Classified: The Manhattan Project^2

1943, World War II is in full swing. Somewhere in the world, German scientists are on their way to creating an invincible weapon of mass destruction. The nuclear bomb. There are some who know that if the Nazis get to create this bomb, there will be no chance for the allies. They go to Einstein and ask him if he will write United States president Roosevelt a warning. After many drinks Einstein agrees, and they plan a letter to warn the US government of the new sciences emerging in Germany. Soon Roosevelt puts in place the Manhattan Project. A project dedicated to creating a nuclear bomb. The operation was top secret, run by General Groves and Robert Oppenheimer. They built a town known as Los Alamos to house the employees and their families, keeping them secluded and the secret safe from the rest of the world. On July 16, 1945 they detonated the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site. On August 6th, they dropped the first uranium atomic bomb known as Little Boy on Japan at Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9th, they dropped a second bomb made with plutonium on Nagasaki, Japan. These bombs killed thousands, and made way for a nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. On October 3rd, 2019 the grade 11 PLP class made our way to New Mexico to learn of these things first hand. We were to visit the places where it all happened, and learn in depth about the Manhattan Project and it’s outcomes to answer the question; How did the development of the atomic bomb change the world in a historically significant way?

Science, History, The World,   &amp; Moral

Bibliography

“The Week of the Atom Bomb.” Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2012/08/10/the-week-of-the-atom-bomb/.

Midgley, Dominic. “The Bombing of Hiroshima: How the Daily Express Reported It 69 Years Ago.” Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 22 Jan. 2015, https://www.express.co.uk/news/history/511317/The-bombing-of-Hiroshima-how-the-Daily-Express-reported-it-69-years-ago.

“Eldorado Uranium Mine.” Ontario Explorations, https://www.ontarioexplorations101.com/eldorado-uranium-mine.html.

https://www.nuclear-power.net/nuclear-power/reactor-physics/nuclear-fission-chain-reaction/

Nelson, Craig. “Age of Radiance: the Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era.” Amazon, Scribner, 2015, https://www.amazon.com/Age-Radiance-Epic-Dramatic-Atomic/dp/145166043X.

“Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 5 June 2012, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13166598-trinity.

When World War II ended, the science behind the bomb was no longer a secret. Anyone with the resources could make a nuclear bomb. This knowledge lead to fear across the world. “Well if they have it, we need it too. That way we are equal in power and they can’t hurt us”. Soon, there was a nuclear arms race between the Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States. This was known as the Cold War. There were an excessive amount of nuclear bombs and missiles created in this time, most of the remaining weapons have been de-activated and taken apart since. Nowadays, the use of Nuclear Science and radiation is used most in fields of medical treatment and looking into a more sustainable future energy wise. It also bleeds into our pop culture; our superheroes and our sci-fi creations come from the ideas of radiation and other nuclear energies. It was everywhere in the 40’s and it’s everywhere today, just in a different and hopefully much less destructive way.

Los Alamos: The town of action. In the middle of nowhere in the desert of New Mexico, a town was built. This town, Los Alamos, was built solely to house the people of the Manhattan Project. From scientists to plumbers, anyone who worked on Project Y was living in the town. They had everything a town needed; shelter, community services, parties, pools, roads, the only thing missing was small businesses... and the town was surrounded by barbed wire. People who had agreed to work on the project were moved away from their homes, families, jobs, just to live in a military town and work on a project they didn’t know the final product of. Those who moved there had to be convinced well to do so. They were moving to a new place without knowing what they were working on, and why they couldn’t talk about it. All they knew was they were helping the war effort.

Note: The work being done for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos was known as Project Y

When World War II ended, the science behind the bomb was no longer a secret. The chain reaction created by splitting apart atoms could create something now known to be nuclear energy. Soon, this idea of nuclear energy could be seen in everything from drinking glasses to kids toys. Whilst that was happening, scientists started research radiation more, and it became a helpful tool used to in the medical world to treat cancer, look at bones (x-rays), and use radioisotopes to clean medical equipment. These treatments are still in place today. Scientists also found that a very small amount of nuclear energy could supply power for a person to last their whole lives. That has yet to be done, since there are many factors to using solely nuclear energy, such as the amount of waste it would create per person. It adds up. 

(Everything we haven’t talked about so far...)

When the first bomb was dropped, the news was shared to the world that a new kind of weapon had been made. People who had been living in secrecy at the Los Alamos site- who knew nothing of what they were building, suddenly knew what they had helped create. People across the world were hearing of this new science that had made the most destructive weapon of all time. A new weapon that could wipe out cities in an instant. Excitement, fear, happiness, and dread simultaneously filled people across the globe as this new era arose from the desert secrets of New Mexico. The uranium industry in Canada, the scientific research in New Mexico, the race to the end of this war across the globe, it all made sense as the news hit the headlines. Nuclear Energy had created a bomb. The world would never be the same.

New Mexico is the homeland of Los Alamos &amp; the Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was created and tested. The location for Los Alamos was originally a farm and an all boys boarding school, but it was soon became a bustling town full of people needed for the success of the Manhattan Project. The amount of radiation in the area from the testing of the bombs and the reactors/machinery on site has the Trinity Site shutdown most of the year to the public. On the days when it is open, it’s visited by people from all over who want to see and learn about the place where the bomb was tested. New Mexico is now visited by tourists from all over looking to learn about and see the place where the bomb was tested.

