...Manhattan Project Research Paper Nuclear research all started when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered into World War II. When the United States realized that Germany attempted to build an atomic bomb, Americans began to concentrate on their research about creating an atomic bomb. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Manhattan Project, which included a group of top scientists, under General Leslie R. Groves, who worked around the clock to try to develop an atomic bomb within three years. The Americans and the British combined their efforts to research the development of the bomb and created plants and factories to work in. They created plants for three separate processes: electromagnetic, gaseous diffusion, and thermal diffusion. These plants helped create the plutonium and uranium 235 needed to manufacture the atomic bomb. The secrecy of the Manhattan Project was essential in order to develop the atomic bombs to end World War II. The United States and Great Britain kept the development of the atomic bomb a secret. In order to keep the secret, Groves spread the work out between laboratories so that the people working on the bomb could not figure out they were manufacturing. The members of the Manhattan Project asked the scientists questions about the bomb, and they gave answers back, but they did not know what the responses were for. The project consisted of so many restrictions for the employees in order to keep the secrecy...
Words: 1420 - Pages: 6
...The Manhattan Project Nuclear research all started when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered into World War II. When the United States realized that Germany attempted to build an atomic bomb, Americans began to concentrate on their research about creating an atomic bomb more heavily. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Manhattan Project, which included a group of top scientists, under General Leslie R. Groves, who worked around the clock to try to develop an atomic bomb within three years (Bondi 493). The Americans and the British combined their efforts to research the development of the bomb and created plants and factories to work in (“The Atomic Bomb…” 257). They created plants for three separate processes: electromagnetic, gaseous diffusion, and thermal diffusion. These plants helped create the plutonium and uranium 235 needed to manufacture the atomic bomb (Gerdes 142). The secrecy of the Manhattan Project was essential in order to develop the atomic bombs to end World War II. The United States and Great Britain kept the development of the atomic bomb a secret (Bondi 493). In order to keep the secret, Groves spread the work out between laboratories so that the people working on the bomb could not figure out they were manufacturing. The members of the Manhattan Project asked the scientists questions about the bomb, and they gave answers back, but they did not know what the responses were for. The project consisted of so many restrictions...
Words: 1557 - Pages: 7
...Greetings friends! Today I will talk about why I believe that bombing Japan was the only option to end the war between these two countries. The war was almost over. Germany and the axis powers had succumbed to defeat by the allies who had taken over. With Europe dealt with, the United states turned its eyes eastward towards another problem that had to be settled. That problem was Japan. Japan had bombed pearl harbor and pretty much just acting like a bunch of jerks. Well, America had been developing this new weapon under the name of ''The Manhattan Project'' because of intelligence that Germany was working on an A-bomb. Two atom bombs named "little boy" and "fat man" were dropped on Hiroshima and Potsdam in the course of three days....
Words: 351 - Pages: 2
...scientists of the Manhattan Project, described the scientific importance of the discovery of the atomic bomb. Immediately after the droppings of the atomic bombs on Japan until the present day, there were many debates on whether the Manhattan Project was justified or if nuclear weapons are even ethical. Seeing the destruction of the “Little Man” and “Fat Boy” bombs in the moment arose great fear and discontent. However, looking at the Manhattan Project in retrospect shows that the advantages gained through the years greatly outweigh the consequences of the nuclear weapons. The Manhattan Project was a pivotal endeavor in America’s history...
Words: 1705 - Pages: 7
...The Manhattan Project was morally incorrect, and may have seemed like it was for good cause, but ultimately lead to violence and death. The intentions were to end the war, but it did much more than that. Causing over 150,000 deaths and many more injuries. It all started when nuclear scientists in Germany discovered the secret to splitting the uranium atom. This enabled weapons of mass destruction to be made, but first scientists needed to learn how to harness the power of the splitting of the atom, and convert it into a destructive force. Nazi Germany was first to start research on creating a bomb capable of destroying whole cities. Word got out, and the U.S. government knew they had to finish creating a bomb before Germany or else it could...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...territory. With in a month Roosevelt had a team of researchers working on nuclear weapons before Germany and Japan could make their. The Manhattan project is an industrial complex in New Mexico; thousands of the West’s...
