They Changed the World

In the early years of World War II it was known that Germany had split the atom, and some feared that they might be working on an atomic bomb. Scientists in the United States urged President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pursue one lest the enemy have it first. This resulted in what was called the Manhattan Project, and many famous scientists were involved. However, more was needed than a few prominent scientists. A whole infrastructure was required: scientist and engineers, of course, but also clerks, truck drivers, teachers, cooks, technicians and all the other people necessary for the new city, Los Alamos, on the remote New Mexico plateau where the first atomic bomb would be created. It was referred to as The Hill. Sixty years, later, Santa Fe photographer AJ Melnick set out to find many of the people who were involved and capture their portraits while there was still time. As she visited with them, they told her stories of what it was like to live on The Hill from 1943 to 1945.