The Booming Pacific Manhattan Project & The Atomic Bomb By: London Carter

Overview “After troops had fought their way from island to island across the Pacific Ocean, it seemed that the only way to victory was by launching a full-scale invasion of Japan” (1). The Atomic Bomb was the weapon that would begin the invasion as it was the most devastating weapon known to man during the War. A group of Scientist and physicist lead by J. Robert Oppenheimer raced to create the weapon that would ultimately win the war.

Significance to the War After Watching the Testing of The Atomic Bomb off of the Gulf of Mexico, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer said that “[he] has become death, the shatterer of worlds” (2). The Atomic Bomb was the weapon that showed the power that man could create and when they were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the affects were devastating.

When On August 6, 1945 the “Little Boy” exploded over Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9, the “Fat Man” would explode. These were the only two nuclear weapons to ever be used in the entire history of warfare.

Who? The Manhattan Project: Created by FDR A Team of Scientist and physicist who worked to create the A-Bomb Employed tens of thousands of workers and cost over several billion dollars. (1) The Atomic bomb being created.

Facts On July 24, 1946, a bomb was set off at a depth of about 90 feet (27 meters) in the Bikini lagoon in the Marshall Islands. The second of two nuclear tests called Operation Crossroads, the bomb was similar to the one dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The explosion displaced two million tons of water, excavated two million yards (1.8 million meters) of sediment from the lagoon floor, and sank nine unmanned ships. At 21 kilotons, such a blast would level downtown Washington, D.C., killing tens of thousands of people (4).

Hiroshima On August 6, 1945 at 8:16 a.m. the “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima. The Bomb would kill approximately 78,000 people. A survivor from the event said that “the time is approximately 8:15 -- the whole valley is filled by a garish light which resembles the Magnesium light used in photography, and I am conscious of a wave heat. I jump to the window to find out the cause of this remarkable phenomenon, but I see nothing more than that brilliant yellow light. As I make for the door, it doesn't occur to me that the light might have something to do with enemy planes. On the way from the window, I hear a moderately loud explosion which seems to come from a distance and, at the same time, the windows are broken in with a loud crash. There has been an interval of perhaps ten seconds since the flash of light. I am sprayed by fragments of glass. The entire window frame has been forced into the room. I realize now that a bomb has burst and I am under the impression that it exploded directly over our house or in the immediate vicinity” - Father Johannes Siemes(2).

Nagasaki On 9 August 1945, an American air force bomber unloaded a four and a half ton atomic bomb on Northern Nagasaki, killing a third of the civilian population immediately and another third were injured and later died from painful and crippling diseases caused by radioactive poisoning. As the bomb exploded 1500 ft in the air and in the suburbs, the death toll was much lower than the atomic attack on Hiroshima.

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Citation Cooke, Tim, and Haitwell, Sarah. “Victory in Japan.” The New Grolier Encyclopedia of World War II. Danbury: Grolier Educational Corporation P, Print Johannes Siemes. The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima. The War Times Journal. MLA, Web. 30 March Lapsansky – Werner, Emma J., Roberts, Randy. J Levy, Peter B., and Taylor Alan. United States History. Boston: Prentice Hall Print. The U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. Nuclear Bomb, Living With the Bomb. National Geographic Society. MLA, Web. 30 March National Geographic Society.