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In early 1939, German physicists discovered how to split an uranium atom. This created fear that they could produce a bomb that would cause massive destruction.
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Enrico Fermi warned the US government of the German atomic developments to prepare them. Einstein sent a letter to Roosevelt insisting that the government should start building an atomic bomb.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp -
In 1941, the top secret Manhattan project started. The goal was to create an atomic bomb before foreign nations.
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Med.html -
In 1942, the first controlled nuclear chain reaction occurred at Stagg Field at University of Chicago. The project started to pick up and gain more funding because there was thought to be a higher chance of success.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp -
The main plant was in Los Alamos, New Mexico. They picked this site because it was not immensly populated but it could still receive resources easily. The project cost around $2,000,000,000 and employed around 150,000 people.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp -
One of the main scientists involved in developing the atomic bomb.
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Med.html -
The first test of the atomic bomb was at Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The bomb was a success, blowing out windows in houses 100 miles away, and was visible 200 miles away. Because the project was top secret, the cover-up story was that an ammuntion site had blown up. The success of the atomic bomb was a start to a nuclear age.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp
