The Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project,

Alamogordo: first atomic bomb test, 1945Jack Aeby/Los Alamos National LaboratoryU.S. government research project (1942–45) that produced the first atomic bombs.

American scientists, many of them refugees from fascist regimes in Europe, took steps in 1939 to organize a project to exploit the newly recognized fission process for military purposes. The first contact with the government was made by G.B. Pegram of Columbia University, who arranged a conference between Enrico Fermi and the Navy Department in March 1939. In the summer of 1939, Albert Einstein was persuaded by his fellow scientists to use his influence and present the military potential of an uncontrolled fission chain reaction to Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. In February 1940, $6,000 was made available to start research under the supervision of a committee headed by L.J. Briggs, director of the National Bureau of Standards (later National Institute of Standards and Technology). On December 6, 1941, the project was put under the direction of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, headed by Vannevar Bush.

Groves, Leslie RichardLos Alamos National LaboratoryAfter the U.S. entry into World War II, the War Department was given joint responsibility for the project, because by mid-1942 it was obvious that a vast array of pilot plants, laboratories, and manufacturing facilities would have to be constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so that the assembled scientists could carry out their mission. In June 1942 the Corps of Engineers’ Manhattan District was initially assigned management of the construction work (because much of the early research had been performed at Columbia University, in Manhattan), and in September 1942 Brig. Gen. Leslie R. Groves was placed in charge of all Army activities (chiefly engineering activities) relating to the project. “Manhattan Project” became the code name for research work that would extend across the country.

It was known in 1940 that German scientists were working on a similar project and that the British were also exploring the problem. In the fall of 1941 Harold C. Urey and Pegram visited England to attempt to set up a cooperative effort, and by 1943 a combined policy committee with Great Britain and Canada was established. In that year a number of scientists of those countries moved to the United States to join the project there.

If the project were to achieve success quickly, several lines of research and development had to be carried on simultaneously before it was certain whether any might succeed. The explosive materials then had to be produced and be made suitable for use in an actual weapon.

atomic bombEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Uranium-235, the essential fissionable component of the postulated bomb, cannot be separated from its natural companion, the much more abundant uranium-238, by chemical means; the atoms of these respective isotopes must rather be separated from each other by physical means. Several physical methods to do this were intensively explored, and two were chosen—the electromagnetic process developed at the University of California, Berkeley, under Ernest Orlando Lawrence and the diffusion process developed under Urey at Columbia University. Both of these processes, and particularly the diffusion method, required large, complex facilities and huge amounts of electric power to produce even small amounts of separated uranium-235. Philip Hauge Abelson developed a third method called thermal diffusion, which was also used for a time to effect a preliminary separation. These methods were put into production at a 70-square-mile (180-square-km) tract near Knoxville, Tennessee, originally known as the Clinton Engineer Works, later as Oak Ridge.

nuclear chain reaction: scientists observing the world’s first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, in Chicago, 1942National Archives and Records Administration (ARC Identifier 542144)Only one method was available for the production of the fissionable material plutonium-239. It was developed at the metallurgical laboratory of the University of Chicago under the direction of Arthur Holly Compton and involved the transmutation in a reactor pile of uranium-238. In December 1942 Fermi finally succeeded in producing and controlling a fission chain reaction in this reactor pile at Chicago.

Quantity production of plutonium-239 required the construction of a reactor of great size and power that would release about 25,000 kilowatt-hours of heat for each gram of plutonium produced. It involved the development of chemical extraction procedures that would work under conditions never before encountered. An intermediate step in putting this method into production was taken with the construction of a medium-size reactor at Oak Ridge. The large-scale production reactors were built on an isolated 1,000-square-mile (2,600-square-km) tract on the Columbia River north of Pasco, Washington—the Hanford Engineer Works.

