James L. Nolan, Son of Physician Associated with Manhattan Project, to Give Talk Read Time 3 Minutes James L. Nolan will give a talk titled "Los Alamos and the Atom Bomb Through a Young Boy’s Eyes," on Jan. 23 at 3 p.m. in the Rehm Library. The event, aimed at First-Year Program students, is free and open to the entire Holy Cross community.Nolan will address his experiences as a child in Los Alamos, NM during the Manhattan Project, the US government’s secret project established during World War II to develop the first nuclear weapon. His father, James F. Nolan, was a physician associated with the Manhattan Project.Dr. Nolan became a nationally and internationally recognized physician specializing in the care and treatment of women suffering from gynecological cancer. He was board certified in surgery, radiology as well as obstetrics and gynecology.World War II broke out as he was completing his post-residency training in radiology in New York. He was recruited to work on a special secret project as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. In 1942, he was assigned to Los Alamos where he served as the medical director and public health officer for a new community of scientists, technicians and army personnel gathered there to work on that base on what was to be called the Manhattan Project. His wife and son joined him soon after, and the younger Nolan lived at Los Alamos for almost three years, during which time he was 5 to 7 years old.At the start, Dr. Nolan and his friend Dr. Louis Hemplemann were the medical presence at Los Alamos. Over time, more physicians, dentists, nurses and technicians joined the effort. His duties ranged from overseeing the construction of the sewage system for the base, to insuring timely inoculations for the population and as the only OBGYN physician on the base, the delivery of babies born there. Throughout this time, he was responsible for the care of workers who were exposed to radiation and the development of safeguards in what was then an unknown area.He was also assigned the task of transporting a portion of the device that would be assembled into the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. He traveled with the device from Los Alamos to San Francisco and then to the USS Indianapolis to Tinian Island where the bomb was assembled.Dr. Nolan was one of the first Americans to go into Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the end of hostilities to assess the damage done and the impact of the radiation released by the two bombs. For several years after the war, he carried out similar responsibilities as a civilian assigned to monitor the testing of atomic bombs at Bikini, Eniwetok and Tinian in the Pacific.One of the common texts that the First-Year Program students read in the fall was Atomic Fragments by Mary Palevsky, a book about the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project and their moral conflicts (or lack thereof) afterward.James L. Nolan is now coordinator of the Woodstock Business Conference and non-resident fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center. He recently retired as vice president for institutional advancement for the Washington Theological Union, a Roman Catholic graduate school for ministry in Washington, DC. The Conference, a national network of business and professional leaders who seek to integrate their faith, family, and professional lives, is a program of the Woodstock Theological Center located at Georgetown University.He is also the grandfather of Grace Campion ’09, a member of the first year program.The lecture is sponsored by the First-Year Program and the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. More Stories Image Go to Story The Day I Met The Pope Image Go to Story On Pope Francis’ Legacy — And What Happens Next Image Go to Story “We Must Protect This Fridge” View All Stories
