During World War II, the United
States, with the assistance (collaboration) of physicists, mathematicians, and
engineers from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Europe, completed the Manhattan Project
to produce the first atomic bomb.
(The project started as the "Manhattan District Engineers" and only became "The Manhattan Project" some time later).
(The project started as the "Manhattan District Engineers" and only became "The Manhattan Project" some time later).
Germany was also working to develop
atomic weapons, but was hampered by many technical and political problems
(including sabotage and Allied bombings) which prevented their successfully
completing their work. This left the U.S. as the only nation to ever unleash
nuclear weapons in an attack.
In 1939, at the urging of Dr. Leo
Szilard, Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt warning of a new discovery of a
"nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium." Einstein
forewarned President Roosevelt that the discovery of such a reaction could lead
to the construction of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type."
Einstein also mentioned that Dr. Leo Szilard was working on this and urged the
US to find this reaction before Germany. It was Einstein's letter that led
President Roosevelt to funding uranium research and later to the Manhattan
Project.
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Theoretical Physicist
Albert Einstein 1879 - 1955
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Former President 1933 - 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882 - 1945
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The physicist Albert Einstein did
not participate directly in the invention of the atomic bomb-but was
instrumental in facilitating its development. His Special Theory of Relativity
emphasized that a large amount of energy could be released from a small amount
of matter. This was expressed by the equation E=mc2 (energy = mass times the
speed of light squared). The atomic bomb would clearly illustrate this
principle.
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Fat Man
4633
Kg
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Little
Boy
4400
Kg
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The first demonstration of
"the gadget" (the code name for the first atomic bomb) was at Trinity
site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and it proved that the weapon would detonate
and that the chain would build as predicted. The second and third
demonstrations were conducted in Japan, which brought a quick end to the Second
World War. Just up to and during World War 2
If another Nuclear War happened, the thing that will happen to mankind it this...
