Following up on last week's review of Project Hail Mary, one of the things that struck me both while reading and watching were the parallels between PHM and the Manhattan Project. Yes, both were multinational big-budget science and engineering projects carried out in a rush, but that explosion
boom
put a punctuation mark on things. And while in the story the explosion did add a dramatic element, it was also the catalyst behind the major plot twist about which the entire story revolves. Moreover, the incident very much echoes two criticality accidents at Los Alamos that happened just as and just after WWII ended.
Reenactment with inert components. Don't try this one at home, kids.
Maybe it's my background, but while reading PHM this parallel jumped out immediately and it gave the whole book – and later movie – a ring of authenticity. In case you want to learn more on the Manhattan Project (and perhaps get the feel for the behind the scenes action in PHM), look no farther than Richard Rhodes' fine 1986 history The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
Yeah, just go read the book. Both of 'em, I mean. And see the movie.
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