Words: 432 - Pages: 2
...The Manhattan Project, the program behind the development of the first nuclear weapons, affected the world greatly in many ways. The Manhattan Project was a secret, $2 billion project created by the U.S. The project was so secretive that only 6 of the scientists knew the nature of the manhattan project; Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Harold Urey. The people working on it were forbidden to speak about anything involving this, military security guarded the grounds, and the communications in and out were monitored. In 1939, the U.S. was warned that Nazi scientists had split an atom and could use that to build an atomic bomb. The U.S. started the top-secret program known as the manhattan project, it was named this after the Manhattan Engineering district of the War Department which was where it began....
Words: 446 - Pages: 2
...The Manhattan Project (1942-1945) was the research project that produced the first atomic bombs. It was ‘born’ from the fear that Hitler started researching and made atomic bombs since the 1930’s, and was ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The country’s top minds, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Glenn Seaborg, were a major part in the development of the nuclear bombs. They, along with 130,000 workers, helped produce the first nuclear bombs. A lot of the scientists that worked in the Manhattan Project were refugees of the fascist countries of Europe that used the newly recognized fission process to greatly advance the Manhattan Project.. Not only did it take years to research, develop, and produce, but it also took $2 billion, even though...
Words: 333 - Pages: 2
...The Atomic Bomb: Ordinary Morals Versus Wartime Morals The War in Germany was over, and fighting continued only throughout the Pacific Islands, where American troops were “island hopping” frenziedly in an effort to finally vanquish the Japanese. Japanese tactics were simple; they did not cease fighting until they won, and their Kamikazes, the original suicide bombers, sunk hundreds of American ships. The United States, tired of incessant violence, issued the Potsdam Declaration, which outlined the consequences that the Japan faced should they refuse to surrender, which was ignored. Meanwhile, just months after the European theater of the war ended, the infamous atomic weapons had been completed and were ready for use. So, in August of 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Total destruction ensued, and hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, though Japan did ultimately surrender. A thorough analysis of multiple historical viewpoints indicates a valid point of contention as to whether the United States was justified in dropping both bombs, one bomb, or whether the act was entirely unnecessary and overly aggressive. David Woods, in his essay entitled “Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japan May Have Saved Lives,” is an ardent supporter of dropping the bombs, like over fifty percent of Americans. He states that we cannot know that the bombing was unnecessary since we can only guess as to what the outcome would have been otherwise...
Words: 338 - Pages: 2
...“The Birth of a Little Boy: The Manhattan Project” “The Birth of a Little Boy: The Manhattan Project” In 1919 a New Zealand Nobel Peace Prize winning chemist working at Cambridge University in England would lay the foundation for one of the most prolific and destructive weapons the world has ever seen. Ernest Rutherford changed the way scientists looked at atomic structure when he successfully changed several atoms of nitrogen into oxygen. In this process he discovered the proton. Rutherford’s scientific discovery would get a boost in 1932 when his then colleague, James Chadwick, discovered the final piece to the atomic puzzle, the neutron. With the complete atomic structure established, the process of further breaking down elements began. One element of particular interest was uranium, the heaviest element on the periodic table. Uranium was broken down into three categories by their number of neutrons: uranium-234, uranium-235, and uranium-238.1 Six years later uranium-235 would become a focal point in nuclear research. The year 1938 would bring about the next phase of nuclear warfare, nuclear fission. Radiochemists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, were working in their lab in Berlin, bombarding different elements with neutrons. As they worked down the periodic table they stumbled on something interesting. Uranium reacted significantly more to neutron bombarding than the other elements they had tested. Additional testing led Hahn and Strassman to hypothesize...
Words: 1417 - Pages: 6
...The Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a significant turning point for the United States in World War II. The rumors of the creation of an atomic bomb put the Allies on edge; each wanting to be the first to create such a destructive technology. The reason behind why the US chose to execute this project, the processes and events that took place, and the subsequent effects of the project depict the importance of this major US event. To fully understand the importance of the Manhattan Project, it is first imperative to understand the reasoning behind why the United States chose to pursue the project. In 1939, Allied scientists had fears that Nazi Germany might develop nuclear weapons (The Manhattan Project). At this point in the War, Hitler was at his most powerful. He had one of the largest followings in history and his reign was producing devastating outcomes for the Jewish population (The Manhattan Project). Once the scientific community discovered that German physicists could split a uranium atom, action needed to be taken (The Manhattan Project). Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi Germany to live in the US, felt as though President Roosevelt should be made aware of the dangers of atomic technology being in the hands of Hitler (Ushistory). A letter written by Einstein was received by Roosevelt, yet the President found no reason to immediately respond to such a situation (Ushistory). However, 1941 began the American effort to construct an atomic bomb (The Manhattan...
