Manhattan Project Tour

Join NY See for a unique two-hour Oppenheimer in NYC tour of the Manhattan Projects’ origins in NYC. Visit original sites and Dr. Oppenheimer’s birthplace to gain insight into this world-changing event. Learn about Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” and his life in NYC—book now for an illuminating experience.

Oppenheimer’s family lived in a picturesque and still mostly remarkably unchanged area on Riverside Drive, an avenue on Manhattan’s West Side, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the creator of Central Park.

On tour, you will learn about the captivating history of Robert Oppenheimer and the vast scale of the Manhattan Project. General Leslie Groves set up the Project’s original office in Lower Manhattan in mid-June 1942. Dr. Oppenheimer was appointed the Project’s scientific director the same year. With a team of brilliant scientists and engineers, Oppenheimer led the successful construction and testing of the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert.

We will delve into the role that women and minorities played in the Project. A German chemist, Lise Meitner, coined “nuclear fission”. She was considered one of the great scientists of the 20th century.

Walking down the Drive from Columbia University, you’ll take a short stroll through beautiful Riverside Park, another Olmsted-designed park. Apart from the history of the Project, you’ll enjoy a scenic walk along historic Riverside Drive, where you’ll see notable homes and monuments such as the Schinasi Mansion, the largest private detached home in NYC, The Fireman’s Memorial, The Statue of Joan of Arc, The Statue of Shinran Shonin (who survived the Hiroshima bombing), and The River Mansion.

The tour ends at 88th Street and Riverside Drive, the former home of the Oppenheimer family.

Itinerary:

• The tour begins on the campus of Columbia University
• We’ll visit the site of the Pupin Physics Laboratory
• Walk through Riverside Park 
• Visit the Morris Schinasi Mansion
• Fireman’s Memorial
• Statue of Joan of Arc
• The Statue of Shinran Shonin (Survived the Hiroshima bombing) at the New York Buddhist Temple.
• Oppenheimer’s apartment building on Riverside Drive.
• The tour culminates at Dr. Oppenheimer’s former residence on Riverside Drive.