The Manhattan Project: Building The Atomic Bomb
In 1938, three chemists discovered how to split the uranium atom. When the atom splits it releases a tremendous about of energy, enough to power a bomb. But when they made this huge discovery there was many more problems that had to be solved before they could use such a weapon. Albert Einstein learned that the Germans were succeeding in solving how to make such a weapon. Einstein and Enrico Fermi, who escaped Fascist Italy agreed that the President must be informed of the dangers of atomic technology in the hands of the Axis powers. Then Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt with his concerns in 1939. This letter helped initiate the U.S. effort to build an atomic bomb to fight the war. But in July 1940, the U.S. Army Intelligence
…show more content…
A breakthrough occurred in December 1942 when Fermi led a group of physicists to produce the first controlled nuclear chain reaction under the grandstands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. There was two other major findings in 1940 and 1941. These findings demonstrated that the bomb was feasible and made building the bomb a top priority for the United States. In December 1941, the government launched the Manhattan Project. The name “Manhattan Project” was the codename of the America’s attempt to construct an atomic bomb during World War II. It was named after the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because a lot of it’s earlier research was done in New York …show more content…
Soon, the United States detonated the two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing 210,000 people. On August 6, 1945 an American B-29 bomber named the “Enola Gay” dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. On August 9, about 80,000 people died after the United States dropped a second bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Six days later, after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, the Japanese government signed an unconditional surrender. World War II was over.
The development and use of the atomic bomb changed the nature of world warfare forever. Though the bombings of Japan remain the only wartime use of nuclear weapons, since 1945 the threat of nuclear war has loomed over international conflicts, promising a level of destruction never before seen in the
A breakthrough occurred in December 1942 when Fermi led a group of physicists to produce the first controlled nuclear chain reaction under the grandstands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. There was two other major findings in 1940 and 1941. These findings demonstrated that the bomb was feasible and made building the bomb a top priority for the United States. In December 1941, the government launched the Manhattan Project. The name “Manhattan Project” was the codename of the America’s attempt to construct an atomic bomb during World War II. It was named after the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because a lot of it’s earlier research was done in New York …show more content…
Soon, the United States detonated the two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing 210,000 people. On August 6, 1945 an American B-29 bomber named the “Enola Gay” dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. On August 9, about 80,000 people died after the United States dropped a second bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Six days later, after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, the Japanese government signed an unconditional surrender. World War II was over.
The development and use of the atomic bomb changed the nature of world warfare forever. Though the bombings of Japan remain the only wartime use of nuclear weapons, since 1945 the threat of nuclear war has loomed over international conflicts, promising a level of destruction never before seen in the