Developing The Atomic Bomb

By sjack11

  • Antoine Henri Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium

    Radioactive elements emit radiant energy in the form of alpha, beta and gamma rays.

  • Otto Hahn, Fritz Strassman, Lise Meitner produced Uranium nuclear fission

    Otto Hahn received Nobel Prize in 1944
  • Period: to

    $2 billion spent on Manhattan Project in US

  • Einstein writes to Pres. Roosevelt

    Writes to Roosevelt telling him the US should make a atom bomb.

  • Start of atom bomb research in US.

    $6,000 was made available to start research under the supervision of a committee headed by L.J. Briggs, director of the National Bureau of Standards.

  • Plutonium was discoverd.

    Glenn Seaborg and his team discoverd the new element by having uranium-238 atoms absorb neutrons which had been emitted from fissioning uranium-235 atoms.

  • President Roosevelt authorizes the Manhattan Engineering.

    The day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt authorizes the Manhattan Engineering District with $2 billion to build the atom bomb.

  • Frank Oppenheimer's students confirmed that a fission bomb was theoretically possible.

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    Manhattan Project

  • First controlled and self-sustained nuclear fission reaction.

    At the University of Chicago, in a squash court under Stagg Field, Enrico Fermi and his team produce the world's first controlled and self-sustained nuclear fission reaction. Resulting in nuclear energy and led to the cration of the atomic bomb and nuclear power plants.
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    Oppenheimer heads Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Oppenheimer split the Manhattan Project into two seperate projects

    Thin man project- Plutonium gun
    Fat Man project- Plutanium implosion

  • Decision to use A-Bomb against Japan

    The United States decided that when the A-Bomb became operationally that they would use it against Japan if necessary

  • Albert Einstein's involvement in production of A-Bomb stops

  • Truman finds out about the A-Bomb

    Harry Truman didnt even know about the A-Bomb until the death of Pres. Roosevelt in Apr. 1945

  • Scientists who led the building of A-Bomb Speak out

    Scientists who led the building the A-Bomb said it was a deterrent to Nazi use of their own A-Bomb

  • First Atomic Bomb Test

    The first atomic bomb was tested on July 16, 1945 in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

  • Protest by scientists over potential bombing of Japan with atomic bombs.