 Great Britain was at war and authorities there thought that the development of an atomic bomb was urgent , but there was much less urgency in the United States . Oliphant was one of the people who pushed the American program into motion . Oliphant flew to the United States in late August 1941 in an unheated bomber , ostensibly to discuss the radar @-@ development program , but was assigned to find out why the United States was ignoring the findings of the MAUD Committee . He later recalled : " the minutes and reports had been sent to Lyman Briggs , who was the Director of the Uranium Committee , and we were puzzled to receive virtually no comment . I called on Briggs in Washington [ DC ] , only to find out that this inarticulate and unimpressive man had put the reports in his safe and had not shown them to members of his committee . I was amazed and distressed . " 
