The
Manhattan Project:: Beginnings
Why did the U.S.
Government Decide to research the contruction of Atomic Weaponry?
During the First
World War, many major changes occurred in regard to the way in
which wars were fought. These were mainly due to technological
breakthroughs- The invention of automatic weapons, the
construction of tanks, and the invention of aircraft. The Second
World war started at a similar place the First World War had left
off- although the weaponry was more powerful and better refined,
the planes flew faster, and radio communication was more
reliable, there was no actual ground breaking new weapons. Not
until the very end of the war- and that was perhaps the most
influential weapon ever constructed. So what made the U.S.
government decide to investigate atomic weaponry- a thing that
many thought would not even work? This will be discussed in this
section of my research.
At the same time as
the beginning of the Second World War, there were some major
breakthroughs in the physics world. Leo Szilard, a physicist in
Britain, had patented the Atomic Bomb, as he called it- Leo had
been researching 1932 had discovered the existence of the atomic
"the neutron". Seven months later he had worked out
that a huge amount of power could be utilised to generate power,
or . He patented the bomb in Britain, not to gain recognition for
it, instead he "so that it could be classified and protected
under British ".¹
World War II erupted at a
moment when the promise of atomic energy had progressed from
being possible to being probable. This was highlighted in a
letter drafted by Albert Einstein in conjunction with Szilard, to
President F.D. Roosevelt. (A copy of this letter can be veiwed by
clicking here). The first section of the
letter clearly stated that the use of nuclear fission as a weapon
was no longer science fiction, and would probably be achieved in
the near future. The second section consists of Einstein's
recommendations to Roosevelt about how best to research this new
form of weapon. It is also made clear that Germany had already
taken steps towards obtaining Uranium for such a weapon. The
letter was a success- Roosevelt set up an "Advisory
Committee on Uranium" only ten days later.
However, over the
next two years official support for the project dropped. Many
important discoveries were made on a research front, including a
proposed scheme for the production of U-235, and the discovery of
another super-heavy element, plutonium. By 1941, the project had
been all but forgotten in the USA. That changed, though, in the
later half of that year- on September 3rd, the British Chiefs of
Staff agreed to begin development of an atomic bomb. After the
horrific attacks on Pearl Harbour, the Unites States also started
a project to investigate atomic weapons.
The initial stages
of this project occurred at the University of Chicago and was
headed by Arthur Compton and a team of scientists he had been
working with on the earlier atomic research project.. The
research made monumental leaps with the injection of this new
funding, however it became apparent that a full-scale industrial
organisation system would be needed if the project were to
progress further. A project manager was needed. Col. Leslie
Richard Groves was chosen to lead the project.. Groves seemed an
obvious choice, as he was outgoing and experienced, and had a
short while beforehand overseen the construction of the Pentagon
in Virginia.
The decision had
been made to invest government funds in this very new and very
frightening area of weaponry. No one was yet sure just how
powerful the bomb would be, and many still did not believe that
the Americans would be able to construct the atom bomb before the
war had ended. Even german physicist Niels Bohr was reluctant to
commit to the project, saying that the task 'can never be done
unless you turn the United States into one big factory"². However, the project
government took the project very seriously-and, as you will see
in the next section, the United States did exactly what Bohr had
said.
²
"The Mahattan project",
http://www.em.doe.gov/circle/manhattn.html (The Center for Environmental
Management Information, 1995)
