The manhattan project
Main Manhattan Project Scientists: from left to right: Bohr, Oppenheimer, Feynman, Fermi
The world’s scientific community, back in 1939, discovered that German Physicists had learned the mystery of splitting a uranium atom. It was then that fear spread like wildfire because of the possibility of the Nazis using that energy to produce a powerful bomb capable of mass destruction.
Scientists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi (Einstein whom escaped Nazi persecution and Fermi whom escaped Fascist Italy), were now living in the United States. Both of them concurred that President Truman must be notified of the dangers of the atomic technology that were in the hands of the Axis Powers. Fermi Traveled to Washington DC in March to show his concerns to government officials. His efforts were unsuccessful because few shared his uneasiness.
Because of the events in Washington being unsuccessful, Einstein had to take matters into his own hands. Einstein composed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the development of an atomic research program later that year. Although Roosevelt saw neither the necessity nor the utility for such a project, he agreed to proceed at a slow pace. In late 1941, the effort to design and build the world’s first atomic received its code name: The Manhattan Project.
The race to find a break-through in atomic technology was on. Columbia University, The University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley were all in on the efforts to find the right recipe. Nearly a year after the project received its code name; a group of physicists at the University of Chicago finally found a solution. It was a huge accomplishment and funds were distributed more freely and the project advanced at high speed. Many Nuclear facilities were built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. The main assembly plant was built at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of putting the pieces together at Los Alamos. After adding up everything, approximately $2 billion was spent on the research and development of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project employed over 120,000 Americans.
With all the Americans involved there was one big issue: secrecy. Secrecy was on the Governments mind regarding this project ever since the beginning. Telling a neighbor what job you are in and what it is for means bad things for the government so they had to do something about it before it was too late. Roosevelt agreed that neither the Germans nor the Japanese could learn of this project and along with Churchill, agreed that Stalin would be kept out of the picture. Since keeping 120,000 Americans quiet would be impossible, only a small amount of privileged scientists and officials knew about the atomic bomb’s development. It turns out that Vice president Truman had never heard of the project until he became president of the country.
Summer 1945: the first test for the world’s first atomic bomb was standing by. On July 16 of that same year, at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, scientists were ready for the test and to watch the explosion of the prototype atomic bomb. The bomb was attached to a 100-foot tower and ejected just before sunrise. No one was prepared for the final result.
After the detonation, a blinding flash emerged from the bomb and was visible for 200 miles and it lit up the morning sky. A mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet (the equivalent of 133.33 American football fields). The bomb ended up blowing out windows of civilian homes as far as 100 miles away. When the cloud returned from its vacation in the sky and after the dust cleared, the result was a half-mile wide crater and angry civilians. The sand that was in the blast area ended up becoming glass. The result: a completely made up story. The made up story was quickly released to the public, instead of the atomic bomb, it was a huge ammunition dump hat detonated in the desert. Word spread to President Truman in no time flat, which, at the time, in Potsdam, Germany. He was told that the test was complete and successful. The test would lead to the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki about a month later. The age of nuclear war has begun.
Scientists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi (Einstein whom escaped Nazi persecution and Fermi whom escaped Fascist Italy), were now living in the United States. Both of them concurred that President Truman must be notified of the dangers of the atomic technology that were in the hands of the Axis Powers. Fermi Traveled to Washington DC in March to show his concerns to government officials. His efforts were unsuccessful because few shared his uneasiness.
Because of the events in Washington being unsuccessful, Einstein had to take matters into his own hands. Einstein composed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the development of an atomic research program later that year. Although Roosevelt saw neither the necessity nor the utility for such a project, he agreed to proceed at a slow pace. In late 1941, the effort to design and build the world’s first atomic received its code name: The Manhattan Project.
The race to find a break-through in atomic technology was on. Columbia University, The University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley were all in on the efforts to find the right recipe. Nearly a year after the project received its code name; a group of physicists at the University of Chicago finally found a solution. It was a huge accomplishment and funds were distributed more freely and the project advanced at high speed. Many Nuclear facilities were built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. The main assembly plant was built at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of putting the pieces together at Los Alamos. After adding up everything, approximately $2 billion was spent on the research and development of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project employed over 120,000 Americans.
With all the Americans involved there was one big issue: secrecy. Secrecy was on the Governments mind regarding this project ever since the beginning. Telling a neighbor what job you are in and what it is for means bad things for the government so they had to do something about it before it was too late. Roosevelt agreed that neither the Germans nor the Japanese could learn of this project and along with Churchill, agreed that Stalin would be kept out of the picture. Since keeping 120,000 Americans quiet would be impossible, only a small amount of privileged scientists and officials knew about the atomic bomb’s development. It turns out that Vice president Truman had never heard of the project until he became president of the country.
Summer 1945: the first test for the world’s first atomic bomb was standing by. On July 16 of that same year, at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, scientists were ready for the test and to watch the explosion of the prototype atomic bomb. The bomb was attached to a 100-foot tower and ejected just before sunrise. No one was prepared for the final result.
After the detonation, a blinding flash emerged from the bomb and was visible for 200 miles and it lit up the morning sky. A mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet (the equivalent of 133.33 American football fields). The bomb ended up blowing out windows of civilian homes as far as 100 miles away. When the cloud returned from its vacation in the sky and after the dust cleared, the result was a half-mile wide crater and angry civilians. The sand that was in the blast area ended up becoming glass. The result: a completely made up story. The made up story was quickly released to the public, instead of the atomic bomb, it was a huge ammunition dump hat detonated in the desert. Word spread to President Truman in no time flat, which, at the time, in Potsdam, Germany. He was told that the test was complete and successful. The test would lead to the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki about a month later. The age of nuclear war has begun.