OTHER OSRD RESEARCH GROUPS I23 



The Executive Committee held meetings on June 25, July 9, July 30, 

 August 26, September 13-14, September 26, October 23-24, November 14, 

 December 9, and December 19, 1942, and on January 14, February lo-ii, 

 March 18, April 29, and September lo-ii, 1943. By the time of the Decem- 

 ber 1942 meetings the atomic energy program had progressed to the point 

 where it seemed advantageous to transfer the entire responsibility to the 

 Manhattan District with research concentrated on those points which fitted 

 closely into the Manhattan District program. Those OSRD contracts which 

 did not fit into the production program were permitted to lapse while those 

 (and they were the major ones) which did support the Army program 

 were terminated as of an agreed date by OSRD (usually March 31, 1943) 

 and picked up as Manhattan District contracts. At the request of the Man- 

 hattan District, OSRD later entered into a few contracts in the general 

 field where the District desired to conceal its interest in a particular subject. 

 Although OSRD as an organization stepped out of the atomic energy field, 

 persons associated with it continued as key scientific advisers to the Man- 

 hattan District and to the President. Bush and Conant were members of 

 the top-level, "policy" committee considering the uses of atomic energy, 

 while Tolman spent most of his time over a long period as the key man 

 on General Groves's scientific staff. 



The growth of the OSRD program in atomic energy is indicated by the 

 following figures, showing the funds contracted or transferred for it: 



NDRC (of CND) June 27, 1940 — June 28, 1941 $ 468,000.00 



NDRC (of OSRD) June 28, 1941 — December 1941 $ 452,650.00 



Section S-i of OSRD January — June 1942 $ 1,952,168.00 



Planning Board of OSRD January — June 1942 % 2,224,392.77 



Executive Committee of S- 1 (OSRD) June 1942 — September 1943 $13,041,037.57 



Funds through June 30, 1942, were from those allocated or appropriated 

 for NDRC or OSRD. All funds used on the program after that date were 

 transferred to OSRD by the Army. The money spent on the atomic energy 

 program by OSRD paved the way for Army expenditures of approximately 

 two billion dollars. The best account of the results obtained appears in the 

 volume Atomic Energy jor Military Purposes by Henry De Wolf Smyth. 



Proximity Fuzes for Shells 



The primary field of activity of Section T was proximity fuzes for shells. 

 Its success in that field was outstanding. Initially, Section T was one of the 

 sections of Division A of NDRC of the Council of National Defense. It 

 continued as one of the sections of Division A of the reconstituted NDRC 

 until March 31, 1942, when it was transferred out of NDRC and brought 

 immediately under the Director. At approximately the same time the cen- 



