Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer: The First Nuclear Weapon

“A nuclear bomb is defined as ‘an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.’ “

After the U.S. dropped both bombs it brought an end to World War II, after that no nuclear bombs have been used in war. Many decades after, the U.S.S.R used spies to get ahold of secret information containing blueprints to an atomic bomb, and the files also showed the uranium in Eastern Europe. This then ushered in the cold war. During this time, many world superpowers would make upon 100’s of nuclear warheads. The U.S. and Soviet Union agreed to a treaty that would halt all nuclear weapons. This was called the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (History.com

After the battle of Okinawa, we had the invasion of Hiroshima. President Truman's made the decision the drop the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, on August 6, to set a point to Japan. This attack killed 70,000 instantly and 100,000 more died in the following years from burns and sickness from the bomb. The next bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, August 9th. This bomb killing 80,000 immediately and injuring many more. This is the only use of nuclear weapon in warfare history. In all over 129,000 people were killed, in these two bombings alone.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, a jewish scientist that created the nuclear bomb, was seen as both a positive and negative influence on the world. Oppenheimer helped change the world during the Manhatten Project and after. Being the "Father of the Atomic Bomb" Oppenheimer gained many enemies. People did not like that he opposed the hydrogen bomb and gained cultural power. J. Robert Oppenheimer may have had both positive and negative influences on the world.

J. Robert Oppenheimer stated, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.” J. Robert Oppenheimer, in the Manhattan Project, was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory and was responsible for the research and design of the atomic bomb. In the summer of 1945, the first atomic bomb was made and tested, and on August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb killed nearly seventy-thousand people instantly, which is miniscule in comparison to the thousands more that would have died if the war would have continued. Dropping the atomic bomb was a just decision because it saved American lives by avoiding a recreation of D-Day, was necessary to end the war swiftly by forcing Japan to surrender.

At the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II scientist started to develop new ways to to react to wars.Scientist like Julius Robert Oppenheimer with the help of Albert Einstein created the first atomic bomb called the “Little Boy” and the “FatMan”. Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. He was incharge of gather the best minds to develop weapons of mass destruction. Oppenheimer along with 200 other physics developed weapons that would change the world forever.

- An atomic bomb is a powerful bomb that releases nuclear energy by fission of heavy atomic nuclei that causes damage through heat and radioactivity. The atomic bomb is a nuclear weapon that is also known as a hydrogen bomb.

Robert S. Oppenheimer, was the father of the Atomic Bomb. After Albert Einstein stated that if the Nazi’s made a nuclear weapon first, the

Enrico Fermi, Arthur Holly Compton, Ernest Lawrence, Richard Feynman, Leo Szilard, Harold Urey, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Leslie R. Groves were all committed to the Manhattan Project. There were roughly 100,000 people that took part in the building of the atomic bomb. In 1940 German scientists began conducting similar research that was taking place in the Manhattan Project. To hasten progress and prevent the Germans from being the first to produce atomic bombs, Urey and Pengram were sent to England in the fall of 1941 where they made the first steps in making the Manhattan Project an international effort. Two years later the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada had created combined policy committee. This collaborative effort caused many scientists from Canada and Great Britain to the United States, where it would be easier for them to work on the Manhattan

When J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the lead scientists in an elite, American-led effort to design the most destructive weapon the world had ever seen, witnessed the first detonation of the nuclear bomb he helped create, he said with intensity, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” The construction of such a weapon was made possible by what was known as The Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was the name of an American effort to develop a working atomic weapon during World War II. The creation and use of the atomic bomb brought together some of the world’s best scientists, as well as the insight of the U.S. military. Most of the work was done in Los Alamos, New Mexico, not in the New York City district that it was named after.

The Atomic Bomb was created and used to help end WWII. Many countries came together to help design and make the bomb. More than 130,000 scientists put their lives and their families lives at risk by making these bombs. After the bombs were made and the hard decision to drop them ended, the atomic bomb changed the future forever. Nuclear weapons even made the rules of war change to save mankind and this planet.

The success of the Manhattan Project can be attributed to two key leaders. Robert Oppenheimer was the head of the scientists doing the research and development of the atomic bomb. Leslie Groves was the military leader of in charge of the entire project. These leaders faced many problems in this effort, some they solved working together as a very unlikely team and others required the unique skill set that each of them had to bring to bear on this issue. The innumerable problems with this wartime effort can be broken into three broad categories; scientific, personality or human, and logistical.

One of the men he summoned was J. Robert Oppenheimer, who would become one of the most important scientists of the Manhattan Project. He was nicknamed the “Father of the Atomic Bomb” due to his contributions to the research of nuclear weapons (“Oppenheimer, J. Robert” [The Reader's Companion to American History]). His responsibilities included “organizing and building the main research laboratory of the project” and researching ways to create first atomic bomb (“Oppenheimer, J. Robert” [Science in a Contemporary World]). Seven locations would have to be set up or bought to accomplish his goal, one of which Oppenheimer managed himself. After the project was disbanded, he worked at the Institute of Advanced Study and sat on the council of the Atomic Energy Commission. Even though his security clearance was revoked in 1954, he still made a significant impact on the science behind atomic weapons (“Oppenheimer, J. Robert” [The Reader's Companion to American History]). In 2004, the Atomic Energy Commission and Senate agreed to honor Dr. Oppenheimer and his work (Congressional

In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.

Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous weapons on earth. One can demolish a whole city, potentially killing millions, and exposed the natural environment and lives of future generations through its long-term catastrophic effects. According to the UNODA- United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (2011), “Although nuclear weapons have only been used twice in warfare- in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945-about 22,000 reportedly remains in our world today and there have been over 2,000 nuclear tests conducted to date.” Nuclear weapons have been viewed as a threat to peace by world leaders. There have been debates of whether to let Iran and North Korea acquire nuclear weapons, leaders all around the world along with Liberals believe that it is a threat to peace and should limit the spread whereas neo realist have another belief that nuclear weapon can make the world a peaceful place. Because states would fear to attack each other. For example the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and cold war- there were only threats and war did not happen because of nuclear deterrence. The Cuban missile crisis has frequently been portrayed as the only time where the world stood in the point of nuclear war between the superpowers. This is an example of how nuclear weapons were used to threaten the rival. Another examples would be that of India and Pakistan before they acquire nuclear weapon , they fought three bloody wars after having their independence but since 1998, after acquiring