The Manhattan Project

            A team of scientists led by Robert Oppenheimer developed the first atomic bomb. The project that led to the discovery of the atomic bomb was called the Manhattan project. It started out under the bleachers at stag field in the university of Chicago, and ended with it's testing at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
             The Manhattan Project was easily the most extensive theoretical and applied research project undertaken in the last century. The project itself was composed of many different groups; one of the smaller groups was the weapons research and development laboratory located at Los Alamos, New Mexico. The overall project was named after the Manhattan Engineering District in New York. This District oversaw most important research that the Department of the Army was delving into during the Second World War. The work at Los Alamos received its own designation as Project Y.
             When Germany started World War II they had already started developing its own nuclear weapons project in 1939, it had started the infamous nuclear arms race that would last well in to the 1980's that will eventually have over 20 countries participating. The United States entered the marathon in 1942 and produced the first atomic bomb three years later in 1945. The Manhattan project produced three bombs the first was "Gadget"" this was a test model. The second was "Little Boy"" this bomb was detonated over Hiroshima. The third bomb was "Fat Man"" was detonated over Nagasaki. .
             The bombs cost 1.8 billion dollars, in today's world that is over 20 billion dollars. The cost was well worth the advantages it gave the United States. For over a decade the United States will be the only country with nuclear weapons that will leave it unchallenged in political events. Also The United States will start to experiment with nuclear power that will lead to providing over 20 percent of the nations power. Even though the full power of nuclear energy will not be harnessed until later by the Soviet Union.