Essay on Effects of Technology in the 1940’s

Half the decade consists of the need for new advancements in technology due to world war two . In the early 1940s the inventions were based on war needs like the atomic bomb, and nuclear reactor. But in the second half of the decade there were inventions like the transistor , microwave oven and the plastic artificial eye.

With the start of World War II the race for the first atomic bomb started. With Germany under Hitler’s reign, the Nazis began separating uranium to form the first atomic bomb to control the world. The push for the United States build the first atomic bomb began with this knowledge. With the help of several scientists the United States succeeded in building the atomic bomb first. Two atomic bombs were used; a uranium bomb on Hiroshima and a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. Along with the many deaths were six stages of A-bomb illness which includes acute stages, atomic bomb trauma, A-bomb radiation illness, radiation blood injury at lethal dosage, blood injuries, and secondary radiation illness. Seven unhealed scars were also an effect of the atomic bombs that includes keloids, A-bomb cataracts, leukemia, cancers, chromosome changes, exposure in utero and microcephaly, and genetic surveys. Regulations and guidance were set in place soon after the bombings to protect the people of the world based on the information that was gathered and it has changed over the years based on the new information that was learned. With the use of the atomic bombs in World War II, a lot of pain and suffering was caused, but a great deal of information was learned to help protect future generations from radiation.

The 1960s was a decade where many Americas found a new life and way of living, it was the time of the hippies, peace and love. It was also a time where many scientific and medical discoveries where made, these discoveries have improved our everyday lives up to the date. During the sixties technology advanced with satellites, video games, the Internet etc. and with these advances they have changed our life style. Without the advance of the internet imagine how we would be today, nowadays we use the internet for everything we do.

This is how the atomic bomb was developed and what happened because of the U.S. dropping these bombs. In 1939, Albert Einstein warned Roosevelt that the Nazis had the power to build an extremely powerful bomb. Scientists from the University of Chicago created the world's first nuclear reactor that created such energy that it had the potential of creating a powerful bomb. After the bomb was tested in Alamogordo, President Truman ordered the use of the bomb. On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. A few days later, the U.S. dropped another bomb in Nagasaki. As a result, Japan had no other choice then to surrender, and on September 2, Japan signed the formal surrender aboard the battleship Missouri.

On August 6, 1945 a U.S plane dropped an atomic bomb on a city in Japan called Hiroshima. It killed 30,000 people in seconds. The Little Boy killed at least killed 80,000 and 140,000 were injured. This weapon made of plutonium was the first nuclear weapon

In early 1900’s scientist of the world discovered that a few German physicists had learned the secret of splitting atoms, and they would be able to utilize energy to produce a bomb that would cause total destruction. Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi Germany and fled to United States, informed President Roosevelt about the capability of splitting atoms. Along with Einstein fellow scientist Fermi convinced Roosevelt to develop an atomic research program. In 1941 United Stated begin to design and build the atomic bomb which coded the Manhattan project. In 1942 Fermi had produced nuclear chain reaction. The development of the atomic bomb took place in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Oppenheimer was the leading scientist in putting all the pieces together. There were over a hundred thousand people involved in preparing the bomb to be tested. December of 1945 the testing for the first atomic bomb took place in New Mexico.

The first atomic bomb exploded July 16, 1945. The bomb was so powerful that the heat generated by the blast was 4 times the temperature at the center of the sun, blew out windows in houses more than 200 miles away, and killed every living creature within a mile (Faragher, 721). Out of fear that the Nazi 's might develop an atomic bomb, Franklin D. Roosevelt established a small nuclear research program in 1939. The president released resources to create the Manhattan Project, which was the American effort to design and build an atomic bomb (U.S. History Online Textbook). However, the Manhattan project wasn 't placed under the direction of the average American citizen, but the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1942 the first chain reaction in uranium was produced by Novel Prize winner named Enrico Fermi.

On July 16, 1945, the nuclear bomb was first tested in the United States in a desert in New Mexico. The test of the first nuclear bomb started the tensions that arose to the Cold War and it was capable of huge destruction that is detrimental to the human race. Since this day forward, there has been a common response and attitude from the public that has a theme of fear. The test of the nuclear bomb changed war and everyday life completely. Nuclear war has the power to end civilization completely.

The Manhattan project began in 1939 and helped to develop the first nuclear weapon that would be used in WWII. Much of the research was performed in oak ridge Tennessee and los alamos New Mexico. The first nuclear weapon tested by the Manhattan project was July 16th 1945 in New Mexico and was referred to as trinity. The same design used in trinity was later used in the US bombings of nagasaki and Hiroshima.

A breakthrough occurred in December of 1942 when Enrico 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. The main assembly plant of the project was built at Los Alamos, New

Scientist like Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi escaped Axis control and sought refuge in America (Burr). They agreed that the President must be informed of the dangers of atomic technology in the hands of the Axis powers so they could build counter-weapon. After careful consideration and insider information from Einstein and Fermi, President Roosevelt made his decision. Although Roosevelt did not see the necessity for a atomic program, he slowly agreed to creating an atomic weapon rather than a counter-weapon. As a result an American secret military project to build an atomic bomb was launched. Code named, the Manhattan Project”, it wasn't until 1942 that the project picked up speed. Enrico Fermi led a group of physicists to produce the world’s first nuclear chain reaction. This breakthrough gained the necessary attention from Roosevelt, funds were allocated more freely, and the project advanced exponentially. The Manhattan Project spent nearly $2 billion on research and development with over 120,000 employees all in the dark. Only a small privileged cadre of inner scientists and officials knew about the atomic bomb’s development. In fact, Vice President Truman was not informed of the Manhattan project until he became President (Burr). Final testing began in the summer of 1945 at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The bomb was fixed to a 100-foot tower that was set to

Eager to end WWII the atomic bomb was created to end the fight between Japan and the United States. The U.S. dropped it on the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The atomic bomb was created with uranium (U-235) and by using fission it would form a large nuclear chain reaction that would be devastating. The creation of this mass destruction weapon was called the Manhattan Project. The project cost around two billion dollars. In mid-July, 1945, these bombs were tested to see if they would be successful at halting Japan. On August 6, 1945 a day in history and a day that will never be forgotten the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima in Japan. Three days later the second bomb dropped called “Fat Man” on the city of Nagasaki. The

Over the years, there has been a vast change in technology since 1940. There has been a great change of transportation, communications, appliances, and medical technology

The ENIAC was the first computer to ever work successfully. ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer but for now we will call it ENIAC. The ENIAC’s design and construction was funded by the United States Army and the total cost was around $487,000. The basic machine cycle was 200 microseconds or 5,000 cycles per second for operations on the 10-digit numbers. In one of these cycles, ENIAC could write a number to a register, read a number from a register, or add/subtract two numbers, several tubes burned out almost every day, leaving it nonfunctional about half the time. Special high-reliability tubes were not available until 1948. Most of these failures occurred during the warm-up and cool-down periods.

Although it was not capable of completing mathematical arithmetic, the first electronic computer was created. This idea then fed into the creation of ENIAC in 1946, a computer capable of completing the four basic mathematical functions. A few years later in 1961, ANITA was released. ANITA is often considered to be the first desktop electronic calculator. As with many product life cycles, calculators progressively got smaller with the creation of the first pocket calculator in 1967, the Texas Instruments Cal-Tech. However, this calculator printed calculation results on a spool of tape. It was not until the invention of the Sharp QT-8D in 1969 that the world was introduced to what we now call the pocket calculator.