Taking a Look at the Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project had various short and long term affects around the world. Primarily, the research done to create an atomic bomb led to the discovery of how to harness nuclear power which affects our lives to this day. However, the Manhattan Project also led to the creation of two more atomic bombs which would be used in WWII, radiation poisoning resulting in the death of many , fear of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, the end of the Second World War which was still taking place in Japan, and the threat of nuclear weapons around the world that still exists.

The Manhattan Project was the American program for researching and developing the first atomic bombs. The weapons produced were based solely upon the principles of nuclear fission of uranium 235 and plutonium 239, The project as a whole cost approximately 2 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money and employed over 120,000 people . It was a massive undertaking to say the least. A project of this size needed justification and it seemingly came in the form of attacking the Japanese . The President's chief of staff Admiral Leahy The democrats would have suffered a political death blow if they were not able to justify the investment.

The Manhattan Project was one of the most notorious and catastrophic projects in United State history. A bomb that took years to perfect and made the U.S. gamble millions of dollars on new technology that wasn't certain to work. All the secretive facilities scattered all over the U.S. contributed to the creation of a futuristic weapon of mass destruction beyond anyone’s imagination. The atomic bomb caused thousands to die and left years of remnant radiations. The Manhattan Project will forever remain as one of the greatest “successful” catastrophic discoveries in human history.

It became known that the German knew how to create an atomic bomb and FDR created a committee to study and create atomic bombs, named the Manhattan Project.The Manhattan Project was significant to the war because it led to the end of World War II and caused the Japanese to surrender to the Americans. The amount of people working together along with the cost and time which led to advancements in technology that was far ahead of any enemy. The creation of the bombs delivered a push in the advancement of science, innovation, designing, military and the entire of society into another age. It drew out the powerhouse that we consider today to be the United States of

Leading up to this time the fascist dictators began to gain power in European countries. The big three being the countries of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, Italy, Benito Mussolini, and Japan, Emperor Hirohito. In 1935 Italy invades and conquers Ethiopia, shorty after Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation. In 1937,Japan, lead by Hirohito, invaded China. Joseph Stalin, of Russia, signs the German-Russian non-aggression pact; which allowed Hitler to invade Poland. But when news of the German invasion of Poland spread Britain along with France joined the war to oppose the Germans. Germany only continues in it’s quest for conquest by invading Denmark and Norway in the year 1940. Meanwhile the United States is remaining completely uninvolved under it’s Neutrality Act that was passed in 1935. The United States, lead by president Franklin D. Roosevelt, enacted it’s Lend Lease Act in 1941 in order to trade and sell to allied forces, for payment after war. Japan realizes that the U.S. wasn’t exactly being neutral so it sent suicide bombers to attack our naval base in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Thus leading into the use of the atomic bomb, but first the construction, an event referred to as the Manhattan Project. The name Manhattan Project came about because the program began under the Manhattan Engineering District of the War Department.

“ The atom bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” This quote was said by Harry S. Truman the first President who used an atomic bomb. The program that was able to create this monstrous power was known as the Manhattan Project. Creating this weapon was their main priority. The United States was in the midst of World War 2. The atomic bomb is considered to be the main factor that ended that war. It was a race against the multiple enemies of the United States, to be the first to acquire this power and use it when necessary. The Manhattan Project was kept strictly confidential and, created the foundation of the future and more powerful nuclear weapons to come.

Well known scientist Albert Einstein, who fled from Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi who escaped Fascist Italy, were now living in the United States, on which they both agreed that the President should be enlightened of the vulnerability of atomic technology that was in the hands of Axis power. Fermi made an attempt and travelled to Washington in March to express his involvement with the government officials, who showed little to no concern. Einstein who as well shared a great concern in this topic; penned a letter to President Roosevelt imploring the development of an atomic research program later that year. Roosevelt saw neither prerequisite nor adequacy for such a project, but agreed to proceed gradually. In late 1941, the American effort to scheme and build an atomic bomb which received the code name as the Manhattan Project. The very first research was placed at only a few universities such as Columbia University, University of Chicago, and the University in California at Berkeley. The

     When the first atomic bomb was detonated in Alamogordo New Mexico on June 16, 1945, all the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project understood the great destructive power of radio-active isotopes. Although the atomic bomb was a very destructive force our world would not be as good without it. Because of the government funding involved in the project coupled with the need for an atom bomb, much research that otherwise may not have occurred took place in the US. The Manhattan project opened the door to nuclear advancements and applications.

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.

Finally, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unjustified because of the lack of testing. Although the project to design the first atomic bomb, codenamed the Manhattan Project, began in 1941, the first bomb was not ready to be tested until the month before it would be used in 1945. When it was tested at Trinity Site in New Mexico, the detonation caused unexpected results (“The Manhattan Project”). It caused “A blinding flash visible for 200 miles lit up the morning sky. A mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet, blowing out windows of civilian homes up to 100 miles away. When the cloud returned to earth it created a half-mile wide crater metamorphosing sand into glass” (“The

As the last shots of World War II were fired in Europe, the U.S. had a plan for their new advanced weapons of mass destruction. The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in early August of 1946 (Kennedy). These bombs and their short-lived history have had a huge impact on modern warfare and the essence of power surrounding a country. The Manhattan Project began in a frantic effort to end World War II before the Germans got their hands on the technology. As a result of this project, countries could now interact differently in terms of warfare and how they handle hostile foreign affairs.

Fermi was worried that the ruler of Italy would follow the laws that Hitler was putting in place. But Fermi ignored his worries and focused on his studies. Fermi was studying atoms. Atoms are made up electrons, neutrons and protons. The center of the atoms is a nucleus. In 1934 Fermi was doing experiments by shooting neutrons into the nuclei of various atoms. One atom that caught his eye was the uranium atom.(Gonzales page 11). When he shot neutrons into the atom the atom would change, he didn’t know how it was changing though. What he didn’t realize was when he shot the neutrons into the atom,that the atom was really splitting into two. He recorded his experiment in his notes and showed it to other scientists to see if they could find out what was happening.(Gonzales pg 13) One of the scientist was Lise Meitner, she was a physicist who worked with German scientists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman. (Gonzales pg

The Manhattan Project played large role importance as it helped greatly with the development of technology at time as well as preventing a long process of invasion with even more casualties. The project ended WWII, as 3 days after dropping two atomic bombs on

The idea that mass could be changed into energy was predicted by Albert Einstein in the earlier part of the 1900’s. John D. Cockcroft and Ernest Walton confirmed this by experiments in 1932. Then in 1938, nuclear fission was discovered by German scientists, and it was feared by many of the U.S. scientists, that Hitler would try to build a

With all great inventions of man, it will always be used for bad before it is used for good. Before airplanes made it possible to go from New York to Tokyo in 7 hours, they were dropping bombs across the skies of Europe. Before man had touched the stars with the help from a rocket. Those very same rockets were delivering death and destruction in the form of missiles. The very same can be said about the discovery of nuclear energy. Scientists saw the good in the new source of energy, but their pay check comes from the men demanding weapons of mass destruction. The Manhattan project did bring us an end to the war, a new weapon, and the discovery of a new fundamental energy source. Without the push to develop it, nuclear energy likely wouldn't