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Trinity and Beyond: The Origins of the Atomic Age
Week 2 Term List
Niels Bohr J. Robert Oppenheimer Leo Szilard Leslie Groves Albert Einstein Fat Man / Little Boy Radioactivity Enola Gay Fission Kiloton Uranium Megaton Plutonium Fusion The Manhattan Project Military Industrial Complex Harry S. Truman Trinity Enrichment Yellowcake
Questions to ponder: Did the United States need to drop the first two (and only) Atomic Bombs on Japan? Try to construct arguments on both sides.
How was the Manhattan project able to construct such a new and devastating weapon in such a short amount of time?
Which figure was the most important in the creation of the Atomic bomb? Why?
Arguably, Adolf Hitler prompted the massive push to construct an atomic bomb. Still, scientists had been making discoveries for many decades before WWII.
I. Imagining the Bomb before the Manhattan Project
Radioactivity occurs naturally
In Brazil Nuts And in Pitchblende
Leo Szilard
-Born in Hungary
-Educated in Germany
-Lived in Great Britain
-Worked closely with Einstein
-First notable scientist to believe that a CHAIN REACTION might be possible.
Niels Bohr
- Eminent Danish
scientist who studied
nucleus of the atom.
- Bohr recounted how
German scientists had
achieved fission in 1938.
- Held chair at Princeton.
His reputation pushed
nuclear physics.
Enrico Fermi
-Pushed for actual, not theoretical, nuclear experiments. -Hypothesized that a small amount of fissionable material could blow-up a city the size of New York City.
On August 2, 1939, Szilard and Einstein send a letter to FDR warning him of Nazi designs on an atomic bomb.
Originally the MANHATTAN ENGINEERING DISTRICT
- Created in August 1942
- 3 years to make the bomb
- $2 Billion (huge at that time, or roughly $25 billion today, on a single, unproven weapon of mass destruction)
To lead the scientific efforts, Groves put J. Robert Oppenheimer in charge.
Uranium
These scientists were confident that FISSION would work
Only a fraction of uranium ore is radioactive. After being processed, the more radioactive concentrate created is called YELLOWCAKE
Plutonium
FDR and Stalin had a good working relationship.
Truman is noticeably less comfortable with “Uncle Joe”
Paul Tibbits piloted the ENOLA GAY which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima
-A fifty year anniversary exhibit (1995) of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. raised much controversy
Henry Stimson, Harper’s, 1947
Argued that Truman and his advisors considered every possible option Goal was to save American lives Later estimates put that number anywhere between 500,000 to 1,000, American casualties
Why do some question this myth?
Wartime code-breakers in the Pacific had decrypted Japanese codes (MAGIC) Knew that the Japanese wanted surrender as early as April 1945
U.S. would not budge on “Unconditional Surrender”
- Widely known that it would take the emperor to order troops to lay down their weapons
Were the atomic bombings military actions, or political actions?
Were the bombs warnings to Russia’s designs in Europe?
Or their designs in China?
