The Atomic Bomb

The year was 1945. The war in the Pacific had reached it's climax with the attack on Pearl Harbor, or so the world thought!

In 1943 a new era was just being discovered when Albert Einstein had uncovered a new way of destroying things. One so powerful it could wipe out entire cities in seconds. When Albert told the president of the U.S.A. he had no idea of what the army was going to do with that knowlege, the knowlege of Atomic Theory!

When the president of the United States of America heard of this new theory he decided to embark on a project that would change mankind forever. He decided to name this project the Manhatten Project. This project was headed by six of the worlds best scientists: Neils Bohr, Joseph Carter, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feyman, and Robert Oppenheimer, each with their own ideas of what it would take to construct such a weapon.

From left to right: Neils Borh, Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feyman, Enrico Fermi

The object of the project was to produce a practical military weapon in the form of a bomb in which the energy would be released by a fast neutron chain reaction in one or more of the materials

known to show nuclear fission. That goal was to be completed in 1945 after the U.S.A. spent over 6.7 Billion Dollars on the test bomb named the "Trinity". I t was dropped on Alagormado in Texas on July 16th 1945.

When Albert Einstein heard about the "Trinity" he called the president directly and asked for a halt on all atomic bomb projects for he did not want to hurt anyone with his discovery. But when spies reported the Germans working on such a project the Manhatten project was continued.

The long nights there after were hell for the president while deciding to launch the soon to be completed "Little Boy" bomb.

Finally, the american troops were told to load "Little Boy" in the specifically designed plane Enola Gay. With Paul Tibbets and his crew of 12 strapped in the plane named after Paul's mother, the American president gave the order to fly to Hiroshima.

They chose Hiroshima baecause it was a major industrial Japanese port which held many Japanese seacraft.

It was July 16 1945 at about 8:14 when Paul Tibbets got the order to open the hatch and arm the bomb. After released it took a little less than 1 minute for it to detonate. Over 40,000 innocent lives were taken with the blast and over 100,000 were taken in the next ten years from exposure to extreme radiation.

Americans were hoping that the Japanese would surrender but they pressed on. The Americans had to give the Japanese the idea that they weren't giong to quit. Thus clinching the decision to release "Fat Man" on to Nagasaki.

This destination was also chosen because it is a large industrial port.

In this blast over 50,000 lives were taken with over 120,000 casualties in the aftermath.

Two days later the Japanese troops retreated back to Japan.

The war in the Pacific was now over! But not after 1,000,000 casualties during the war.

For fifty years the atomic bomb was the most feared nuclear weapon in the world, but now many countries now are disarming their nuclear warheads.