Groves, Leslie Richard: Groves and Openheimer working on the Manhattan ProjectMarie Hansen—Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBefore 1943, work on the design and functioning of the bomb itself was largely theoretical, based on fundamental experiments carried out at a number of different locations. In that year a laboratory directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer was created on an isolated mesa at Los Alamos, New Mexico, 34 miles (55 km) north of Santa Fe. This laboratory had to develop methods of reducing the fissionable products of the production plants to pure metal and fabricating the metal to required shapes. Methods of rapidly bringing together amounts of fissionable material to achieve a supercritical mass (and thus a nuclear explosion) had to be devised, along with the actual construction of a deliverable weapon that would be dropped from a plane and fused to detonate at the proper moment in the air above the target. Most of these problems had to be solved before any appreciable amount of fissionable material could be produced, so that the first adequate amounts could be used at the fighting front with minimum delay.

By the summer of 1945, amounts of plutonium-239 sufficient to produce a nuclear explosion had become available from the Hanford Works, and weapon development and design were sufficiently far advanced so that an actual field test of a nuclear explosive could be scheduled. Such a test was no simple affair. Elaborate and complex equipment had to be assembled so that a complete diagnosis of success or failure could be had. By this time the original $6,000 authorized for the Manhattan Project had grown to $2 billion.

atomic bomb: First test near Alamogordo, New MexicoCourtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico

The first atomic bomb was exploded at 5:30 am on July 16, 1945, at a site on the Alamogordo air base 120 miles (193 km) south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was detonated on top of a steel tower surrounded by scientific equipment, with remote monitoring taking place in bunkers occupied by scientists and a few dignitaries 10,000 yards (9 km) away. The explosion came as an intense light flash, a sudden wave of heat, and later a tremendous roar as the shock wave passed and echoed in the valley. A ball of fire rose rapidly, followed by a mushroom cloud extending to 40,000 feet (12,200 metres). The bomb generated an explosive power equivalent to 15,000 to 20,000 tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT); the tower was completely vaporized and the surrounding desert surface fused to glass for a radius of 800 yards (730 metres). The following month, two other atomic bombs produced by the project, the first using uranium-235 and the second using plutonium, were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Source: http://www.britanica.com/event/manhattan-Project

 

Mound Science and Energy Museum in Miamisburg, OH

Note: There was a facility that was built underground near the current area of this museum. The facility had cement walls that were 17 feet thick to prevent it from being destroyed through an attack. Trucks could be driven underground to the facility. The purpose of the existence of this facility was to produce Polonium. Polonium was used to set off the atom bomb. This was a highly top secret mission and associated with the Manhattan Project. Other uses for uranium were also explored at this site. A Russian spy infiltrated the site. The Mound Science and Energy Museum (MSEM) owes its success to dedicated volunteers and supporters. My husband and I attended a tour at the museum and given a demonstration about gamma, meta and beta levels of radiation and learned about other very interesting things associated with the experiments and products produced at the underground facility.

The MSEM currently has 40 active volunteers and 200 dues-paying members.
After the decision to close the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Mound site was finalized in 1992 and site cleanup efforts were underway, four volunteers stepped forward in 1998 to start a museum as a way to preserve the heritage of the Mound site. Their goal was to document a sense of the people and environment that led to a half-century of scientific and technical accomplishments. Monthly meetings were originally held in these volunteers’ homes as they formulated their initial preservation efforts. The numbers of volunteers gradually grew to approximately one dozen. As their organizational efforts progressed, planning meetings were held at various locations at the Mound site and around the City of Miamisburg. In 2005, Mound Development Corporation (MDC), formerly Miamisburg Mound Community Improvement Corporation, offered the use of a small building onsite that had previously been transferred to them. A protocol was worked out to allow the MSEM (formerly Mound Museum Association) to request from DOE known excess historical documents and artifacts being discarded as part of the remediation efforts at the site. MDC acted as an intermediary between DOE and MSEM. Following approval of the request, the items were transferred to the museum. A number of privately held historical articles and collections were also generously donated by museum supporters.

