Wartime Wednesday: The Manhattan Project

Wartime Wednesday: The Manhattan Project

More than eighty years after the end of World War II, scholars and the general public still debate the usage of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What was the atomic bomb, and how did it come about?

Well before World War II commenced, scientists around the globe explored the possibility of splitting an atom, the basic building block of all matter in the universe, to create a bomb. So small that millions could fit in the period at the end of this sentence, the theory seemed preposterous. Yet, scientists persisted, and in 1938 a group of scientists in Nazi Germany managed to split a uranium atom. Some of these scientists feared what Hitler might succeed in his pursuit of creating an atomic bomb and fled to the United States and Britain.

One of those in individuals was Albert Einstein, who only forty years prior had proven the existence of

an atom. In 1939, physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner convinced Einstein to write a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt expressing their knowledge of the work being done with nuclear fission and their concerns about the associated dangers. Roosevelt responded that “I found this data of such import that I have convened a Board consisting of the head of the Bureau of Standards and a chosen representative of the Army and Navy to thoroughly investigate the possibilities of your suggestion regarding the element of uranium.”

The research was slow rolled until December 6, 1941, the day after the attack at Pearl Harbor, when the president approved a reorganization and acceleration of a nuclear program under the newly formed Office of Scientific Research and Development. Initially named “Development of Substitute Materials” and headquartered in the Manhattan borough of New York City (hence the name of the project), the project eventually moved to three secret locations: Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee (a town that didn’t appear on any maps).

Directed by General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in collaboration with Britain and Canada, the Manhattan Project employed more than 130,000 people at its peak and cost an estimated $2 billon (approximately $28B in 2024 values). J. Robert Oppenheimer directed the project in Los Alamos where the bomb was designed. The Tennessee location focused on producing enriched uranium while plutonium was produced in the world’s first industrial-scale nuclear reactors in Washington. By all reports, few of the employees knew the project’s end goal – to develop, test, and detonate an atomic weapon.

My knowledge of science is limited, and I scoured the internet to get a basic understanding of how atoms are split (hopefully, the Fed won’t look at my browsing history!). I still can’t grasp the concepts, but according to Britannica:

Nuclear fission is the division of a heavy atomic nucleus into two lighter nuclei of equal mass, a process

that releases a large amount of energy. Fission may occur spontaneously or be induced by the excitation of the nucleus with particles or electromagnetic radiation. The key is that during fission, a large quantity of energy is released, eventually starting a chain reaction. If controlled in a nuclear reactor the chain reaction can provide power. If uncontrolled (as in an atomic bomb), it can lead to a devastating explosion. Oppenheimer estimated the explosion of “the Gadget,” as he called it, would equal 300 tons of TNT. During the July 16, 1945 test, the explosion “packed a power of 15,000 tons of TNS (fifty times his prediction). The military was optimistic the power of the bomb would bring Japan to its knees now that the war with Germany had ended.

The science is still beyond my comprehension, and I will not put a stake in the ground as to whether dropping the bombs was the right answer. I wasn’t there. I will never have all the facts. But what does impress me are the scientific minds that wonder, theorize, and posit the “what ifs” in the universe.

What scientific concept do you wish you knew more about?

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Danish Days, The Resistance Chronicles Book 5:

Can hearts filled with hate find love?

Near the end of the “second war to end all wars,” Norwegian American OSS agent Frida Westgard finds herself assigned to Denmark, of all places. Initially sent as a radio operator, she is then transferred to Copenhagen to collect intelligence. A job made more dangerous when she becomes entangled in local resistance activities led by the handsome man known only as Rejsende–traveler.

Stig Arenfeldt has hated the Germans for as long as he can remember, so when they invade and occupy his beloved Denmark, he jumps at the chance to join the resistance. Now, five years later, the war may finally be at an end, but he won’t quit until the last soldier is gone…or dead. Then he’s paired with the attractive American agent who preaches forgiveness. A concept that has no place in his life. Unfortunately, the more they’re together, the more her words infiltrate his soul, and he begins to dread the day she’ll walk out of his life.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/3LoGlw

Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/mapr/learn/manhattan-project.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/manhattan-project
https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/retrospect.htm
https://www.history.com/articles/the-manhattan-project
https://www.britannica.com/event/Manhattan-Project
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/science-behind-atom-bomb/

Photo Credits:

Trinity Detonation: By United States Department of Energy - Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, Public Domain

Albert Einstein: By Oren Jack Turner - United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3b46036. Public Domain

Lt. General Groves: By U.S. Army - Portrait of LTG Leslie R. Groves, Public Domain

Fission Illustration: Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory