At 8:15 in the morning on August 6, 1945, a US B-29 bomber, by the name of Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, immediately killed nearly 80,000 civilians and soldiers. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, producing 40,000 more men, women, and children. This attack on Japan, given by order of the US President, Harry Truman, remains the only nuclear attack in history. Preceding the attack, there were just about 100,000 more deaths to the radiation poisoning.
In 1942, J. Robert Oppenheimer, also called “the father of the atomic bomb,” and over 100,000 other scientists started the development of the atomic bombs. This project was the most secret wartime project in history, and was named the Manhattan Project. In the beginning, unaware of the sensitivity of the project, scientists worked in isolated labs all over the US. After a …show more content…
The tests were considered successful with a result of massive explosions, equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT. Scientists discovered that these bombs could essentially change the world forever and could cause major destruction and deaths. During this period in World War II, Germany had surrendered and ended the war in Europe. Japan was defeated as well, but refused to surrender. The US was contemplating an invasion on Japan, but figured that too many US soldiers would die in the process, so President Truman decided to drop the bomb instead. The first bomb that was dropped was made from Uranium. It was over 10 feet long with a weight of around 10,000 pounds. Attached to it was a small parachute that allowed the plane time to fly away from the detonation site. Even though Little Boy destroyed so much of Hiroshima, Emperor Hirohito still refused to surrender. This was the cause of the second bombing in Nagasaki, which was made of Plutonium, even more
In 1942, J. Robert Oppenheimer, also called “the father of the atomic bomb,” and over 100,000 other scientists started the development of the atomic bombs. This project was the most secret wartime project in history, and was named the Manhattan Project. In the beginning, unaware of the sensitivity of the project, scientists worked in isolated labs all over the US. After a …show more content…
The tests were considered successful with a result of massive explosions, equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT. Scientists discovered that these bombs could essentially change the world forever and could cause major destruction and deaths. During this period in World War II, Germany had surrendered and ended the war in Europe. Japan was defeated as well, but refused to surrender. The US was contemplating an invasion on Japan, but figured that too many US soldiers would die in the process, so President Truman decided to drop the bomb instead. The first bomb that was dropped was made from Uranium. It was over 10 feet long with a weight of around 10,000 pounds. Attached to it was a small parachute that allowed the plane time to fly away from the detonation site. Even though Little Boy destroyed so much of Hiroshima, Emperor Hirohito still refused to surrender. This was the cause of the second bombing in Nagasaki, which was made of Plutonium, even more