Trinity by the Numbers: The Computing Effort that Made Trinity Possible

Abstract

Utilizing rarely used source materials and identifying points of bias among more commonly used sources, this critical review provides a more complete representation of wartime Los Alamos computing operations and personnel, including the Laboratory’s typically underrepresented human computers and how they contributed to the success of the Trinity test. This paper also identifies how the Laboratory’s unusual wartime computing demands served as a formative experience among many Los Alamos personnel and consultants who contributed significantly to the development and use of mechanized computing at and beyond Los Alamos after the war.