The MSEM collection currently contains 70,000 declassified photographs, 5,000 unclassified/declassified reports, and 1,400 technical books and journals. The collection also contains numerous items from the site’s production days, including declassified nuclear weapons components and heat-source components and models. The heat sources were assembled at Mound by skilled technicians to provide electricity for NASA’s deep space flights. Many of the heat sources are still functioning on missions such as Pioneer, Voyager, and Galileo.

The MSEM recently became a member of the American Association for State and Local History and has developed relationships with the National Atomic Museum, the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum, and the Carillon Historical Park in nearby Dayton, Ohio.

After being housed in several facilities both onsite and offsite, in 2011, the museum relocated to its present location in a former Mound site building.
Local high school groups tour the facility as an educational experience, and the museum has been visited by people from around the country. Educational seminars are conducted monthly on a variety of scientific and historical ventures by former employees and other experts. The seminars, which are open to the public, are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. The MSEM is open to the public Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to noon.

For more information call (937) 353-4457 or visit moundmuseum.com.

 

Beyond the Shadows

Note: This exerpt is a portion of my book "Beyond the Shadows" which addresses what to do about unresolved trauma for everyone but especially Native Americans.

Even if it burns a bit low at times,

The secret of life is to always

Keep the flame of hope alive.

Barbara Johnson 

One of the single most critical elements preventing us from achieving happiness is unresolved trauma. Everybody has it within themselves to become healthier: physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. All of us have a past and our share of challenges. No one has a perfect life; loved ones passed away, parents divorce, loss of jobs, substance abuse issues, and unfair treatment. Change can be exciting, satisfying, and valuable. Conversely, change can also be frightening and complicated. Not taking risks can assist us with avoiding additional suffering, disappointment, and fear of the unknown; however, it also causes us to avoid learning, changing, growing, or really living life to the fullest. Most of us are not usually adept with planning for good things to happen in our lives. We usually plan for setbacks and disasters. With a positive mindset and achievable goals, our goals are more likely to come to fruition. If you have made a decision to heal from unresolved trauma, you need to make sure you are committed to the necessary changes and pursue the tools necessary to see your recovery to the end. 

“If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I want to

warn you that you’ll be deeply unhappy the rest of your life.” 

Abraham Maslow 

We all have it within ourselves to live a life filled with meaning and satisfaction. This book is about the ability to master your life and unlock your fullest potential. The book you have in front of you will become one of the most important books in your life. Of course, many authors make this claim. After personally practicing many of the things described in this book and reaching a life filled with fulfillment, I can safely proclaim this statement. This is a powerful resource and the first one of its kind that I am aware of. This book is written primarily in first person format because I believe we are all in this together. The people who were interviewed for this book and previous writing projects provided a lot of insight concerning what it has been like to deal with unresolved trauma. The names of these individuals were changed to protect their privacy. Some of the topics will be repeated throughout the book because of the importance of the information. Be prepared to feel empowered when unpacking your trauma baggage and transform your life from merely surviving to thriving. Before you begin your journey of healing from unresolved trauma you are often stuck in the victim role, a role frocked with feelings of helplessness and no hope for a brighter tomorrow.

            An important goal when addressing historical trauma is to move from the victim role to thriving. The terms victim and survivor are often used interchangeably. There are vast differences between the terms. The terms victim, survivor, and thriver feature distinctions as follows:

Victim:

State of helplessness

Angry

Hoping to be rescued

Perception of lacking choices

Self-pity

Complacent

Identities self as a victim

In pain and feeling numb

Experiencing feelings of defeat

Avoidance of feelings

Controlled by traumatic memories

Controlled by depression, anxiety, hatred, bitterness, revenge, and physical complaints

Has not learned from the experience, likely to repeat trauma, and victimization

Feelings of shame and self-dislike

Self-destructive addictions 

Survivor:

Beginning to feel stronger

Perception that there are resources and choices

Recognition of personal potential to change and grow

Living one day at a time; coping from day to day; present life is primary focus

Beginning to heal

Living moderately well

Suffering begins to lessen

Neutral about life; not depressed, but not happy

Realization of traumatic experience(s) existing in the past.

