000 inc. premium
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FEYNMAN WITNESSES THE TRINITY TEST.
FEYNMAN, RICHARD. 1918-1988. Autograph Letter Signed ("Dick") to Carol Field describing his naked view of the Trinity atomic test, as well as the atmosphere at Los Alamos after the news of Hiroshima, 4 pp, ink on paper, Los Alamos, NM, August 7 - August 20, 1945, with original transmittal envelope.
Provenance: Richard Feynman, sent to Carol Field; by descent.
FEYNMAN'S FIRST-PERSON DESCRIPTION OF WATCHING THE TRINITY ATOMIC TEST WITHOUT THE DARK GLASSES ISSUED TO THE MANHATTAN PROJECT TEAM. In a rare letter to his friend Carol Fields, written just after the Trinity test in Almagorda, NM, Feynman offers a clear description of the test: "Everyone got dark welders glasses. I looked at my flashlight thru them & could hardly see it. So I said, hell it won't work as good as we figure so I'll only see a little green dot at 20 miles through the welders glass – so I'll look at it directly. Result, when it went off I knew it – I was temporarily blinded & had to look away – but no matter where I looked I saw a greatpurple violet splotch – it was in my eyes, like the splotches you get after looking a moment right into a bright light. But I looked back as soon as I could & saw a wonderful sequence of colors and events... But when things were calming down & all was changing slowly (1 min & 40 sec after the beginning) we heard a sharp crack followed by a resounding thunder. When I heard that I felt impresses – it sounded so solid & 20 miles away too! I knew the thing had worked right then. It takes that long for sound to travel 20 mi.
When the sharp crack & thunder came one guy was so suprised he whizzed around to me & cried, 'What was that!' 'That's the thing' I said & almost added "You dope" but he was a representative of the war department from Washington who had earlier been in my care (I showed him around I mean) so I was more careful.
Thereafter everybody jumped around like wild Indians & shook hands & congratulated everyone else & finally we settled down, got back in the buses and went home. We asked one of the bus drivers (who didn't know what the thing was about) whether he didn't think that was something. He said modestly, 'I really couldn't say, - you see I never had an opportunity to see one of these things before.'"
Richard Feynman joined the Manhattan project team as a head in the theoretical division as a 24-year old in 1943. Robert Oppenheimer himself wrote of the young Feynman that year that he was "by all odds the most brilliant young physicist here, and everyone knows this."
Having noted at the beginning of the letter, his difficulties following through with his letter writing ("making excuses for not writing letters I haven't not written yet"), Feynman fulfills his own prophecy. The letter, began on August 7, closes with his description of Los Alamos after the bombing of Hiroshima on August 19th (the letter is post-marked August 20th): "there was plenty of excitement around here when the news of the Japan bomb broke yesterday. I was up all night celebrating. Nobody can work. One reason I'm writing letters."
A fantastic Feynman letter capturing the brilliant young scientist during the culmination of the Manhattan Project.
Provenance: Richard Feynman, sent to Carol Field; by descent.
FEYNMAN'S FIRST-PERSON DESCRIPTION OF WATCHING THE TRINITY ATOMIC TEST WITHOUT THE DARK GLASSES ISSUED TO THE MANHATTAN PROJECT TEAM. In a rare letter to his friend Carol Fields, written just after the Trinity test in Almagorda, NM, Feynman offers a clear description of the test: "Everyone got dark welders glasses. I looked at my flashlight thru them & could hardly see it. So I said, hell it won't work as good as we figure so I'll only see a little green dot at 20 miles through the welders glass – so I'll look at it directly. Result, when it went off I knew it – I was temporarily blinded & had to look away – but no matter where I looked I saw a great
When the sharp crack & thunder came one guy was so suprised he whizzed around to me & cried, 'What was that!' 'That's the thing' I said & almost added "You dope" but he was a representative of the war department from Washington who had earlier been in my care (I showed him around I mean) so I was more careful.
Thereafter everybody jumped around like wild Indians & shook hands & congratulated everyone else & finally we settled down, got back in the buses and went home. We asked one of the bus drivers (who didn't know what the thing was about) whether he didn't think that was something. He said modestly, 'I really couldn't say, - you see I never had an opportunity to see one of these things before.'"
Richard Feynman joined the Manhattan project team as a head in the theoretical division as a 24-year old in 1943. Robert Oppenheimer himself wrote of the young Feynman that year that he was "by all odds the most brilliant young physicist here, and everyone knows this."
Having noted at the beginning of the letter, his difficulties following through with his letter writing ("making excuses for not writing letters I haven't not written yet"), Feynman fulfills his own prophecy. The letter, began on August 7, closes with his description of Los Alamos after the bombing of Hiroshima on August 19th (the letter is post-marked August 20th): "there was plenty of excitement around here when the news of the Japan bomb broke yesterday. I was up all night celebrating. Nobody can work. One reason I'm writing letters."
A fantastic Feynman letter capturing the brilliant young scientist during the culmination of the Manhattan Project.