The Manhattan Project and the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
The Manhattan Project and the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb

Author: Aaron Barlow

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2019-11-08

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13:

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This invaluable resource offers students a comprehensive overview of the Manhattan Project and the decision to drop the atomic bomb, with more than 80 in-depth articles on a variety of topics and dozens of key primary source documents. This book provides everything readers need to know about the Manhattan Project, the U.S. program that led to the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. It begins with a detailed introduction to the project and includes an alphabetical collection of relevant entries on such topics as the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb; Enrico Fermi, creator of the first nuclear reactor; Hiroshima, the target of the first atomic bomb; and Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project. Dozens of primary sources include eyewitness accounts, government memos, letters, press releases, and other important documents relevant to the establishment and success of the Manhattan Project. A set of four essays written by prominent scholars address whether the United States was justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. The book also includes a comprehensive chronology that reveals key moments related to the creation of the world's first nuclear weapon as well as a bibliography of resources that points readers toward additional information on the Manhattan Project, nuclear weapons, and World War II.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb
The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Author: Richard Rhodes

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-09-18

Total Pages: 890

ISBN-13: 1439126224

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**Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award** The definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb. This sweeping account begins in the 19th century, with the discovery of nuclear fission, and continues to World War Two and the Americans’ race to beat Hitler’s Nazis. That competition launched the Manhattan Project and the nearly overnight construction of a vast military-industrial complex that culminated in the fateful dropping of the first bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Reading like a character-driven suspense novel, the book introduces the players in this saga of physics, politics, and human psychology—from FDR and Einstein to the visionary scientists who pioneered quantum theory and the application of thermonuclear fission, including Planck, Szilard, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller, Meitner, von Neumann, and Lawrence. From nuclear power’s earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G. Wells to the bright glare of Trinity at Alamogordo and the arms race of the Cold War, this dread invention forever changed the course of human history, and The Making of The Atomic Bomb provides a panoramic backdrop for that story. Richard Rhodes’s ability to craft compelling biographical portraits is matched only by his rigorous scholarship. Told in rich human, political, and scientific detail that any reader can follow, The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a thought-provoking and masterful work.

Atomic Bomb Island
Atomic Bomb Island

Author: Don A. Farrell

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-01-15

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 0811769313

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Atomic Bomb Island tells the story of an elite, top-secret team of sailors, airmen, scientists, technicians, and engineers who came to Tinian in the Marianas in the middle of 1945 to prepare the island for delivery of the atomic bombs then being developed in New Mexico, to finalize the designs of the bombs themselves, and to launch the missions that would unleash hell on Japan. Almost exactly a year before the atomic bombs were dropped, strategically important Tinian was captured by Marines—because it was only 1,500 miles from Japan and its terrain afforded ideal runways from which the new B-29 bombers could pound Japan. In the months that followed, the U.S. turned virtually all of Tinian into a giant airbase, with streets named after those of Manhattan Island—a Marianas city where the bombs could be assembled, the heavily laden B-29s could be launched, and the Manhattan Project scientists could do their last work. Don Farrell has done this story incredible justice for the 75th anniversary. The book is a thoroughly researched, beautifully illustrated mosaic of the final phase of the Manhattan Project, from the Battle of Tinian and the USS Indianapolis to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project

Author: Jeff A. Hughes

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9780231131520

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Launched in 1942, the Manhattan Project was a well-funded, secret effort by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada to develop an atomic bomb before the Nazis. The results--the bombs named "Little Boy" and "Fat Man"--were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. A vast state within a state, the Manhattan Project employed 130,000 people and cost the United States and its allies 2 billion dollars, but its contribution to science as a prestigious investment was invaluable. After the bombs were dropped, states began allocating unprecedented funds for scientific research, leading to the establishment of many of twentieth century's major research institutions. Yet the union of science, industry, and the military did not start with the development of the atomic bomb; World War II only deepened the relationship. This absorbing history revisits the interactions among science, the national interest, and public and private funding that was initiated in World War I and flourished in WWII. It then follows the Manhattan Project from inception to dissolution, describing the primary influences that helped execute the world's first successful plan for nuclear research and tracing the lineages of modern national nuclear agencies back to their source.

