FREE ESSAY ON ATOMIC BOMB

ATOMIC BOMB

This was the basis for the atomic bomb. Throughout this research paper, I will trace the
history of the atomic bomb. In addition, who was involved and why, what happened in this
event, and explain the impact that it had on the world. After Einstein predicted, that
mass could be converted into energy. This was confirmed experimentally by John D.
Cockcroft and Ernest Walton. "Physicists from 1939 onward conducted much research to find
answers to questions as how many neutrons were emitted in each fission and which elements
would not capture the neutrons but would moderate or reduce the velocity" (Grolier
Multimedia Encyclopedia The Atomic Bomb Mar.99 CD-ROM NP) and other questions of that
nature. Frightened by the possibility that the Germans may produce an atomic bomb,
physicists Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller consulted Einstein to address a
letter to Franklin Roosevelt. Motivated by the letter, in 1939 Roosevelt commanded an
American effort to obtain atomic weaponry before the Germans. With an increasing threat
from Germany, President Roosevelt needed to take an aggressive stance. He was in a
position of nuclear threat. F.D.R needed to do something, and do something very fast.
This is why the president called to order the "Manhattan Project." Nothing happened until
Vannevar Bush, coordinator of scientific activities for the war, took charge. The program
was called the Manhattan Project. It came under United States Army control in 1942. The
Manhattan Project is a code name for the United States efforts to complete the separation
of uranium-235 out of the uranium238. The development of these compounds resulted in the
impact of nuclear energy in the 20th century. President Roosevelt would later spend 2
billion dollars on this project. His goal was to ensure the safety of his nation and be a
leader in the use of nuclear energy. The men who coordinated the Manhattan Project were
an important part of this endeavor. The President gave the orders to United States Army
Major General Leslie Groves to find different scholars to also make a nuclear bomb. In
doing this, Major General Groves selected some of the best scholars in the field of
physics and mathematics. They are as follows: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feyman,
Enrico Fermi, Joseph C. Carter, And Neils Bohr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was born on April
22, 1904. He thrived on studying and was not a very social type of person. He went to
Harvard and completed a four-year chemistry degree in only three years. Robert also
studied subatomic physics at Cambridge. At Cambridge, he suffered a mental breakdown. At
Gotigen, a German University he got his Ph.D. He then established a goal to bring "new
physics" back to the United States. On November 1,1940 Major General Leslie asked
Oppenheimer to lead, the Manhattan Project. Robert willingly took the job. This was the
beginning of a project that would change the future to come. Richard Feyman was born on
May 11, 1918 in Queens, New York. He mastered differential and integral calculus at age
15. He was accepted into MIT in 1936 when he was 18 years old. He graduated, and went to
Princeton as a graduate. He asked Groves if he could join the theoretical division in Los
Alamos and was accepted. He met a man by the name of Hans Bethe. He was somewhat like a
mentor to Richard. They both worked on solving how much fissionable material it would
take for the bomb to explode. Feyman won a Nobel Peace Prize for inventing the Feyman
diagrams in 1965. He then died in 1988 after fighting cancer for many years. Enrico