Removed ourselves from possible abusive situations 

Thriver:

Committed to positive growth

Planning for the future with optimism

Active

Self-determined

Can experience joy

Established healthy self-esteem; and we see ourselves as valuable people

Reaching out to others

Has found meaning and purpose in life

Experience positive growth as a result of the trauma.

Can endure remaining anxiety based symptoms with relative comfort and/or acceptance

Guilty feelings have been resolved

The perception that we have moved past the trauma and can experience life to the fullest

Generally satisfied with life 

Happiness is an obligation which we owe to ourselves, others and the universe. Mastery of our own personal happiness takes effort. Happiness is a state of well-being and contentment. We may have found it easier to be sad and find fault with our lives.  We may be used to being unhappy and as a result our unhappiness has become our norm. If we force ourselves to smile on a daily basis, smiling will become a personal habit. Feeling grateful for what we have is the first step to happiness and next is humility, appropriate communication skills and a desire to control our need to obtain all our wants. The recipe for happiness involves equal parts of being grateful plus not allowing things to bring us down. We are in charge of our emotions. We need to seek happiness like our life depends on it because it does. 

Native Americans have demonstrated steadfast resiliency throughout history. As a member of a federally recognized tribe, it is the explanation I chose to use to explain our existence. There are many factors associated with resilience: insight into ourselves and others; open mindedness; courage; personal discipline; integrity; a sense of humor; a high tolerance for distress; and a practical viewpoint that grants life meaning, and hope. Those who coped best with traumatic events were those with the insight into the emotional impact of what they experienced and who were able to express their feelings to another immediately following the event.  Another factor that comes into play is the person’s temperament. Also the early life experience of trauma can contribute to our vulnerability or resistance to stress. The impact of prolonged early trauma from childhood into adulthood is likely to interfere with the development of resilience. Coping with complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) poses an extreme challenge. This disorder, which I believe many Native Americans are inflicted with, is the crisis that can be accompanied with an opportunity to develop new ways of coping and more resilience. 

The core feelings associated with trauma are feeling afraid and alone.  Hence, mobilizing social support systems such as relatives, friends, and members of the community can play a major role in our recovery. Encouraging survivors to tell our story counteracts the feeling of isolation. It also provides an opportunity to make sense of the traumatic experience. The more severe, complex, and chronic the PTSD symptoms are, the more difficult these symptoms are to explain or diagnose. Correctly answering the question “What happened?” may take a while to answer.  And the question may refer to much of our childhoods, allowing no brief answer. Our stories, depending on the complexity of the trauma we suffered, may be difficult to reconstruct. The stages of recovery involve establishing safety, reconstructing our story, mourning and integration. For anyone who has suffered various forms of trauma most of their lives, establishing a sense of safety may not be easy. A sense of safety may not occur at the beginning of the healing journey, it may be the end result.

Most of us were inflicted with some form of serious trauma during our lifetime and research has demonstrated the trauma faced by our ancestors also affects us today; this is referred to as intergenerational stress or historical trauma. In the days before the United States and Canada were settled by Europeans, there were no political boundaries. Many of the tribes consisted of nomadic hunters and gatherers. Weather and the availability of food sources played a role in deciding where the Anishanaabeg (original people) would live.  I will also use the name Indian for this population because it has been determined to be a noble name. What was known as the Indies today was known as Hindustan in 1492. The word “Indian” came from Columbus’ description of the people he found. He was an Italian who did not speak or write Spanish very well, so in his written accounts he called the Indians, “Una gente in Dios,” a people in God.  Again, it is my opinion the given name of Indian is perfectly noble and respectable. 

