Robert Oppenheimer Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was created out of the fear of their current enemy, Germany of making the first atomic bomb and using it in the war. The current President of the United States was Franklin Roosevelt. It was seen that Germany was making great advances in the war which worried many. But the people who were very worried were three prestigious scientists. Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller who were Hungarian scientists who immigrated to the United States during the war. Szilard and the other scientists wished to advocate for the start of a program that put all efforts into making an atomic bomb. But of course they were very intelligent on how to get their cause across seriously. “Though the three men, particularly Szilard, were well known

Thesis Statement: The Manhattan Project was the American program for researching and developing the first atomic bombs because of the project it cost a lot of people their lives.

Even today, 71 years after the first use of the atomic bomb, people praise Oppenheimer’s many contributions to science but also question his ethics in the development of the atomic bomb. However, I believe J. Robert Oppenheimer was a visionary leader and ethical leader as his contributions advanced science and put an end to a great war.

Throughout the Roosevelt administration and later through the Truman administration, it became clear that both had the distinct focus of ending World War II at the earliest possible time. This is a common theme identified throughout J. Samuel Walker’s Prompt and Utter Destruction. While some countries had put moderate effort into researching atomic power and how it could affect the war, the United States was the only country capable of putting full effort into researching and creating an atomic bomb that could be utilized during the war. Following warnings from scientists that informed Roosevelt of the possibility of the Germans making progress on their knowledge of nuclear energy, Roosevelt assigned a lofty and difficult project to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This project soon became known as “the Manhattan Project” due to the engineer district that was formed to design and build this bomb being originally headquartered in New York. The Manhattan Project was established at a time in the war when the United States was uncertain of its outcome. After the first successful, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction took place in a squash court at the University of Chicago, the idea of an atomic bomb became more feasible. However, while the idea became more feasible, the transition from experimental knowledge to designing an actual bomb was a huge step that involved many uncertainties and troubles. Although the Manhattan Project was formed during a period of uncertainty, the government had high hopes of the newly formed project, but despite these high hopes, the Manhattan Project faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles as it moved from experimental knowledge to designing the bomb, the most prominent being the design for the new technology and the role the bomb would play in the realm of global diplomacy.

The Manhattan Project was assembled when “in 1939 the world’s scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned the secrets of splitting a uranium atom.” (US History 1) This caused many people to panic and it was later agreed that this issue of the Axis powers developing nuclear weaponry should be brought up to the United States, which could perhaps stop the Germans from causing unspeakable destruction to much of the world. Scientists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, who both were living in the United States after leaving their previous countries to escape from either persecution or just leave the fascist state that Italy was currently in. Fermi was the scientist that went to Washington in order to express his concerns about this development of the splitting of the uranium atoms but not many others shared his concerns. Once Fermi

In December of 1941, the United States entered into the second World War after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. Due to these attacks and the dangerous rumors sprouting of German bomb builders, the U.S. decided to put efforts towards constructing the ultimate weapon of mass destruction: the Atomic Bomb. With billions of dollars and over 100,000 people, the Manhattan Project was founded to affirm these efforts by U.S. military and scientists. By the Manhattan Project we saw the unfortunate destruction of Japanese cities, the incredible advances in the world of science, and the threats of the cold war resulting in measures to protect against modern nuclear threats.

The Manhattan Project was a project set up by the government to create a new weapon during. At the time it was very secret as Franklin Roosevelt had previously said in a letter. , "I have recently reviewed with Dr. Bush the highly important and secret program of research." (Library of Congress). Oppenheimer was the main scientist that was hired during this time.

Have you ever wonder how the Manhattan Project changed the world. The Manhattan Project was such a world changer that many events caused it to go under development such as: building the Atomic bomb before the Nazi German regime could, the attack on Pearl Harbor and putting an end to a deadly war. By building the Atomic bomb it would give an edge in defeating Hitler if it was ever needed to be used against them. With the attack on Pearl Harbor it brought the U.S into the war. There was only two ways of ending the war and that was either by invading Japan or dropping the Atomic bombs on two key cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

The Manhattan Project was one, if not the most, secretive projects to take place in the history of the United States of America. Dating back to World War II, its purpose was to create a bomb capable of splitting atoms apart. The project was a success and resulted in one of the most devastating bombs ever to be developed and utilized by mankind. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, the acting Presidents during the time, faced many factors that were involved in deciding to proceed with developing and ultimately, dropping the bomb.

In 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U.S. was seeking a way to design an atomic bomb. Doing this would win World War II for the United States. The government tried and succeeded in acquiring all the materials and employees needed to do the job. One of those people was Enrico Fermi who led a small group and conducted the first controlled nuclear chain reaction. Now that milestones were reached to keep secret research was only to be based at few universities. Again, the reaching of milestones not only made secrecy a priority but also now the funds would

The letter stated that German Nazi’s were trying to purify Uranium 235, if they were to purify it they would be able to create an atomic bomb. He also told the president that the U.S. should start building in order to beat the other countries in making the nuclear weapons. On October 11th, 1939 Alexander Sachs (a scientist) went to President Franklin Roosevelt and discussed Albert Einstein’s letter. The president thought it was a good idea, so he started funding the project. This project was known as the Manhattan Project. Once it was approved many scientists got involved, some scientists that got involved were: Ken Bainbridge (test director of the project), David Bohm (theoretical physics, philosophy, and neuropsychology), Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigher, Otto Frisch, Rudolf Peieris, Felix Bloch, Niels Bohr, Emilio Segre, James Franck, Enrico Fermi, Klaus Fuchs, and Eward Teiler. All these scientists got involved thus starting the Manhattan Project.

The Manhattan Project had many hands involved in fields of engineering, physics etc. but the leader of the project was J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967). Many might think that Albert Einstein was the head of the project or a main figure in this huge secret operation. However, Albert Einstein only brought up the idea of building the bomb because of the events occurring in Germany. Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt warning him of the soon to come atomic warfare that could be waging across the world. With this news President Roosevelt setup, the Manhattan Project and put in charge the brilliant physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

There were over 30 sites in the US, UK, and Canada where research and development took place. It costed 2 billion US dollars, now the equivalent of 26 billion in 2014. The Manhattan Project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1942 to 1946. There were two types of bombs created. A gun type fission weapon(little boy) and an implosion type weapon(fat man).

The scientists that was behind this whole project was Robert J. Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer oversaw everything on this project. He made sure that the project was kept secret and went as planned. On the morning of 1945 in Los Alamos on a midsummer day, everyone would find out if the Manhattan project was the fail of the war or the end to the war. At 5:29 on July 16, 1954 the bomb was tested. Once it was tested, everyone found out that it was a success. The bomb was so powerful from the heat that the sky turned orange as it was shooting in the sky at 360 feet per second. The mushroom cloud from the radioactive vapor was 30,000 feet.

This project began 17 September 1942, Col. Leslie Richard Groves was an experienced manager that over sought the Collosal Construction of the Pentagon. Groves started the project 18 September, with the ordering of 1250 tons of high quality Belgian Congo uranium, the next he purchased 5200 acres of land. Groves was promoted to Brigadier General, even though he wasn’t liked by many of the scientist, he was a genius with MED. He took the fissile out of the scientist hands completely and moved the management to the industrial corporations. Groves ordered the construction on the fissile material production plants, even though there have not been any plans made up. On 16 November, Groves asked Dr. Robert Oppenheimer to head Project Y, the laboratory for weapons physic design in Los Alamos New Mexico.