Richard Feynman meets with Robert R. Wilson, a senior physicist who recently arrived at Princeton. Wilson is involved in what will soon become the Manhattan Project, specifically the separation of the isotope U235. He has received funding and needs help. So he tries to convince Feynman. He’s initially negative: he’s already wasted too much time and is behind on his thesis, so he goes back to work on his thesis… for about three minutes, but then he starts pacing, thinking about the proposal. The Germans had Hitler, and the chances of them developing the atomic bomb first were terrifying. So he decides to attend the meeting at 3:00 PM that same day. By 4:00 PM, he already has a desk, an office, paper, and pen, and is already working intensely and as quickly as possible on the problem of separating the isotope U235.
