New Orleans secretly played a role in developing the atomic bomb

• The new film, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, follows the American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, as his team races to create the bomb and deals with the aftermath of its creation.

Driving the news: Andrew Higgins, who President Dwight D. Eisenhower credited with winning World War II through his invention of the amphibious Higgins boat, built the boat at his facility in the Michoud area of the city.

• But, Higgins Industries also secretly made the carbon components and metal parts needed for the Manhattan Project's production work, according to the National WWII Museum.
• The 2,500 workers on the manufacturing line had to swear an oath of secrecy and weren't told what they were making, according to the museum.
• They only learned of their involvement hours after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
• Take the electronic museum field trip to learn more about how the test involved New Orleans, Tennessee, New Mexico and more.

Go deeper:

• Oppenheimer's complicated legacy in New Mexico
• Oppenheimer's science beyond the atomic bomb