Words: 2298 - Pages: 10
...Foundation, 2012) This paper will discuss the creation and use of the first two atomic bombs. Early in 1939, German physicists had learned the secrets of splitting a uranium atom. Fears soon spread over the possibility of Nazi scientists utilizing that energy to produce a bomb capable of unspeakable destruction. Scientists Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi, who escaped Fascist Italy, were now living in the United States. They agreed that President Franklin Roosevelt, must be informed of the dangers of atomic technology in the hands of the Axis powers. In late 1941, the American started to design and build an atomic bomb, which later received its code name, the Manhattan Project, which was named after one of the initial sites of research, Columbia University in Manhattan, New York. Nuclear facilities were built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. The main assembly plant was built at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer and Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves was put in charge of putting the pieces together at Los Alamos. After the final bill was tallied, nearly $2 billion had been spent on research and development of the...
Words: 1203 - Pages: 5
...Manhattan Project The research for the first Atomic bomb was done in the United States, by a group of the best scientists; this research was given the name of "The Manhattan Project". On Monday July 16th, 1945, a countdown for the detonation of the first atomic bomb took place near Los Alamos, New Mexico. This atomic bomb testing would forever change the meaning of war. As the atomic bomb was detonated it sent shock-waves all over the world. There was endless research done on the bomb in the United States. The research was called "The Manhattan Engineer District Project" but it was more commonly known as "The Manhattan Project."1 The Manhattan Project was brought by fear of Germany and it's atomic research. On account of the fear of Germany the United States took action upon testing their own atomic bomb. Once the bomb was tested, the United States had to decide whether it should be used and if so, where? Then there was the process of dropping the bomb. The Manhattan Project was overall one of the highest and most significant projects ever done in the United States.2 The United States government was shocked by the news of German scientists discovering nuclear fission. The news came to the United States from Albert Einstein. Einstein found out the nuclear fission information from a German physicist named Leo Szilard. He then told it to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and urged him to start an investment toward atomic research. 3The research...
Words: 256 - Pages: 2
...In 1938 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman were two German scientists who demonstrated nuclear fission. Nuclear fission released an enormous amount of energy called nuclear energy that can be used in many ways, including a dangerous weapon. They found that they could split the nucleus of a uranium atom by bombarding it with neutrons. As a result, the uranium nucleus splits some of its mass to be converted to energy. Other physicists noticed that the fission of one uranium atom gave off extra neutrons, which could in turn split other uranium atoms, starting a chain reaction. Therefore, in theory this energy could be harnessed to make a powerful bomb. Due to this, the development of the ultimate power took many scientists a lot of hard work and dedication to create such an effective bomb. First and foremost, there were problems with the political and social climate of the world that caused a race to unfold in the development of the ultimate weapon. During this period of time World War II was going on, and the United States was fighting with Germany in the Atlantic, as well as Japan in the Pacific. It all started when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, in which the other countries had joined the war for help. As a result, when Leo Szilard heard that Germany had found out about Hahn and Strassman’s discovery he thought they would produce a bomb. Leo Szilard told them that they were attempting to purify Uranium-235, which would make up the atomic bomb. With...
Words: 1464 - Pages: 6
...In 1929, the world’s scientific community discovered that Germany’s top physicists had found out how to split a uranium atom. This led to talk of a huge bomb that could deal massive destruction and untold destruction. The world thought Nazi scientists would use this power to blow up the rest of the world…or any opposing powers. The famous scientist Albert Einstein had been captured by the nazis and escapes persecution. He then fled to the United States where he informed a couple other people of the situation with the bomb. They agreed that they needed to inform the president of what was going on. Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt telling him that he thought they needed to start an atom research program. Roosevelt did not share...
Words: 420 - Pages: 2
