Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Part 1

Reading Check

1. Who figures out that uranium fission can form the basis for an atomic bomb?

2. Who sends a letter to President Roosevelt warning that Germany is trying to make an atom bomb?

3. What event gets the US into World War II?

4. What is the code name for Oppenheimer’s project to build an atom bomb?

5. Whom does Norwegian anti-Nazi resistance fighter Knut Haukelid try to kidnap?

6. What US agency frustrates Soviet attempts to steal US atomic bomb plans?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What makes Robert Oppenheimer eager to help the American atomic bomb project?

2. Why does Harry Gold decide to smuggle American industrial secrets to the Soviets?

3. Why does the Soviet Union decide to steal atomic bomb plans from the US?

Paired Resource

“Adolph Hitler’s Rise to Power”

• This article from the National WWII Museum outlines the causes and events surrounding the Nazi takeover of Germany prior to World War II.
• Provides background on why the US and Britain felt a great urgency about designing an atomic bomb
• Relates to the theme The Race to Build a Bomb
• How did Hitler’s rise to power affect the US decision to pursue the atomic bomb project?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. Whom did the US government choose to lead the atomic bomb project?

2. Whom did the bomb project leader choose as director of the science effort?

3. When Oppenheimer was approached about spying for the Soviets, what did he fail to do?

4. What is it called when atoms cause other atoms to split continuously?

5. What two materials controlled the fissioning of uranium in the Chicago pile?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why did the British want to blow up a power plant in Norway?

2. What happened to the first commandos who tried to blow up the power plant?

3. Why did the US choose Los Alamos for its atomic bomb lab?

4. What was the purpose of Fermi’s atomic pile in Chicago?

Paired Resource

“Chicago Pile-1”

• Additional information on Fermi’s 1942 experiment that proved that uranium atoms can achieve a self-sustaining fission reaction that emits energy
• From the Atomic Heritage Foundation, the page contains several photos and a short video.
• Relates to the theme The Race to Build a Bomb  
• Did this historic moment introduce a beneficial technology or a bad one? Has atomic power been a net positive or a net loss?

“Operation Gunnerside: The Norwegian Attack on Heavy Water That Deprived the Nazis of the Atomic Bomb”

• This Scientific American article provides information on the Norwegian raid on the Vemork plant and includes links to film versions of the events.
• Relates to the theme The Race to Build a Bomb
• How might the course of the war have changed if Hitler had obtained enough heavy water to complete an atomic bomb?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. What do the Los Alamos scientists call the atomic bomb?

2. What material do the Germans try to remove from the Norwegian power plant?

3. Where is the US factory that produces U-235?

4. What material fissions more explosively than uranium?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What makes plutonium so important to the bomb project?

2. Why does Ted Hall decide to reveal atomic secrets to the Soviets?

Paired Resource

“The Official Site of Richard Feynman”

• This compendium of quotes, pictures, lecture notes, and more from Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman includes a 9-minute video of highlights from a Feynman science lecture; it can be played in part or in whole, as needed.
• Feynman said that playfulness helped him make his first major scientific discovery. How might playfulness add to creativity?

“Espionage and the Manhattan Project (1940-1945)”

• From the US Department of Energy, a review of the most famous people who spied from within on the American effort to build an atomic weapon
• Includes links to other parts of the Manhattan Project history
• Relates to the theme Trust and Suspicion in Wartime
• Why did the Soviet Union have hundreds of volunteer spies in America during World War II, while the US and Britain had virtually none in Russia? Can it be explained by differences in each country’s culture, type of government, or something else?

Part 4-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. What type of fission weapon uses plutonium?

2. What’s the name of the first atomic weapon test?

3. What type of fission bomb is dropped on Hiroshima? What material does it use?

4. What’s the name of the plane that drops the first nuclear weapon?

5. How many atomic bombs do the US drop on Japan?

6. What year do the Soviets get an atomic bomb of their own?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does the US try to capture Werner Heisenberg?

2. Why do the Los Alamos scientists feel somber after the initial elation at the success of the bomb test?

3. What does Oppenheimer do about atomic bombs after the war ends?

Recommended Next Reads 

Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown by Steve Sheinkin

• This 2021 book, the sequel to Bomb, won four awards.
• It tells the story of hydrogen bombs, the race by the US and the USSR to produce as many as possible, and the showdown in 1962 that brought the world to the brink of World War III.
• Relates to themes The Race to Build a Bomb and Trust and Suspicion in Wartime

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin

• Written in 2015 by the author of Bomb, this book won nine awards and was a finalist for two more.
• It tells how one man blew the whistle on a US government conspiracy to hide the truth about failures in US war policy in Vietnam during the 1960s.
• Relates to themes Trust and Suspicion in Wartime and Pride and Guilt among the Weapon Makers