Atomic Bomb

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

1939 Szilard and his associate, Edward Teller, drove to the Long Island home of Albert Einstein to alert him of their findings. Einstein used his political influence by immediately writing a letter to President Roosevelt explaining the consequences of the Germans creating an . His letter read, "I believe, therefore, that is my duty to bring to your attention that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new-like elements would be generated. A single bomb of this type, carried by a boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port, together with some of the surrounding territory."
Two months passed before Roosevelt finally read the letter. He ordered a committee of scientists and military officers to meet Szilard and Teller to determine whether America was capable of building a nuclear bomb. In 1940, Szilard and Teller were granted a mere $6,000 to begin experiments in ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

the evidence that proved that an atom bomb could be made. Most of the scientists were overjoyed, but Szilard said to Fermi, "This is a black day for mankind."

Confidence in the project
The success in Chicago prompted Roosevelt to give top priority to the creation of a nuclear bomb. The focus of the project shifted from research to the actual production of the bomb. More than $2,000,000,000 was now being pumped into the project. The Manhattan Project's team was allowed to employ the country's brightest mathematicians and its most highly trained technical people. Twelve Nobel Prize winners were also enlisted in the undertaking. Highly skilled men and women were in short supply in wartime, ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: