at age 18, dowd was drafted into the military with the rank of sergeant. he continued his work in physics at columbia university. he worked on the manhattan project, which developed the atomic bomb. the purpose of the work was unclear until 1945. dowd planned to obtain a degree in nuclear physics when he completed his work on the manhattan project. however, because his work was top secret, the university did not recognize it, and dowd decided not to continue, since the university's curriculum would not have been able to further his physics education. his research for the military was more advanced than academic courses at that time.