Development f the Atomic Bomb
In the 1930s, some scientists theorized that bombarding an atom's nucleus with a neutron from another atom would cause the first atom to split in two. The splitting atom would release another neutron, which would then strike a neighboring atom, causing it to split, and so on. It was thought that each splitting atom would release a tiny spark of energy. In a nuclear chain reaction, trillions of atoms would split in less than a millionth of a second, thereby giving forth an awesome burst of power. This process of deriving energy through a chain reaction is called nuclear fission. One of the leading scientists interested in nuclear fission was Leo Szilard. The gifted physicist was born in Hungary and educated at German universities. While visiting London in 1933, Szilard was struck with a monumental idea: "What if he could find an element that would emit two neutrons each time it was bombarded by one neutron? He later wrote, "Such an element could surly sustain a nuclear chain reaction.While Szilard worked to advance his idea, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party took over Germany. Under Hitler's control, Germany started building tanks, military airplanes, and bombs. At the time, German scientists led the world in nuclear physics. Szi
Once it was announced that the "pile" had gone critical, the rod was quickly pushed back in before the reactor blew up. Hence, the "Manhattan Project" became the code name for the atomic-bomb development program. The project also encompassed research work being carried out at the University of California at Berkley and the University of Chicago. Finally in October 1939 Roosevelt read the letter. By 1942, the Manhattan Project moved its headquarters to Chicago. , was constructed to accommodate the scientists and their families. They had with them a special machine that counted neutron bombardments. One day in July 1939, Szilard and Edward Teller, another Hungarian born physicist who studied in Germany, went to the home of Albert Einstein. The bomb exploded with the force of twenty thousand tons of TNT. lard feared that the Nazis could develop an atomic bomb and become powerful enough to rule the world. Sensing that war would break out in Europe, Szilard moved to the United States in 1938. His letter did not reach the president for two months. Robert Oppenheimer, was named the head of Project Y, the group that would design the actual bomb.
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Acceptance Essays