For hundreds of years Indian people have been subjected to harsh acts of discrimination, which I have to regretfully acknowledge is still occurring today. Keep in mind; phrases such as “Drunken Indians” are still being used. The children at the boarding schools were told their form of spirituality was barbaric, savage, and they were told they were less than human by people who shoved Christianity down their throats while they were sexually, emotionally, and physically abusing them. The batterers told the battered they were undeserving of respect. This book clearly describes what historical trauma is and what can be done to address the damage caused by the ravages of this form of chronic abuse. 

Much was lost and destroyed during the cultural disruption of Native American people throughout the history of Euro-Americans settling in this country. As much as we want to blame the Euro-Americans for all our problems, we need to realize everybody suffered.  Even though there has been a lot of destruction to our feelings of self-worth for centuries, we all have it within ourselves to live a life filled with contentment. It would behoove us as a nation to work together to address the problems we are facing by providing support for one another and by rebuilding our communities.

I suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of chronic abuse.  It was like I was walking on a battlefield during war time. Being out of the war zone is like breathing fresh air for the first time. My dream is to release other Native American people from their shame and anxiety induced prisons. The first order of business is to gain an understanding about what has been done to us for centuries and how that abuse has scarred our well-being often beyond recognition. Many of us have been in pain for so long it is difficult to even imagine life without it. Feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness have gotten in the way of our ability of doing our very best as a result of unresolved trauma. 

Instead of feeling as if you are serving on the front lines of a horrific battle, you will feel as if you are walking through a quiet meadow. Colors will become more vibrant and you will feel like the world around you is a friendlier place, one in which we can flourish. The new skills developed during the healing process will give you the personal power to heal. Living a life filled with meaning involves developing your fullest potential and saying no to things that have caused harm to you and things that may cause you harm. You owe it to yourself and the other important people in your life to be physically, spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually healthy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Nature Lover's Paradise

Note: The Straits area that is referred to in this  blog is located in upper Michigan near the Mackinac Bridge on both sides of the peninsula, the upper peninsula of Michigan and the area near the bridge on the lower peninsula.

The Straits area is a nature lover’s paradise. Prehistoric fossil corals, bivalves and even trilobites from the Devonian period (about 400 million years ago) strewn among the beach pebbles, show us marine creatures of the remote past. Today, the great variety of habitats near the Straits – dunes, swales, marshes cedar swamps, jack pine plains, wet and dry meadows, bogs and ferns, deciduous forests – are home to an astounding diversity of plants and animals.

                Mammals that might be seen at any time include bats, deer, flying squirrel, bear, porcupine, coyote, opossum, bobcat, ground squirrel, raccon, beaver, muskrat, rabbits and many species of mice and voles with luck.

                Birders are blessed here too. The Straits is a staging point for migratory raptors in the spring; they can be seen circling far above Mackinaw City in April and May. Other notables include the extremely endangered piping plover, which lives along the shoreline and can be observed with binoculars but should never be approached; and the great pileated wood pecker, with its red crest and 30-inch wingspan that you can hear hammering even from a long distance. Dozens of other bird species migrate to mate and spend the summer in the biologically rich environs of the Straits.

                Some of the greatest delights found on the north shore of the Lower Peninsula are wild flowers. May brings trilliums, trout lilies, spring beauty, starflowers, hepatica, marsh marigold. Dutchman’s breeches and many others. In june, the lovely and rare orchids appear. And the summer wildflowers are no less spectacular, with a cast o fliterally hundreds in every imaginable color: brilliant red Indian paintbrush; sky blue forget-me-not; goldenrods; purple fireweed; pink, blue and white asters; brilliant yellow puccoons; and silver-leaved Pitcher’s thistle.

                The Straits puts on a glorious autumn show, too, with red, orange and yellow maples, deep red oaks, sparkling yellow aspen and beech, brilliant sumacs and even the fluffy-looking golden golden needles of larch (or tamarack), Michigan’s only deciduous conifer.

