During World War II, Caltech was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission. The United States Navy also maintained a naval training school for aeronautical engineering, resident inspectors of ordinance and naval material, and a liaison officer to the National Defense Research Committee on campus. During the war, some scientists from Caltech, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Tolman, and Robert Bacher, were instrumental in the Manhattan Project and contributed to critical aspects of the atomic bomb's development. thumb|260x260px|J. Robert Oppenheimer at Caltech in 1930 Caltech was also directly involved in other bomb-related research with a group led by Charles Lauritsen which assisted in the development of the high-explosive lenses used in the Fat Man implosion bomb, crucial to the Trinity Test and the subsequent bombing of Nagasaki. Lauritsen’s team at Caltech developed detonators that would later be used in atomic bombs. In November 1943, Caltech and the U.S. Navy established the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) in Inyokern, California, near the Mojave Desert to work on aircraft ordnance and rocket development. One of the most successful innovations was the development of the 5-inch High-Velocity Aircraft Rocket, commonly known as the "Holy Moses," which was used in combat against enemy fortifications and ships.
During World War II, Caltech was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission. The United States Navy also maintained a naval training school for aeronautical engineering, resident inspectors of ordinance and naval material, and a liaison officer to the National Defense Research Committee on campus. During the war some scientists from Caltech including J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Tolman, and Robert Bacher, were instrumental in the Manhattan Project and contributed to critical aspects of the atomic bomb's development. thumb|260x260px|J. Robert Oppenheimer at Caltech in 1930 Caltech was also directly involved in other bomb-related research with a group led by Charles Lauritse,n which assisted in the development of the high-explosive lenses used in the Fat Man implosion bomb, crucia.l to the Trinity Test and the subsequent bombing of Nagasaki Lauritsen’s team at Caltech developed detonators that would later be used in atomic bombs. In November 1943, Caltech and the U.S. Navy established the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) in Inyokern, Californ,ia, near the Mojave Desert to work on aircraft ordnance and rocket development. One of the most successful innovations was the development of the 5-inch High-Velocity Aircraft Rocket, commonly known as the "Holy Moses," which was used in combat against enemy fortifications and ships.