Transcript Bomb Powerpoint

Bomb Powerpoint
A-Bomb Development
• 1938 - German scientists discovered how to split
("fission") the uranium atom, releasing nuclear energy
• When the U.S. learned of this, many feared that Hitler
might acquire a frightening weapon: an atomic bomb
• August 1939, Albert Einstein: drafted a letter to
President Roosevelt regarding the possibility of
creating an atomic bomb, but the United States did
not immediately begin a crash program to build
nuclear weapons
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A-Bomb Development
• 1939: FDR approves research for A-Bomb
development
• The Manhattan Project involved over
100,000 Americans, most of whom did not
really know what it was they were working
on due to top secret restrictions
• $2,000,000,000 was invested – the largest
team of scientists ever assembled worked
for almost 3 years
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A-Bomb Development
• Manhattan Project led by J. Robert Oppenheimer.
• Oppenheimer recommended a remote site in New
Mexico for the new facility, where many of the
world-famous scientists could work together in
complete secrecy
• During the last two years of WWII, the staff made
a crash effort to design two different kinds of
bombs, one using uranium, the other plutonium
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Using the Bomb
• July 16, 1945: Scientists tested the “gadget” in a
desert near Alamogordo just before dawn
• The resulting fireball was so bright, a blind girl saw
the flash traveling in the opposite direction miles
away
• The mushroom-shaped cloud rose 8 miles high and
the force was so strong that scientists 7 miles from
the test site were knocked backward
• Windows were shattered 125 miles away & it left a
1,200 ft crater in the earth
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Using the Bomb
• April 12, 1945: FDR dies – Truman sworn in
• Vice-President Truman, in office for less than three
months, was sworn in & was quickly confronted with
the need to approve the use of the atomic bomb
• Senator Harry S. Truman: A World War I veteran &
Missouri farmer & politician, achieved prominence in
the U.S. Senate as chairman of the powerful Truman
Committee, which watched over the U.S. industrial &
military buildup during the war
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Using the Bomb
• Japan, although weakened, was not willing to surrender. The
atomic bomb offered a way to change that. A bloody invasion
loomed if atomic bombs did not force the Japanese to
surrender
• August 6, 1945: “Enola Gay” (U.S. B-29) dropped an atomic
bomb on Hiroshima
– “Little Boy” – 5 tons exploded with tremendous force
– 100,000-170,000 people were killed – some instantly,
others several months later due to injuries
• August 9, 1945: a second bomb (“Fat Man”) flattens the city
of Nagasaki killing 60,000-80,000
• Japan surrendered 5 days later
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Using the Bomb
• The destruction was horrific – the temperature at the
center of the blast was 100 million degrees
vaporizing those nearby – remains were nothing
more than shadows on walls
• The people died weeks and months later from
radiation poisoning – their skin was blackened by the
burn and fell off in strips
• The bombing was indiscriminate – schoolchildren,
the elderly in hospitals, mothers and babies, and
even 12 captive American pilots were all killed by the
blasts
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Using the Bomb
• President Truman, when he heard of the destruction
at Hiroshima, responded, “This is the greatest thing
in history!”
• “We have used against those who attacked without
warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have
abandoned the pretense of obeying international
laws of warfare. We have used it to shorten the
agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands
& thousands of young Americans.”
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Aftermath
• Historians and members of the public continue to
debate the decision to drop the atomic bomb
• Truman defended the decision to his death so did
Sec. of War Henry Stimson as did General Groves in
charge of the Manhattan Project
• J. Robert Oppenheimer – the scientist in charge,
actively tried to get atomic weaponry under the
control of the UN after WWII
• Albert Einstein, who started the whole thing,
regretted ever sending the letter!
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