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ORE, along with other departments and organizations, has provided support to bring Denise Kiernan, author of The
Girls of Atomic City, to Knoxville this week for a lecture. The lecture, Wednesday November 7 at 6 p.m. in the McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture auditorium, is free and open to the public, but they ask that you register to
ensure they have space for everyone. Please promote to faculty, students, and staff!
“The Girls of Atomic City tells the true story of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a secret city founded during World War II to help create fuel for the atomic bomb. Oak Ridge didn’t appear on any maps, but thousands of workers moved there
during the war, enticed by good wages and war-ending work. Their jobs were shrouded in mystery, but the workers – many of them young, single and female – were excited to be “all in the same boat,” buoyed by a sense of shared purpose. But these hardworking
young women also faced unexpected challenges. One young woman, Helen, was recruited to spy on her fellow workers. An African-American janitor, Kattie, faced daily discrimination and separation from her children in segregated Oak Ridge. Toni, a secretary, was
mocked by her Northern bosses for her Tennessee accent. Dot, a factory operator, had lost a brother at Pearl Harbor and had two others still away fighting. Through it all, day in and day out, nobody knew what they were working on, only that they had been told
it would help end the war. The secret wasn’t out until after the first atomic bomb, powered by a uranium enriched in Oak Ridge’s massive factories, fell on Hiroshima, Japan. Today, Oak Ridge and the other Manhattan Project sites continue to carry the legacy
of helping to make the first atomic bomb a reality. “
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Raphael Rosalin
Research Communications
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Office of Research & Engagement
112 Blount Hall
1534 White Ave
Knoxville, TN 37996-1529
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(865) 974-2152
research.utk.edu
Big Orange. Big Ideas.