Fat Man and Little Boy Trivia Quiz

Answer: the Pentagon

General Leslie R. Groves (Paul Newman) is working for the Army Corps of Engineers and was instrumental in the building of the Pentagon. As he slices the cake, he comments, "I built this place, so I'll be glad to eat it!" He is eagerly awaiting an almost assured overseas combat assignment in World War II.

However, is assigned to supervise the stateside project of developing the world's first WMD to use in the war. He is so enraged that he knocks the leftover cake out of his aide's arms as he brushes past him after receiving his new commission.

Answer: Dick

When first meeting Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), Groves indicates that he is referred to by his friends as Dick. Probably Groves didn't like his androgynous first name and so used his middle name, Richard, in preference.

Answer: in an airplane hangar

Groves took security to extreme measures. In order not to be overheard discussing the project, Groves met with Oppenheimer aboard an airplane inside a hangar, then turned the engines on. This made one of the aides nearby quip, "The old man likes his privacy, doesn't he?"

Answer: no

Merriman, played by John Cusack, is believed by film and history buffs to be a composite character based mainly on the scientists Louis P. Slotin and Harry K. Daghlian. These men were exposed to lethal doses of radiation while performing experiments to determine critical mass which were commonly referred to as "Tickling the Dragon's Tail".

In the movie, the fatal accident occurred before the first bomb detonation, but in reality, both happened after this event.

Answer: Natasha Richardson

Oppenheimer was married, but having an affair with Tatlock. Tatlock was a concern for General Groves because of her Communist connections and he felt Oppenheimer's relationship with her was a high security risk. It became a frequent and contentious issue between the two men. In reality, Tatlock committed suicide in January 1944.

Natasha Richardson also appeared in the films "The Handmaid's Tale" (1990), "Blow Dry" (2001) and "Waking Up in Reno" (2002) amongst many others. Sadly, she passed away at age 45 in 2009 after being injured in a skiing accident.

Answer: a chimp

Schoenfield (John C. McGinley) is in charge of the hospital and medical research facility at Los Alamos. Some of the people working at Los Alamos compared his laboratory to Noah's Ark because of all the animals he kept there. He seems to have taken a liking to a young chimp and carries it around with him.

At the end of the movie, he is seen with Nurse Robinson releasing cages of pigeons. McGinley went on to star as another physician, the acerbic Dr. Perry Cox, in the long-running medical sit-com "Scrubs".

Answer: Captain Schoenfield

Schoenfield is outraged about the accident in the testing lab that exposed people to excessive radiation, one critically. He is seeing first-hand what ghastly symptoms it manifests and is concerned about the proliferation of such a weapon, once it is proven viable.

Answer: a refrigerator

The refrigerator had become lodged in the staircase. Merriman attempts to help move it, but it breaks through the bannister and crashes to the floor below to which Merriman quips one of Oppenheimer's slogans, "No problem left unsolved."

Answer: Seth Neddermeyer

While discussing the problem of the heavy and cumbersome gun barrel delivery with Merriman, Neddermayer is eating an orange. He has a sudden epiphany looking at its round shape and comes up with the new idea of designing the bomb.

Answer: heart problems

After the Manhattan Project, Groves had a long and successful civilian career as vice president of Sperry Rand, an electronics manufacturing company. He suffered a heart attack in July 1970, to which he succumbed, just a month shy of his 74th birthday. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Oppenheimer died of cancer in 1967 at age 62.