Enrico Fermi's Role In Making The Atomic Bomb

In 1939, the scientific world had discovered that Germany was building an atomic bomb. Albert Einstein had fled german prosecution earlier in his life. Upon hearing of Germany’s knowledge of splitting an uranium atom, he felt he must inform President Roosevelt about this. Roosevelt didn’t see the need in the atomic bomb but agreed to it anying. The code name for the atomic bomb was The Manhattan Project. Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago started the research for the atomic bomb. Enrico Fermi led a group of physicists to create the first controlled nuclear chain reaction underneath Stagg Field. Stagg Field was the University of Chicago’s football field. Here is where the first controlled

nuclear reaction happened. More and more money was given to Enrico for his research and production of this bomb. Many nuclear facilities were built, but the main one was built in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Robert Oppenheimer was the lead scientist at Los Alamos. The United States didn’t want anyone knowing about the construction of the nuclear weapon,but since it employed 120,000 people obviously there would be someone who’d spill the beans. The Axis Powers did remain in the dark about Los Alamos, but a Soviet by the name of Klaus Fuchs had reached the inner circle of the scientists. In the summer of 1945, Robert Oppenheimer was ready to test the first atomic bomb. On July 16th, 1945, at Trinity Site next to Alamogordo, New Mexico, scientists watched the bomb drop from a 100-foot tall tower. No one was ready for what was about to happen. There was a blindly light that lit up the sky in a 100 mile radius. A mushroom cloud that was 40,000 feet high blew the windows out 100 miles away. The bomb had metamorphosed sand into glass at Trinity Site. There was a fake explanation of what happened that was released to the public. It was that there was a huge ammonium dump that exploded in the desert. The project was a success. Looks like the $2 billion dollars funded to the Manhattan Project payed off in the end. The world then entered the Nuclear Age. That is the history of The Manhattan Project.

Robert Oppenheimer was “The Father of the Atomic Bomb.” Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2, helped Robert with all the math that was involved in making the first atomic bomb.

There was also many scientists that helped Oppenheimer obviously. Enrico Fermi played a big role in making the bomb as

well.

The aftermath of the Manhattan Project was Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2 bombings in World War 2.

The United States decided to bomb Japan in order to save American causalities. Harry Truman warned the Japanese that they should surrender but they didn’t. Almost 90,000 people died instantly with the two bombs. On August 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. At 8:15 A.M., 80,000 people died instantly in Hiroshima. A blast equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Ground zero was as big as four square blocks. Thousands of people died because of radiation poisoning around Hiroshima. Radiation poisoning eats away your cells and\or mutates it. This can cause almost any cancer known to man. The Enola Gay will be forever remember in this bombing. The Enola Gay was a B-29 bomber that dropped these atomic bombs. On this plane, there was 12 officers\pilots on it. There was also 12 cyanide pills that they were instructed to take if for some reason they would’ve been captured. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki. This wasn’t as deadly as the first atomic bomb but this made the Japanese surrender. They had had enough. August 15th will forever be known as V-J Day. This date is when the Japanese surrendered to America in World War 2.

I’m glad I chose this topic because it’s very interesting. I have learned a lot about the Manhattan Project. If I were the man in charge, I don’t think I could murder 90,000 innocent civilians. That was a gutsy

call by the president. But, he did what needed to be done to save American lives.