                Upper Michigan is filled with its natural wonders. Bear walk the woods. There have been a moose now and again that has made their appearance, mostly in the upper parts of the Upper Peninsula.  The water of Lake Huron and the other Great Lakes glimmers during the daylight hours. Many species of fish exist in the clear blue waters. Upper Michigan offers a plethora of wonderful things to view and experience.

                Source: 2015 Edition Mackinaw Today (The Straits Area Visitors Guide)
Author: Dough Hagley
 

Christmas Wishes

                Thoughts of Christmas past have been running through my mind and the wishes I would love fulfilled for the holiday season and the year 2016. I remember past Christmas’ in which approximately 20 family members celebrated together. Now we are so few, two or three at a time. Celebrating two Thanksgivings with four people  and then five people, back to back.  That was this year, but there have been years when it was just the two of us. Nice times but not the large gatherings of the past. What has happened to our family gatherings and our need to spend time together?  Smaller gatherings seem to the trend.  We need to hold onto the special moments.

                Family does not only mean our biological family any more. Often our closest friends are more like our family than our biological family. Stressful and hurried times create stress among families. Too much to do in so little time. The advanced technology has not lighten our burdens, it has seemed to add more on our already full plates. Sometimes we are guilty of placing too much importance on what we need to do such as chores than maintaining and sustaining healthy relationships. We need to take the time to let the people in our lives know how important they are to us. I know I am guilty of placing too much importance on tasks them people at times. We have become more of a task oriented and thing oriented society and we lost touch with the warmth and love we can experience from being close to people. I have a lot of wishes I would like fulfilled in 2016.

                I wish that we can become closer to our loved ones and friends and that we will make it a priority  to build happier and healthier relationships. Hand held devices cannot replace a hug. Seeing a warm smile can provide the heartfelt feeling on a cold winter day, nothing better than warm snuggles from smiles and hugs.  An earlier study revealed that we need so many hugs to get over anything traumatic in our lives. Hugs are very healing.

                I wish that we would all let go of our resentments towards one another and see the beauty and depth that exists with all of us. Forgiveness is done for us and not for the other person who harmed us. Holding resentments is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to become sick. We need to forgive. It doesn’t mean that we have to have that person in our life. It means accepting the harmful situation for what it was and letting go of the harm that situation caused us.

                I wish all of us would reach out and volunteer in our communities. The best way to feel good about ourselves is by helping others. I feel very rewarded when I help others even if those others are animals. A tail wag and purring is very therapeutic. We all have a few hours to spare to help others. There are many ways to do so from volunteering at a soup kitchen, walking dogs at the animal shelter to cleaning a section of road. We need to get out there and see how we can be part of the solution.

                I wish all of us would take care of ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. We are all important and we need to treat ourselves as such. If one of the above areas are off, we are off balance. We need to take the time to meditate and pray, to eat with healthy,  nourishing foods, to exercise on a regular basis and treat our minds like they are gardens needing to be fertilized and nurtured. We are very important.

                I want to leave you with a poem to set the stage for the holidays. 

A Special Time

Judy Schwab 

Shopping lists,                                                                 Memories shared,

                Kitchen smells,                                                                  a quiet tear,

Children singing,                                                               Some are gone,

                Jingle Bells—                                                                      still wanted here—

Colored lights,                                                                   A time of Peace,

                Falling snow,                                                                      and hope renewed,

Fireplace,                                                                            Our fellow man,

                With amber glow--                                                          with love imbued—

Trees adorned,                                                                 A host of things,

                A holly bough,                                                                   so many more,

Parties, friends,                                                                                To answer then,

                Blessings now--                                                                                what’s Christmas for?

