What is an atomic bomb? The answer is a bomb whose violent explosive power is due to the sudden release of atomic energy resulting from the splitting of nuclei of a heavy chemical element by neutrons in a very rapid chain reaction. The Manhattan Project produced "Little Man" and "Fat Man", two atomic bombs dropped on Japan during WWII.
The secret making of the atomic bomb was called The Manhattan Project. "The Manhattan Project ranks as the largest industrial and scientific effort in the history of the world, costing more than $2 billion in 1945 dollars and involving more than 175,000 workers. All research and experiments were conducted in almost total secrecy. Only a relatively small number of people knew the exact purpose of the project, which created the most powerful weapon ever used" (Encarta). The Manhattan Project was developed after Albert Einstein, a Jewish scientist wrote a letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and told him about the Germans making an atomic bomb. FDR was very concerned and got the smartest people he could find to make one an atomic bomb for the United States. .
The father of the Manhattan Project was Robert Oppenheimer. He is sometimes referred to as "The Father of the bomb." He was the main person involved in the making of the bomb. He was the leader of the weapons laboratory and knew a lot about what he was doing" (Lams).
There were three main places where the atom bomb was made and they were Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was directed by General Leslie R. Groves. They tested the bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Alamogordo is referred to as, "The Trinity Site." The scientists and mathematicians who .
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were involved in the Manhattan Project were Philip H. Abelson, Hans Bethe, Niels Bohr, Sir James Chadwick, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Otto Frisch, George Kistiakowsky, Ernest Lawrence, Philip Morrison, Seth Neddermeyer, John von Neumann, Rudolf Peierls, I.
