Hamilton,+Ben

__**The Manhattan Project**__

__Links:__ __http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmanhattan.htm__ __http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/index.shtml__ __http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_Manhattan_Project__ __http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Med.html__ __http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Mix_an_Exploding_Drink__ __[]__ __[]__ [] [] [] []

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In October of 1939, the second world war had already begun. At the same time, it was becoming clear that, with recent advances in physics, it would be possible to build weapons that had never been imagined before. Along with several prominent German scientists, Albert Einstein sent a letter to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The letter was a warning that nuclear weapons were a possibility, and led to the Manhattan Project; a five year, 2 billion dollar project which resulted in the controversial bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

__Who, What, Where, When and How:__ The Manhattan Project occurred in 1941-1946, and was a part of the Manhattan Engineering District. It was undertaken by Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Born out of fear that the Germans were developing nuclear weapons already, the Project was pursuing the creation of nuclear weapons as well. The idea of nuclear fission was proven to be a reality, so a letter signed by prominent scientists like Albert Einstein was sent to American president FDR. The letter urged him to do something about this knowledge before the Germans did. Though there were many laboratories and research facilities involved, the main sites were Los Alamos in New Mexico, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and Hanford, Washington. The first ever nuclear explosion took place in Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was the first and only test of the bomb before they were used in war. Once the bombs were functional, the new president, Harry Truman gave the go ahead to drop them. The first bomb, named “Little Boy,” was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Japan refused to surrender still, so a second bomb was dropped three days later. Named “Fat Boy,” and originally meant for the city of Kokura, due to weather problems it was dropped on Nagasaki.\

The most interesting thing I found out during my research was about what the involved scientists did after the Project was completed and the bombs were used in war. The position of many scientists was that the making of the bomb was justified. Chemist - George B. Kistiakowsky stated, “At Los Alamos during World War II there was no moral issue with respect to working on the atomic bomb. Everyone was agreed on the necessity of stopping Hitler and the Japanese from destroying the free world. It was not an academic question ‚ our friends and relatives were being killed and we, ourselves, were desperately afraid.” Others viewed the atomic weapons as no different from the normal bombings that were already happening. At the same time, there were those who feared they had helped create somet8ing terrible which should have never been used.

I think the most important personal thing I have learned from this assignment is that we need to be careful with what we create, and new technology is not always good technology. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the bombs were a bad invention, but they caused intense terror in the years to follow. My dad was alive and grew up during the Cold War. He told me that he and people he knows were in constant fear that their entire world could end at any moment. If our society continues to blindly move forward and up up and away, it could be the end of us. Examples of this are oil spills decimating our oceans, and paving natural areas that could be used for growing food. Technology is a great thing if used responsibly, but with so many people on this planet, we need to head towards sustainability rather than constant growth.

In conclusion, the Manhattan Project was an incredible feat of human technology and engineering completed in an effort to end a terrible war. It is still intensely debated and argued whether it was justified, but justified or not it changed our world.