The Manhattan Project: Uranium Atomic Arms Race

The Manhattan Project On August 6, 1945 an American plane, the B-29 “Enola Gay” dropped a uranium atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan instantly killing over 140,000 people. Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, this one plutonium, over Nagasaki. The second bomb had a death toll of over 80,000. These two weapons and the atomic arms race that ensued were a direct result of an American secret venture – the Manhattan Project. The concept of an “atom” first began in ancient Greece. According to Delgado, early philosophers “suggested that regular solids were fundamental parts of the universe, and Democritus’ teacher, Leucippus, had introduced him to the idea of an atomic system.” However, it wasn’t until the

In the late 1930s, several Eastern and Southern European nations fell to and aligned with Nazi Germany. Scientists in those countries were concerned with the control the Axis powers would hold if they discovered a chain reaction. From Europe, researchers fled to the United States. Enrico Fermi, an Italian nuclear physicist, Leo Szilard from Germany, and Hungarian scientist Eugene Wigner believed that the Germans were close to creating a bomb. “The Reich had recently stopped the sale of uranium from recently occupied Czechoslovakia, and there were rumors that a German chain reaction group had been formed” (Delgado 30). Fermi, Szilard, and Wigner wanted to create an American initiative to develop an atomic bomb. However, the three scientists did not have the connections within the US government so they met with Albert Einstein. After several meetings Einstein agreed to sign a hand-delivered letter addressed to President Franklin D Roosevelt detailing the scientists concerns about German development in nuclear fission. The letter stated, “It appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future. This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable – though much less certain – the extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed” (Delgado 31). The President met with the scientists on October 11,

The British government created a secret committee aimed at separating the radioactive Uranium-235 from the more common Uranium-238. Using gaseous diffusion, Franz Simon, a British physicist, could separate the atoms but the process was slow. James Chadwick fueled much of Britain’s initiative. As a member of the committee he often reported the group’s progress to the authorities and explained that he now “realized that a nuclear bomb was not only possible, it was inevitable. I had then to take sleeping pills. It was the only remedy” (Delgado 34). Two British scientists, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls confirmed the feasibility of an atomic bomb, but recent British military failures in Europe meant that the nation could no longer properly fund the project. They wrote a memorandum to the US on the properties of a radioactive “super-bomb”. Their letter explained that strategically, “as a weapon, the super-bomb would be practically irresistible…the bomb could not be properly used without killing large numbers of civilians…it is quite conceivable that Germany is, in fact, developing this weapon… the most effective reply would be a counter-threat with a similar bomb” (Kelly 49). Convincing several high-ranking military officers, the United States agreed to establish several committees to develop the weapon. Independent researchers from the University of California Berkeley,