Epigraphs Note on Terminology Acknowledgments Introduction

8. “Prior to the existence of the District, elemental fluorine was a laboratory
curiosity.” The Manhattan District Official History, p. 3.13, Book 1 General,
vol. 7, Medical Program. For most reactive element, R. E. Banks, “Isolation
of Fluorine by Moissan: Setting the Scene,” J. Fluorine Chem., vol. 33 (1986),
pp. 3–26. For action on steel, above reference, “Memo: Safety and Health
Conference on Hazards of C-216” [code for F], October 19, 1943. “Mild
steel valves and pipes have been used [to handle fluorine] but it seems that
any impurity or foreign substance in the pipe or valve may be the activating
agent to start a reaction. Dr. Benning [from Du Pont] exhibited a steel
valve . . . which had been consumed by action of C-216. The heat generated
by the reaction is tremendous and a considerable flash hazard is present as
the reaction is almost instantaneous.”
9. These companies and their roles are described in greater detail in The Manhattan
District Official History, Book 1, General, vol. 7, Medical Program.
10. The liquid was named after Professor Joseph Simons of Penn State University,
who invented a process known as “electro-chemical fluorination,” which
used electricity to replace the hydrogen with fluoride in hydrogen-carbon
bonds, producing fluorocarbons. (After the war the technology would be
licensed to the 3M corporation, which would use it to make, among other
things, the fabric protector Scotchgard. See chapter 17.) See J. H. Simons,
ed., Fluorine Chemistry, vol. 1 (New York: Academic Press, 1950), p. 423.
11. H. Goldwhite, J. Fluorine Chem., vol. 33, p. 113.
12. See “Report on the Fluoro Carbon work” by Harold Urey, September 26,
1942, S-1 files. Further, see Goldwhite. See also Industrial and Engineering
Chem., vol. 39, no. 3, p. 292.
13. For example, 35,000 pounds a month of “polytetrafluorethylene” (Teflon);
1,600,000 pounds of “hexafluorxylene”; and 1,400 lbs of “fluorinated lubricating
oil.” For delivery schedule of fluorocarbons, see “Functions of Madison
Square Area,” Md 319.1, Report Madison Square, Box 26, Accession #4nn
326-85-005, Atlanta FRC, RG 326.
14. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb; p. 494. Dick Powell author interview;
and also Goldwhite, J. Fluorine Chem., above reference.
15. Groves, Now It Can Be Told, p. 8.
16. The plant was built in the basement of the Schermerhorn Laboratory in
January 1943. Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 494.
17. “Initiation of Medical Program for Project at Columbia University,” Friedell
to the District Engineer, U.S. Engineer Office, Manhattan District, January
20, 1943.
18. Capt. John Ferry to Col. Stafford Warren, November 10, 1943; and Capt. John
Ferry to the Area Engineer, Columbia Area, July 14, 1944. “It would be difficult
to prove that his illness had not been aggravated by his fume exposure,”
Ferry concluded in Spelton’s case. Illness of Mr. Christian Spelton, Md 726.2,
Occupational Diseases, Box 55, Accession #4nn 326-85-005, Atlanta FRC,
RG 326. For pulmonary fibrosis as symptom, see Roholm, Fluorine Intoxication,
p. 150.