Women of The Manhattan Project






Our book, Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project, is now available as a paperback.



This book was originally published as a hardback by Temple University Press. The authors are my colleague Ruth H. Howes, who is a professor of physics at Marquette University, and myself, Caroline L. Herzenberg.
Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project is listed by Amazon.com, and is available from other major book stores. Their Day in the Sun is about America's secret project to develop the first atomic bombs during World War II, and the largely overlooked but important role of women in the Manhattan Project. The many important scientific and technical contributions of the women to the Manhattan Project are presented for the first time in this book.



More About the Women Scientific Workers of the Manhattan Project


This page is under development to gather and provide further information about the women scientific workers of the Manhattan Project. We hope to set up at least the beginning of an on-line archive here, and to include newly identified women in any future revision of the book. If you or your friends or family were involved in the Manhattan Project and knew any of the women scientific workers, or you have other sources of information about the women scientific workers of the Manhattan Project, we would like to hear from you! Contact Caroline Herzenberg at the email address carol@herzenberg.net or at other addresses on the index page of this site.


Here are some names of a few of the several hundred women scientists and scientific workers of the Manhattan Project whom we have written about; for these women we are including some hyperlinks to other websites and/or contact information so as to assist readers interested in obtaining additional information or pursuing further research:


Leona Woods Marshall Libby - This link has a group photo with Leona Marshall and a brief remark about her participation in the Manhattan Project
Maria Goeppert Mayer - Here's a good web page on Maria Mayer
Chien-Shiung Wu - Here's info on Chien-Shiung Wu
Isabella Lugowski Karle - Info on Isabella Karle from the Invention Dimension website.
Jane Hamilton Hall - Here's a link that refers to Jane Hall and her work on the Manhattan Project
Katharine Way - A link to the CWP web page for Kay Way
Elda Anderson - Here's a link to Manhattan Project Scientist Elda Anderson
Edith Hinkley Quimby - A link to bio info on Edith Quimby
Marian Elliott Koshland - A link about Marian Koshland
Hoylande Young Failey - senior chemist at the Met Lab.
Miriam Posner Finkel - she worked as a biologist studying toxic effects of radionuclides at the Met Lab. Further information, e-mail finkel@sd-il.com.
Gladys Morgan Happer - first physician at the Clinton (Oak Ridge) site.
Lilli Schwenk Hornig - Link to Chemists Reminisce on 50th Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb
Rose C. L. Mooney-Slater - used X-ray diffraction to examine crystal structures at the Met Lab.
Elaine Sammel Palevsky - she and her husband, Harry Palevsky, both worked at Los Alamos.
Ellen Cleminshaw Weaver - NCC-AWIS: Ellen Weaver Award an award in honor of Ellen Weaver
Naomi Livesay - Here's a link that refers to Naomi Livesay and her work on the Manhattan Project.
Frances Dunne - Here's a link that refers to Frances Dunne and her work as a technician on the Manhattan Project.
Natasha Goldowski - A link that refers to metallurgist Natasha Goldowski and her work on the Manhattan Project.
Elizabeth Riddle Graves - Here's a link that refers to physicist Elizabeth Graves and her work on the Manhattan Project.
Joan Hinton - Here's a link that refers to physicist Naomi Livesay and her work on the Manhattan Project.
Mici Teller - Here's a link that tells about Mici Teller whose spouse is physicist Edward Teller and who also worked on the Manhattan Project.
Mary Argo - A link that refers to Mary Argo and her work as a physicist on the Manhattan Project.
Jane Roberg - Here's a link that refers to physicist Jane Roberg and her work on the Manhattan Project. More information is available about her from her sister, Pat Fleeson, who can be contacted through bfleeson@earthlink.net or by mail at 928 Highland Drive, Bellingham, Washington 98225.
Marilyn Howe - Marilyn Howe, who trained in chemistry and worked in the Technical Division of the Met Lab together with her spouse John P. Howe, now lives in California and can be reached at her email address marilynhe@iopener.net.


Here are some links relevant to women of the Manhattan Project:

  • Women Have an Important Place in Hanford Site History
  • Women of the Manhattan Project (this is an exceptionally good student paper by Katherine L. Ramsey of Clayton College).




    New Information about Women Scientific Workers of the Manhattan Project


    Here we identify some additional women who worked on the Manhattan Project who have been brought to our attention since the publication of our book, and also additional information and contacts for some women already included in the book:

    Dorothy Bockhop University of California Berkeley, analytical chemistry - purification and analysis of uranium (info received from Bert Tolbert Bert.Tolbert@Colorado.EDU via Ellen Weaver )
    Mildred Smith (Jentch) Bennett chemistry laboratory technician both at Berkeley and at Oak Ridge during the war years - purification and analysis of uranium (info received from Bert Tolbert Bert.Tolbert@Colorado.EDU via Ellen Weaver )
    Ruth Donohue Tevebough and her spouse Arthur Tevebough worked on the Manhattan Project at Iowa State College according to information that we have received recently, - she was the only woman among about 100 or so workers there.
    Dorothy Woodland
    S. Agnes Decker (phone interview with Ruth Howes)
    Janet Ruth Arnold
    Elizabeth Painter Marcus (She is included in our book, but identified only as Elizabeth Painter)
    Wanda Hamming
    Violet Wochner Kingston
    Olga (Yarotsky) Carpenter worked on the Manhattan Project as a technician - info Prof. Nancy E. Carpenter, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Minnesota
    Mary M. Patterson Sagan was a WAC Tec 4 cryptographer stationed at Los Alamos - info email MarySagan@aol.com
    Helen Ketola was a member of the Women's Army Corps during the war years; she was at Los Alamos, and was assigned to the Chemistry and Metallurgy (CM) Division in the Service Group and was classified as a Tec 4 and Tec 5 series worker; she likely performed clerical support or laboratory support work - info from Ellen McGehee, Los Alamos.
    Dorothy M. Gans worked at the Metallurgical Laboratory Site B in Chicago as a technician during the Manhattan Project. For further information about her experiences on the Manhattan Project, she can be reached at 1700 E. 56th Street #3301, Chicago IL 60637-5092.
    Grace Riplinger Harvey worked on the Manhattan Project during the 1940s at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago. She was a laboratory technician and worked in the Health Division on a research project using rabbits; her immediate supervisor was Edna Marks. We wish her a happy 90th birthday on September 30 2006! Contact: Katherine Garneau at: ktedit@yahoo.com.
    Vinita Cannon> participated in the Manhattan Project while attending the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Info obit Feb 2008 in Vero Beach FL newspaper. Survivors include brother Warren Blood of Seattle.




    A study of the women of wartime Los Alamos has been in progress by Ellen McGehee of Los Alamos. If you have information about Project Y women, you can contact her at: Ellen D. McGehee, RRES-ECO, MS M887, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, or by email at: emcgehee@lanl.gov.




    You can find additional interesting information about women who worked on the Manhattan Project on The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association's web pages on Women of the Manhattan Project. This site includes more about the many women who were not specifically engaged in scientific or technical work.




    While you are here, pay a visit to the Manhattan Project web page for related information.




    Perhaps you might also wish to visit the history of women in science and history of science web pages.



    This page updated 7 March 2008.
    Thanks for visiting!


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