Women of the Manhattan Project

From the beginning, women had to fight to have their work recognized. Lise Meitner -- pictured here receiving the Fermi Award in 1966 -- discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn in 1939. But six years later, only Hahn was given the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery.

Leona Woods Marshall was the youngest and only female member of Enrico Fermi's team at University of Chicago that created the first self-sustained nuclear reaction.

An officer stands at a microphone, while women sitting at tables process bonds for the gathered crowd.

A group of members of the Women Army Air Force Corps, also called WAACs, relaxes with a game of Chinese checkers.

This photo includes Women's Army Corps, servicemen, and nurses in Oak Ridge, TN. Women also joined the Red Cross in large numbers during WWII.

During the Manhattan Project, women weren't relegated to expected roles like nurse, teacher, and secretary. As seen here, women helped in a lot of other aspects of the project including welding, control panel management, and even nuclear science.

Calutron workers were mostly 18-20 year old women, who were trained to watch the control panels on the machine and keep the dial between a certain number. Management cautioned male co-workers not to talk to female Y-12 workers as they monitored the controls.