History Of The Manhattan Project

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The Manhattan Project was the U.S. government’s research project that produced the first Atomic bomb. (Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.) This project lasted from 1942 through 1945. (Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.) It was prompted by the discovery that German radiochemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discover the process of fission in uranium in December of 1938. (Energy.gov) (Atomic Archive) Albert Einstein decided it was necessary to write President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning him that Germany is likely in the process of researching new, highly powerful bombs and informing him the importance of the U.S. researching them as well in August of 1939. (Energy.gov) (U.S. History) (Atomic Archive) (Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.)

On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland officially beginning World War II. (Energy.gov) (Atomic Archive) Alexander
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(Atomic Archive) (Energy.gov) Uranium isotope separation facilities are built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; plutonium production reactors are built at Hanford, Washington; and a weapons laboratory is set up at Los Alamos, New Mexico. (Atomic Archive) (Energy.gov) A microscopic sample of pure plutonium is produced in August of 1942. (Atomic Archive) Under the grandstands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago the first controlled Nuclear Chain Reaction was produced on December 2, 1942. (U.S. History) (Energy.gov) (Atomic Archive) In 1943 there was a committee composed of Americans, Britain, and Canadians who cooperatively worked on the Manhattan Project. (Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.) On September 8, 1943 Italy surrenders to Allied forces. (Atomic Archive) On April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt dies and Harry Truman becomes President. (Energy.gov) (Atomic Archive) The whole project was kept well under wraps so much so that Vice-President Harry Truman didn’t even know about it until he became President. (U.S.

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