the atomic bomb

In the months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Manhattan Project--the

name given to the atomic bomb program because its original offices were in

Manhattan--grew very quickly. And although the Army had been involved since June of

1942, it was just beginning to realize that someone was going to have to be put in overall

charge. The man chosen was Leslie Richard Groves, a 46-year-old colonel in the Army

While he was a competent engineer, Groves was no scientist. He did not

understand the science behind building the atomic bomb, nor did he pretend to. He

needed someone who would be able to supervise the scientific side of the project. After

dismissing a number of candidates, Groves decided on who seemed like the most

improbable of candidate of all--38-year-old J. Robert Oppenheimer.

After he was officially given the job of laboratory director, Oppenheimer planned a

campaign of “absolutely unscrupulous recruiting of anyone we can lay our hands on.”1

He used his charismatic personality to recruit some of the greatest scientific talent in the

world to join the project. He then helped Groves find a location for his bomb-making

laboratory, tentatively called “Site Y.”

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

To do this, it converts some of its mass into energy. At some point as the rods were withdrawn, fission would

produce neutrons faster than the cadmium could absorb them.

Oppenheimer did not care too much for the site, nor did Groves. And the worst effects of

the radiation--the leukemia, the cancer, the genetic damage--did not really show up for

several years.

Mid-July was not an ideal time for a test-bombing, as temperatures were often well

over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and severe thunderstorms were common.

All bombs, and especially those being developed at Los Alamos, release energy in

the form of light and heat. The site had to be isolated from any

centers of population, yet close enough to Los Alamos to allow for the easy movement of

men and equipment. Other types, upon absorbing neutrons, break apart. On November 16, Oppenheimer,

Groves, and representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers were looking at a site at

Jemez Springs, New Mexico, a deep canyon about 40 mi. Where the fireball touched the ground there was a

crater a half-mile across, and it had fused the sand into a greenish-gray glass.

There are two processes by which particles can be made to lose weight. ” Encyclopedia Brittanica: Science and Tecnology Illustrated. on July 16, 1945, but that time was

scratched because of approaching thunderstorms.

The test that changed the world was a complete success, and said by Oppenheimer

to be “technically sweet.

Approximate Word count = 3250
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.