Manhattan Project (Check Description) Anniversary

Today in History

The Manhattan Project was the codename for the American effort to develop and test nuclear weapons during World War II. Run by General Leslie Groves, the construction of the actual bomb was overseen by Robert Oppenheimer, who was head of the Los Alamos Laboratory where it was developed.

On July 16, 1945, the Trinity test became the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. Less than a month later, President Harry Truman authorized the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to date the only use of nuclear weapons in history. The bombs brought about the quick end of World War II without the need for a catastrophic invasion of Japan, but with an exceptionally high loss of civilian life in the two destroyed cities.

The Manhattan Project

From 1942 to 1946, the Manhattan Project was founded to conduct research and tests on nuclear weapons. In 1945, at Los Alamos, New Mexico a research laboratory headed under theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, developed and successfully exploded the first nuclear weapon called “the gadget”. The Little Boy and Fat Man bombs were created and then used about a month later in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After World War II, The Manhattan Project conducted weapons testing and other research involving nuclear power. On March 5th, 1970 the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect. The treaty was created to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, achieve nuclear disarmament, and to promote the use of peaceful nuclear energy.