Science Flicks film series to feature “Fat Man and Little Boy” March 17

March 11, 2009 -- “Fat Man and Little Boy,” a 1989 movie about the Manhattan Project, is the 19th movie set for the 2009 “Science Flicks” film series presented by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry and Physics at Arkansas State University.

The film will be shown Tuesday, March 17, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the Laboratory Sciences Center, East Wing. Admission is free to ASU students and the general public.

The film features the development of the Manhattan Project, the Allied powers’ attempt to develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. “Fat Man” was the code name for the atomic bomb that detonated over Nagasaki, Japan by the United States in 1945, while “Little Boy” was the code name for the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Paul Newman is cast in the movie at General Leslie R. Groves along with Dwight Schultz as J. Robert Oppenheimer, who later regretted having any role in the project.

The film series, launched in 2007, presents a different film each month that portrays scientists and their work. The series is part of a new undergraduate/graduate course, “Science in the Cinema,” which is being offered this fall and also has an Honors option.

The next movie, “The Boys From Brazil,” is set for April 9. A full schedule of movies can be viewed at http://biology.astate.edu/science_flicks.htm.       

###