The Manhattan Project

Overview  Program to develop atomic weapons Code Named: The Manhattan Project  Began December 1941 & ended in 1946  Was discreet and kept extremely secret

Project Origins  Letter written from Albert Einstein inspired FDR to research the uses of uranium  Led to creation of “Uranium Committee” under National Research Defense Council  Later modified into Manhattan Project  Approved by FDR with out direct knowledge of Congress  Funds came from secret Presidential accounts

Goals and Tasks 1) Research the nature and capabilities of atomic energy 2) Use this energy to create first atomic bomb

Directors  Army Corps of Engineers’ Manhattan District controlled bomb construction  Supervisor: General Leslie R. Groves  Head of Scientific Team: Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer

Workers and Expenses  Cost $ 2.2 Billion  Employed more than 600,000 people  Involved US and foreign scientists from universities & industrial sites Variety of scientists who worked in different fields

Facilities  Main Facility: Los Alamos, New Mexico  Other Sites: Oak Ridge, Tennessee & Hanford, Washington  Research conducted in university laboratories Colombia and Berkley

Development  Constructed nuclear reactors to extract uranium from fossils and convert it into plutonium  Resulted in fission weapons that compress the plutonium so that a chain reactions occur and create explosive power

Results  First atomic bomb created Tested on July 16, 1945 at New Mexico facility  Produced the two bombs that were used against Japan “Little Boy” bomb dropped on Hiroshima “Fatman” bomb dropped on Nagasaki  Became part of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) after World War II