The Manhattan project (1942-45) was the U.S. government's secret research project that produced the first atomic bomb. This project, only known to a small group of scientists for a time, grew to employ more than 130,000 people, cost nearly $2,000,000, and entered the world into the nuclear age.
In 1939, the world's scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned how to split a uranium atom. American scientists were alarmed to hear this news, thinking that the Nazi scientists could possibly utilize the energy to produce a bomb with incredible destruction. Two of theses scientists were Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi, who escaped fascist Italy, and they attempted to bring the dangers of atomic technology in the hands of the Axis powers to the attention of the President. Though Roosevelt did not see the necessity of this project, he agreed to start the project slowly, and in 1941 the effort to build an atomic bomb was named the Manhattan Project.
Secrecy was kept to utmost importance, since the U.S. government didn't want the Germans or the Japanese to know of their research. Out of the 130,000 employers to the project, only an inner ring of scientists knew about the full project, and public awareness was nonexistent. The Vice President himself didn't know about the Manhattan Project until be became President Truman.
In 1942, after physicists were able to produce the first controlled nuclear chain reaction, more funds were given and the project advanced rapidly. By the summer of 1945, the project was ready to test its first atomic bomb and scientists prepared to see the detonation of the world's first atomic bomb at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. None of them were ready to see the result. A mushroom cloud erupted to 40,000 feet, and blew out the windows of civilians up to 100 miles away, requiring a drastic cover story.
The US had entered the nuclear age.
In 1939, the world's scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned how to split a uranium atom. American scientists were alarmed to hear this news, thinking that the Nazi scientists could possibly utilize the energy to produce a bomb with incredible destruction. Two of theses scientists were Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi, who escaped fascist Italy, and they attempted to bring the dangers of atomic technology in the hands of the Axis powers to the attention of the President. Though Roosevelt did not see the necessity of this project, he agreed to start the project slowly, and in 1941 the effort to build an atomic bomb was named the Manhattan Project.
Secrecy was kept to utmost importance, since the U.S. government didn't want the Germans or the Japanese to know of their research. Out of the 130,000 employers to the project, only an inner ring of scientists knew about the full project, and public awareness was nonexistent. The Vice President himself didn't know about the Manhattan Project until be became President Truman.
In 1942, after physicists were able to produce the first controlled nuclear chain reaction, more funds were given and the project advanced rapidly. By the summer of 1945, the project was ready to test its first atomic bomb and scientists prepared to see the detonation of the world's first atomic bomb at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. None of them were ready to see the result. A mushroom cloud erupted to 40,000 feet, and blew out the windows of civilians up to 100 miles away, requiring a drastic cover story.
The US had entered the nuclear age.