Atomic Bomb History

Leo Szilard, a Hungarian scientist, began research discovering the possibility to use the neutron of an atom to split the nucleus into smaller parts, resulting in two different elements and energy. This process was called fission, and it was the basis for the atomic weapons designed and created for use in the Second World War.
In early 1939, German physicists found a way to split a uranium atom, paving the way to atomic weaponry. Out of fear from the power in the enemy hands, Albert Einstein, a German physicist escaping Nazi rule , and Enrico Fermi informed President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the “extremely powerful bomb of a new type” , but the fears were cast aside from government officials. Few realized the threat of nuclear power,
With a Nobel Prize in Physics, Fermi continued to lead a team of graduate students into shooting neutrons into atomic nuclei. Research students poured from Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley to small towns including Oak Ridge in Tennessee and Hanford located in the southeastern section of Washington. After a long year of research, Roosevelt decided to consolidate the efforts into a confidential location, Los Alamos. A secluded town in New Mexico, Los Alamos was hundreds of miles away from other civilization, proving the perfect place to demolish their first prototype of the atomic bomb. In December 1942, the University of Chicago graduate students recorded the first nuclear chain reaction at Stagg Field. This became a scientific breakthrough for the teams working. The self-sustaining chain reaction used a sample of uranium with only a small percentage of 235U in it, a radioactive isotope that breaks down readily, releasing neutrons to break apart other atoms. Although the small amount of Uranium-235 produced only half a watt of energy, it was the proof of concept the team needed to proceed forward. It showed fission, the process of the atomic weapons to come. It broke the simple laws of chemistry, matter cannot be created nor destroy, as they shot a neutron (a neutrally charge nucleon), at an unstable isotope of Uranium-235, splitting it into two other
J. Robert Oppenheimer, a renowned research scientist in quantum mechanics led the laboratory working in Los Alamos, joining other scientists from all over the world to develop the atomic bomb, hoping to end the ongoing war. Oppenheimer became a teacher at the University of California at Berkeley as well as the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, working a both schools for thirteen years, focusing on quantum physics. Oppenheimer was recruited for the program because of his recognition of being a brilliant physicist. Immediately he researched for the bomb at Berkeley, then relocated to Los Alamos to continue his research, an area near where he often vacationed. Oppenheimer and his team of scientists struggled to figure out how to bring the samples of Uranium together fast enough to result in chain reaction that would produce the energy rapidly while still being a controlled explosion. They also faced the problem of production. A collection of Uranium-235 would be difficult and expensive because natural uranium ore only contains 0.7% of the unstable isotope able to react in nuclear fission. With more financial support from Roosevelt, testing continued on its way as they prepared to finalize their