 

The First Submarine

Cornelius Drebbel inventor of the submarine

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The First Submarine

The first serious discussion of a "submarine" (a craft designed to be navigated underwater) appeared in 1578 from the pen of William Bourne, a British mathematician and writer on naval subjects. Bourne proposed a completely enclosed boat that could be submerged and rowed underwater. It consisted of a wooden frame covered with waterproof leather; it was to be submerged by reducing its volume by contracting the sides through the use of hand vises. Bourne did not actually construct his boat, and Cornelis Drebbel (or Cornelius van Drebbel), a Dutch inventor, is usually credited with building the first submarine.

Between 1620 and 1624 he successfully manoeuvred his craft at depths of from 12 to 15 feet (four to five meters) beneath the surface during repeated trials in the Thames River, in England. Van Drebbel’s submarine was powered by oarsmen, the oars protruding through flexible leather seals. Snorkel air tubes were held above the surface by floats, thus permitting a submergence time of several hours.

Van Drebbel followed his first boat with two others. The later models were larger but they relied upon the same principles. It is reported that after repeated tests, King James I of England rode in one of his later models to demonstrate its safety. But even royal favour failed to arouse the interest of the British Navy. It was an age when the possibility of submarine warfare was still far in the future.

Drebbel's submarine resembled that proposed by Bourne in that its outer hull consisted of greased leather over a wooden frame; oars extended through the sides and, sealed with tight-fitting leather flaps, provided a means of propulsion both on the surface and underwater.

It is also said that Van Drebbel developed a chemical which purified the air and allowed the crew to stay submerged for extended periods.

The First Submarine

By Brett McLaughlin

Drebbel's submarine

Drebbel's most phenomenal work was definitely the submarine. In 1620, he made the first "rudimentary" submarine. Drebbel constructed his vessel while working for the British Navy. They never used it, but tested it many times. He had a wooden row boat; it had a wooden hull wrapped tightly in waterproofed leather. His row boat was the first to answer the question of air replenishment underwater. Air tubes with floats went to the surface to provide the craft with oxygen. Oars went through the hull at leather gaskets. Twelve oarsmen and some other passengers were on board. The trip at the Thames River took three hours.

Biography

Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel was born in Alkmaar (Netherlands) in 1572, the son of a well-to-do farmer. He probably received only an elementary education, which would have included Latin. He had no university education. As a young man he was apprenticed to the famous engraver Hendrick Goltzius in Haarlem. Goltzius incidentally practiced alchemy and undoubtedly introduced Drebbel to the art. Drebbel had little interest in the quest for the Elixir of Life or the Philosopher's Stone, and instead learned chemical ideas and processes. Drebbel married Sophia Jansdochter, one of Goltzius' younger sisters in 1595. One of the reasons for his lack of success is said to have been his wife.

In 1595 he settled at Alkmaar, where he devoted himself to engraving and publishing maps and pictures. He soon turned to mechanical invention, for in 1598 he was a granted a patent for a pump and a clock with perpetual motion. In 1602 he was granted a patent for a chimney. He also made instruments and designed a water-supply system for the town of Alkmaar.

In 1604, King James I received Drebbel at his court in England. Drebbel obtained the attention of the English court through the amazing perpetual motion machine. It actually 'worked' through shifts in air temperature and pressure. The King stationed him at the Castle at Eltham, where he entered the special service of Henry, the Prince of Wales, as a mechanic especially associated with displays of fireworks. Payments to him of £ 20 in both 1609 and 1610 are recorded. Many times Drebbel shuttled across the English Channel back to the Netherlands. Nevertheless Drebbel never quite made it; he remained at the level, not of a Galileo who produced spectacles of a different order, but of court entertainers among whom Drebbel walked at the King's funeral.

In 1610 Drebbel visited the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, at the Emperor's invitation. Rudolf gave him the title of Chief Alchemist after seeing his remarkable perpetual motion machine; Drebbel really only claimed that it could rewind constantly by atmospheric pressure changes. It had a sealed glass tub where liquid contracted and expanded to enable the clock to constantly rewind.

