​Manhattan Project Unsung Hero: Stan Ulam

By HEATHER MCCLENAHAN
Los Alamos Historical Society
 
Stan Ulam may be one of the least known of the leading Manhattan Project scientists. A Polish-born mathematician, he was working as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, when he received a letter from physicist Hans Bethe, inviting him to join a wartime project near Santa Fe, NM. He would spend most of the rest of his career working on complex nuclear problems or mathematical issues related to them, such as high-capacity computing.
 
As part of the Manhattan Project, Ulam, with John von Neumann and others, made the necessary mathematical calculations for the development of the “Fat Man” implosion weapon.

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