22 Facts About Manhattan Project

1.

Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons.

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2.

Manhattan Project led to the development of two types of atomic bombs, both developed concurrently, during the war: a relatively simple gun-type fission weapon and a more complex implosion-type nuclear weapon.

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3.

Manhattan Project was charged with gathering intelligence on the German nuclear weapon project.

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4.

Little Boy and Fat Man bombs were used a month later in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, with Manhattan Project personnel serving as bomb assembly technicians and weaponeers on the attack aircraft.

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5.

Manhattan Project discovered that the American project was smaller than the British, and not as far advanced.

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6.

Manhattan Project met with the Uranium Committee and visited Berkeley, California, where he spoke persuasively to Ernest O Lawrence.

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7.

Manhattan Project in turn spoke to James B Conant, Arthur H Compton and George B Pegram.

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8.

Manhattan Project had permission to draw on his former command, the Syracuse District, for staff, and he started with Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Nichols, who became his deputy.

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9.

Manhattan Project wanted the project placed under a senior policy committee, with a prestigious officer, preferably Styer, as overall director.

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10.

Groves appreciated the early British atomic research and the British scientists' contributions to the Manhattan Project, but stated that the United States would have succeeded without them.

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11.

Manhattan Project just stirred him up all the time by telling him how important he thought the project was.

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12.

Manhattan Project was replaced by John Cockcroft in May 1944, who in turn was succeeded by Bennett Lewis in September 1946.

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13.

The P-9 Manhattan Project was the government's code name for the heavy water production program.

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14.

Manhattan Project negotiated with Eldorado Gold Mines for the purchase of ore from its refinery in Port Hope, Ontario, and its shipment in 100-ton lots.

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15.

Manhattan Project proposed using a spherical configuration instead of the cylindrical one that Neddermeyer was working on.

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16.

Manhattan Project's learned only after the war that she had been performing the important task of checking for radiation with a geiger counter.

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17.

Manhattan Project operated under tight security lest its discovery induce Axis powers, especially Germany, to accelerate their own nuclear projects or undertake covert operations against the project.

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18.

Manhattan Project told Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, that the US had a new superweapon, without giving any details.

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19.

The Szilard petition, drafted in July 1945 and signed by dozens of scientists working on the Manhattan Project, was a late attempt at warning President Harry S Truman about his responsibility in using such weapons.

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20.

Manhattan Project went on to write a series of articles extolling the virtues of the new weapon.

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21.

Manhattan Project's reporting before and after the bombings helped to spur public awareness of the potential of nuclear technology and motivated its development in the United States and the Soviet Union.

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22.

Wartime Manhattan Project left a legacy in the form of the network of national laboratories: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Ames Laboratory.

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