 In 1942 Oppenheimer attempted to recruit Rabi and Robert Bacher to work at the Los Alamos Laboratory on a new secret project . They convinced Oppenheimer that his plan for a military laboratory would not work , since a scientific effort would need to be a civilian affair . The plan was modified , and the new laboratory would be a civilian one , run by the University of California under contract from the War Department . In the end , Rabi still did not go west , but did agree to serve as a consultant to the Manhattan Project . Rabi attended the Trinity test in July 1945 . The scientists working on Trinity set up a betting pool on the yield of the test , with predictions ranging from total dud to 45 kilotons of TNT equivalent ( kt ) . Rabi arrived late and found the only entry left was for 18 kilotons , which he purchased . Wearing welding goggles , he waited for the result with Ramsey and Enrico Fermi . The blast was rated at 18 @.@ 6 kilotons , and Rabi won the pool . 
