The Calutron Girls

Title: The Calutron Girls
Creator: James E. Westcott
Description: The photograph shows Y-12 calutron operators, a group of recent high school graduates known as the “Calutron Girls”, who joined the Manhattan Project during World War II. The girls were trained to control the separation of isotopes from uranium as part of the efforts to build the first atomic bomb, called “Little Boy”, without ever knowing the machinery’s real purpose. Their tasks were focused on reading meters and making necessary adjustments as indicated, but with no scientific involvement in the project. The “Calutron Girls” were made aware of the purpose of their work when the people of Hiroshima, Japan, were bombed by the United States on August 6, 1945.

After World War II, the notion of science as a male discipline was crystallized, and the involvement of women in the field was mostly as technicians.
Date: 1943 - 1945
Type: Photographs
Subject: Science; World War, 1939-1945; Calutron; Atomic bomb
Format: Photograph
Source: Westcott, James E, Calutron Operators in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, During World War II, c. 1943 - 1945, Identifier 241166506, Electronic Records of the Office of the President (Obama Administration), National Archives. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/241166506

Item sets: Why were girls taught science in the 19th century? What changed in the 20th century?