Hero

The Manhattan Project Not even a decade ago, our society spent years of studies in order to develop advancements in new technologies or inventions and it punctuated intervals of time in which to absorb and adapt to the change. However, in modern society, the pace of developing “the next big thing” significantly increased. Unlike the past, our modern world required shorter intervals to adapt due to our historical developments. However, there is one subject that required adaptation among our ‘big things’: Nuclear Research. The very first nuclear project in United States began in mid-1900s in order to defend our homeland and react again upcoming military threat from hostile countries in World War II. Although nuclear research in United States was started to prepare for World War II, United States has continued its research to today. However, nuclear power has had great aspect of change in our society: science, technology, economics, health care, education, politics, government, communications, travel, international relations, cultural and social trends, and other areas of society and culture. On October 11, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein about new field of physics that showed nuclear fusion with uranium could result in release of burst deal of energy. The letter contained information that this nuclear fusion could construct extremely powerful bombs that could play a key role in World War II. Moreover, Einstein warned that Germany has already acquired massive amounts of uranium from the Czech mines. Roosevelt reacted immediately, and he organized a research committee to introduce America’s first nuclear program in order to react to upcoming war against the United States. In the morning of December 7th, 1941, Japanese Navy’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor caused Americans to enter the World War II. Americans were aware of that Germany and Japan were dominating countries in World War II; especially Germany, who was ahead of their nuclear research on building an atomic bomb. In order to acquire victory in World War II, President Roosevelt believed that United States needed to build an atomic bomb before Germany or Japan. On May12, 1942, The Manhattan Project was launched. The Manhattan project was the largest classified project undertaken by the United States government during World War II. There were total of three atomic bombs created from the Manhattan Project: The Gadget, Little Boy, and Fat Man. The Gadget was created and used as a test model to see the amount of explosion. It was tested in Trinity site in New Mexico. The detonation of the Gadget created 2,400 feet across. No further test was necessary due to expense and slow production rates. The second design of the Manhattan Project was the Little Boy. It was the first bomb to be used as a weapon and was detonated over the city of Hiroshima in the Japan. The Little Boy was transported by B-29 Bomber, called Enola Gay. The bomb was dropped in Hiroshima on August 6, 1965 and within a second, 100,000 people vaporized into air.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1644.html

http://www.pitt.edu/~sdb14/atombomb.html

http://www.princeton.edu/step/people/faculty/michael-oppenheimer/research/Yang-Oppenheimer.pdf