For this reason, high school girls from rural backgrounds were sought out by recruiters, who thought they were “easy to instruct,” and “did what they were told.” They were also fast learners, it turned out. Once trained in the operation of calutrons—the devices used to separate uranium isotopes, developed for the Project by Nobel laureate Ernest O. Lawrence—the “hillbilly” girls, “fresh off the farm with nothing more than a public school education,” beat Lawrence’s team of Ph.D.s in a contest to see who could generate the most enriched uranium.
Source: thedailybeast.com
