2023
The Black scientists behind the Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb program that inspired the movie ‘Oppenheimer’
July 20, 2023
There were at least 19 Black scientists and technicians who worked on the Manhattan Project, including mathematician J. Ernest Wilkins, the youngest student ever admitted to the University of Chicago at 13 years old who at 21 joined UChicago's Met Lab to research plutonium, and UChicago alums Moddie Daniel Taylor and Jasper Jeffries, whose scientific contributions were crucial to the Manhattan Project.
Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
Christopher Nolan on J. Robert Oppenheimer and his contradictions
July 20, 2023
"Oppenheimer" director explains that he attributed the calculation contribution of the Trinity Test to Albert Einstein rather than Arthur Holly Compton, who directed an outpost of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago, because Einstein was more recognizable.
Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
U.N. officials urge regulation of AI at security council meeting
July 19, 2023
Professor of statistics and computer science Rebecca Willett says that in regulating AI's use in automated weapons, it's important not to lose sight of the humans behind it, adding that "this is one of the reasons that the U.N. is looking at this...there really needs to be international repercussions so that a company based in one country can’t destroy another country without violating international agreements. Real enforceable regulation can make things better and safer.”