Home
Background Information: World War II
The Manhattan Project
Little Boy
Fat Man
Atomic Bomb Aftermath and Effects
Letter from Niels Bohr to Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding the creation of
nuclear weapons
"
A weapon of an unparalleled power is being created which will completely change all future conditions of warfare. Unless some agreement about the control of the use of the new active materials can be obtained in due time, any temporary advantage, however great, may be outweighed by a perpetual menace to human security. An initiative, aiming at forestalling a fateful competition, should serve to uproot any cause of distrust between the powers on whose harmonious collaboration the fate of coming generations will depend."
"Even before the outbreak of war in 1939, a group of American scientists--many of them refugees from fascist regimes in Europe--became concerned with nuclear weapons research being conducted in Nazi Germany" ("Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki")
.
In 1938 many people feared that Hitler would build an atomic bomb after German scientist had split the uranium atom. One of Hitlers mistakes was the persecution of Jewish scientists that resulted in numerous scientists seeking asylum in the United States. One such scientist was Albert Einstein who abandoned his belief in pacifism and urged president Franklin D. Roosevelt to develop an atomic bomb before Hitler did. Roosevelt agreed and the United States attempted to build atomic bombs under the code-name
The Manhattan Project
. The Manhattan Project was top secret and had nearly 40 laboratories and factories which employed approximately 200,000 people by 1945. Among these employees were some of the greatest scientist that have ever lived including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, J. Robert
Oppenheimer
, Harold Urey, and more. in 1945 the Manhattan Project achieved its goal to create the first atomic bomb
. After nearly
2 Billion dollars being invested for this project
a
test bomb known as "Fat Boy" was created. The worlds first nuclear test code-named Trinity was conducted on July 16, 1945 in a desert in New Mexico. The Trinity test success led to the creation of two more atomic bombs that would be used in World War II, Little Boy and Fat Man
("The Manhattan Project")
Group Website By Arturo Rubi and Kassandra Serrato
(537 Words)