Manhattan Project

7 Pages 1682 Words

The Manhattan Project was the code name for the US effort during World War II to produce the atomic bomb. It was named for the Manhattan Engineering District of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Much of the early research was done in New York City. Sparked by refugee physicists in the United States, the program was slowly organized after German scientists discovered nuclear fission in1938. Many US scientists expressed the fear that Hitler would attempt to build a fission bomb. In theory, Jungk wrote, “this fission bomb would be more destructive than all the explosives the US had.” Frustrated with the idea that Germany might produce an atomic bomb first, Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner asked the famous scientist Albert Einstein, “to use his influence and write a letter to president Franklin D. Roosevelt.” The letter pleaded for support to “further research the power of nuclear fission” and “warned the president of the devastating destruction Hitler could cause.” His letters were a success, and President Roosevelt established “The Fission Bomb Project.”
Physicists from 1939 onward, conducted research to find answers to such questions as “how many neutrons were emitted in each fission?” “Which elements would not capture the neutrons but would moderate or reduce their velocity?” and “which element achieved the most powerful fission?” After their research the scientists found that uranium was the most effective for their project. The next question was, “which isotope of the fission is more effective, the lighter and scarcer isotope of uranium (U-235) or the common isotope (U-238).” They also learned that fission releases a few neutrons. A chain reaction therefore was possible. To create this chain reaction and turn it into a usable weapon was the ultimate goal of the Manhattan Project.
In 1942 General Leslie Groves was chosen to succeed Vannevar Bush as the head of “the Fission...