To create the symmetrical implosion required to compress the plutonium core to the required density , thirty two explosive charges were to be simultaneously detonated around the spherical core . Using conventional explosive techniques with blasting caps , progress towards achieving simultaneity to within a small fraction of a microsecond was discouraging . Alvarez directed his graduate student , Lawrence H. Johnston , to use a large capacitor to deliver a high voltage charge directly to each explosive lens , replacing blasting caps with exploding-bridgewire detonators . The exploding wire detonated the thirty two charges to within a few tenths of a microsecond . The invention was critical to the success of the implosion-type nuclear weapon . He also supervised the RaLa Experiments . Alvarez later wrote that : Again working with Johnston , Alvarez 's last task for the Manhattan Project was to develop a set of calibrated microphone/transmitters to be parachuted from an aircraft to measure the strength of the blast wave from the atomic explosion , so as to allow the scientists to calculate the bomb 's energy . After being commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army , he observed the Trinity nuclear test from a B-29 Superfortress that also carried fellow Project Alberta members Harold Agnew and Deak Parsons ( who were respectively commissioned at the rank of captain )
Trinity nuclear test
Trinity (nuclear test)
Luis Walter Alvarez