The story of the Manhattan Project is familiar to anyone who has studied the Second World War in any detail. Although the story behind the genesis of the atomic bomb is largely known, what is perhaps less appreciated is that of the individual scientists who dropped everything to head out to the hastily constructed military town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, to be a part of it. As is the story of their up-rooted families. Or that of the soldiers tasked with facilitating them. Or the secrets they had to keep — from one another, and from themselves. These are the stories that form the backdrop for the enthralling new television series Manhattan.
While the war raged on all fronts, the greatest scientific minds of the free world were brought together and asked to solve what may have been the greatest academic problem they would ever face. And in so doing, they wrestled with an even greater moral problem: could they justify creating a working nuclear bomb, in the knowledge that it would likely be used? Was the race to beat the Nazis' own attempts a plausible moral defence? Rather than aiming for an accurate historical dramatization of the Manhattan Project, series creator and writer Sam Shaw has opted for a fictionalized account, allowing him to paint with broader strokes — tackling the issues of secrecy, morality and ambition that were so prevalent for those involved in the project.
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