He lingered a decade and instructed the son of Archduke Ferdinand of Bohemia who would later become Holy Roman Emperor. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand V's forces imprisoned Drebbel and took all his possessions, for he was affluent at this time. Rudolf's brother Matthias ousted Rudolf from his authority and conquered Prague. Through the intervention of Prince Henry, Drebbel was set free to return to England in 1613.

During the next several years he lived mostly in London. About 1620 he began to devote himself to the manufacture of microscopes and to the construction of a submarine (one of his most famous projects). For the next several years he was employed by the British Navy, partly in connection with the submarine, but mostly to make explosive devices with which to attack other ships, at a fairly high salary. During 1626 to 1628, he advised the military on how to relieve the French Huguenots under siege at La Rochelle. In 1627, they put him in charge of fireships at La Rochelle. Buckingham was his source of employment and his career plummeted after someone assassinated Buckingham after La Rochelle failed . His weapons were criticized when he failed.
He was involved in a drainage project in East Anglia. The extent of his involvement and the extent of his technical expertise is under debate. From 1629 until his death in 1633 he was extremely poor and earned his living by keeping an alehouse.

Technological Involvement

He was not a scientist in the strict sense but an inventor or practicing technologist. He left very few writings of his own, and none of them is concerned with his invention. His most famous work was Ein kurzer Tractac von der Natur der Elemetum (Leiden, 1608), an alchemical tract on the transmutation of the elements. Engineering seems the best category for his general activity.

Among his best-known inventions are:

Submarine: Drebbel's most phenomenal work was definitely the submarine. In 1620, he made the first "rudimentary" submarine. Drebbel constructed his vessel while working for the British Navy. They never used it, but tested it many times. He had a wooden row boat; it had a wooden hull wrapped tightly in waterproofed leather. His row boat was the first to answer the question of air replenishment underwater. Air tubes with floats went to the surface to provide the craft with oxygen. Oars went through the hull at leather gaskets. Twelve oarsmen and some other passengers were on board. The trip at the Thames River took three hours.

"Perpetual mobile": The elaborate toy operated on the basis of changes in atmospheric temperature and pressure. He extended the basic idea to the operation of clocks.

Thermostats and thermoscope: He applied the principles used in the perpetual mobile to thermostatic regulators that controlled ovens, furnaces, and incubators. As the temperature rose, air expanded, forcing quicksilver to close a damper. When it cooled, the damper opened. The incubator he made hatched both duck and chicken eggs

Optics: He invented the microscope with two sets of convex lenses. He made compound microscopes as early as 1619. He also made telescopes, and he developed a machine for grinding lenses. He constructed a camera obscura with a lens in the aperture, and he had some sort of magic lantern that projected images.

Dyeing: Drebbel made a new tin mordant process for dyeing the colour scarlet with cochineal. Treated mild red dye, cochineal, mixed with tin or pewter dissolved in nitric acid made this new colour. This process happened by accident when tin mixed with aqua regia fell into cochineal Drebbel had prepared for a thermometer. He then grasped how significant this was and told his son-in-law, Abraham Kuffler. Abraham had a dyehouse and made "colour Kufflerianus" as the new scarlet was called.

Chemical Technology: Drebbel did two more chemical processes. He oxidized sulphur for sulphuric acid, through heating sulphur and potassium nitrate (saltpetre). He made it more efficiently than any other way at that time. It became the basis for John Roebuck's work for production in the lead chamber. He also found a way to make oxygen from heating saltpetre, which is now one of the standard way to produce it.

The Drebbel Lunar Crater

This picture shows the lunar crater that is named after Cornelis Drebbel. In this figure 1 pixel corresponds to 1 km. (The size of the picture is 256 x 256 pixels.) The diameter of the crater is about 30 kilometres.
The coordinates at which the crater can be found are 40.9S latitude, 49.0W longitude.

By Brett McLaughlin