The Trinity Site was the site of which the testing for the first atomic bomb took place. A space of desert land in New Mexico dedicated to be where they (the creators) finally tested their new bomb to see if all that work had been for good reason. Through the testing of the bomb, a desert area in the middle of nowhere became a place of great interest: the place where The Bomb was first exposed to human eyes. People who worked at the site were amazed, and could see it with their eyes closed for years after.

National Museum of Nuclear Science &amp; History

Canada was affected by the Manhattan Project due to its involvement with Uranium mines. Uranium is used to create uranium bombs, which are a type of nuclear bomb. In 1959, Canadian uranium exports were worth $330 million, more than any other mineral exports from Canada at that time. In 2009, Canada was mining 20% of the worlds uranium. It is now illegal to mine uranium in most Canadian provinces and so the export is significantly less nowadays, the main mining coming from Saskatchewan.

Albuquerque International Balloon Festival

The International Balloon Fiesta was an amazing experience all around. Colour was everywhere, there were things to eat, things to see, things to listen to and watch, it was such a cool things to see. Even if it did mean a 3am wake up.

For the first time in history, we were capable of our own mass destruction. There was a new kind of science circling the world in headlines of massive proportions. It set the world on a dangerous path of a nuclear arms race (USA vs Soviet Union), and altered our reality forever. The world was at the beginning of a new era, one that would be both dangerous and important to the future of the world as we know it. It is still relevant to this day, almost 8 decades later. With this new discovery came the knowledge that there was new science to discover, new things to try, research and test. Amazing scientific breakthroughs were happening, meanwhile the world was at a fork in the road of moral. America had just dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan in the span of a week, killing thousands of innocent people. Some people would say it saved more then it killed, some would say it was an inhumane decision on Truman’s part, some would say he didn’t even order it to be done in the first place. No matter the opinion, there was still the decision to make, was dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan morally correct?

News hit the headlines on August 7th, 1945 that a new weapon had been used against the Japanese by the Americans in an attempt to end the war. Thousands of people died. The Nuclear Age had begun. A scientific discovery as important as fire had been made and used, and humans had found the answer to our own destruction. The nuclear age meant a new form of energy, new ideas, new weapons and gadgets to excite and place fear in the world, new sciences to explore. Entire industries were built to create this bomb, imagine what else this new science could do! It’s a subject of environmental, political, and moral importance to this day. Nuclear energy was a discovery that would (and will) last throughout the ages.

Taking photos on this trip was amazing, there were many places with great photo opportunities. My two favourites were the International Balloon Fiesta and Canyon Road, where we saw sky’s full of colourful balloons and roads decorated with intricate art and galleries.

The cartoon expresses the views on moral after the bomb was dropped. Side One- It was right. It was the best choice to save American lives and end the war. Side Two- It was wrong. The bombs killed thousands of people, no matter who or why, it was incorrect and there had to be a better way. Side Three- It Happened. The bombs were dropped. People died, people survived, the war ended. No matter if it was right or wrong, there was a more important question to answer: What happens next?

“I got an x-ray at the dentist the other day”. It’s a simple sentence that could be heard at any time at any place nowadays. Back in the early 1900’s, no such thing existed. However there were new discoveries regarding the atom on the rise and everything was to snowball from there. Radiation, nuclear energy, weapons, medical miracles, everything changed in a chain of discoveries dating back to before the Curies. Radiation therapy is used for cancer, x-rays are used to find medical problems and view unborn babies, nuclear energy is harvested at nuclear power plants, and it’s all normal now. Decades ago, people would have never believed that these things could exist, but with the discovery of nuclear energy used to form nuclear bombs, a new age began, and the world evolved. The creation of the nuclear bomb brought forward new opportunities for human kind. It brought new ideas and creative stories to the surface. But the detonation of two atomic bombs on Japan in the final stretch of WWII would be a question of moral that would follow the world for decades. It is still undecided whether it was the right decision to drop the bomb. It killed thousands of people, but it saved thousands too. Some say there were other ways that the United States could have dealt with the Japanese advancements in the war. Some say it saved enough American lives to equal out. At the end of the day, it was a war. Some people who were apart of the Manhattan Project and it’s outcomes say that they are not proud of what they did, but they do not regret it. Maybe it will never be decided if the choice was right, but no matter the outcome, one thing we can all agree on is that the atomic bomb changed the world forever. For better or worse, the world will never be the same.

History

The first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6th, 1945 by the Americans on Hiroshima, Japan. It was created originally to be prepared against the Germans in WWII, but the Germans were no longer the main threat when the President of the United States at the time, Harry Truman, dropped The Bomb. The lead up to the creation of the atomic bomb began with scientific discoveries by people such as Marie and Pierre Curie, and worked its way through to The Manhattan Project with scientists such as Enrico Fermi. 600,000 people were involved in it’s creation, and it costed over $2 billion to make. Millions of people died in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the outcomes altered the worlds reality forever.

Nuclear Science 101

Fission -the splitting (of an atom)- in the form of a chain reaction can create an explosion, and in the case of U-235 (Uranium) can create a nuclear bomb. Fusion (sticking together) on the other hand results in the same thing, creating enough pressure to explode within itself. When the element fusing is Plutonium, it creates another kind of nuclear bomb. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a uranium bomb, the one on Nagasaki was a plutonium bomb, and only worked to 1.4% of its potential.

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