The History and Science of the Manhattan Project
The History and Science of the Manhattan Project

Author: Bruce Cameron Reed

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-02-19

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 3662581752

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The development of atomic bombs under the auspices of the U.S. Army’s Manhattan Project during World War II is considered to be the outstanding news story of the twentieth century. In this book, a physicist and expert on the history of the Project presents a comprehensive overview of this momentous achievement. The first three chapters cover the history of nuclear physics from the discovery of radioactivity to the discovery of fission, and would be ideal for instructors of a sophomore-level “Modern Physics” course. Student-level exercises at the ends of the chapters are accompanied by answers. Chapter 7 covers the physics of first-generation fission weapons at a similar level, again accompanied by exercises and answers. For the interested layman and for non-science students and instructors, the book includes extensive qualitative material on the history, organization, implementation, and results of the Manhattan Project and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing missions. The reader also learns about the legacy of the Project as reflected in the current world stockpiles of nuclear weapons. This second edition contains important revisions and additions, including a new chapter on the German atomic bomb program and new sections on British and Canadian contributions to the Manhattan project and on feed materials. Several other sections have been expanded; reader feedback has been helpful in introducing minor corrections and improved explanations; and, last but not least, the second edition includes a detailed index.

Restricted Data
Restricted Data

Author: Alex Wellerstein

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-04-09

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 022602038X

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"Nuclear weapons, since their conception, have been the subject of secrecy. In the months after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the American scientific establishment, the American government, and the American public all wrestled with what was called the "problem of secrecy," wondering not only whether secrecy was appropriate and effective as a means of controlling this new technology but also whether it was compatible with the country's core values. Out of a messy context of propaganda, confusion, spy scares, and the grave counsel of competing groups of scientists, what historian Alex Wellerstein calls a "new regime of secrecy" was put into place. It was unlike any other previous or since. Nuclear secrets were given their own unique legal designation in American law ("restricted data"), one that operates differently than all other forms of national security classification and exists to this day. Drawing on massive amounts of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time at the author's request, Restricted Data is a narrative account of nuclear secrecy and the tensions and uncertainty that built as the Cold War continued. In the US, both science and democracy are pitted against nuclear secrecy, and this makes its history uniquely compelling and timely"--

The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II

Author: Herbert Feis

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1400868262

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This book discusses the decision to use the atomic bomb. Libraries and scholars will find it a necessary adjunct to their other studies by Pulitzer-Prize author Herbert Feis on World War II. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Manhattan Project Trinity Test
The Manhattan Project Trinity Test

Author: Elva K. Österreich

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2020-11-02

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 1439671699

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At 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, the Trinity Test explosion of the first atomic bomb changed the world forever. The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan followed soon after, but it was the first blast in what is now known as White Sands Missile Range that marked the beginning of the end of World War II. In southern New Mexico, although the Manhattan Project was still top secret, everyday people witnessed the test, experienced its light and power, felt the earth move and knew the world had changed. Author Elva K. Österreich shares the stories of their experience and how their lives were transformed.

Atomic Salvation
Atomic Salvation

Author: Tom Lewis

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2020-07-20

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 161200945X

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A thought-provoking analysis of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and what might have happened if conventional weapons were used instead. It has always been a difficult concept to stomach—that the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, causing such horrific suffering and destruction, also brought about peace. Attitudes toward the event have changed through the years, from grateful relief that World War II was ended to widespread condemnation of the United States. Atomic Salvation investigates the full situation—examining documents from both Japanese and Allied sources, but also using in-depth analysis to extend beyond the mere recounting of statistics. It charts the full extent of the possible casualties on both sides had a conventional assault akin to D-Day gone ahead against Japan. The work is not concerned solely with the military necessity to use the bombs; it also investigates why that necessity has been increasingly challenged over the successive decades. Controversially, the book demonstrates that Japan would have suffered far greater casualties—likely around 28 million—if the nation had been attacked in the manner by which Germany was defeated: by amphibious assault, artillery and air attacks preceding infantry insertion, and finally by subduing the last of the defenders of the enemy capital. It also investigates the enormous political pressure placed on America as a result of their military situation. The Truman administration had little choice but to use the new weapon given the more than a million deaths that Allied forces would undoubtedly have suffered through conventional assault. By chartingreaction to the bombings over time, Atomic Salvation shows that there has been relentless pressure on the world to condemn what at the time was seen as the best, and only, military solution to end the conflict. Never has such an exhaustive analysis been made of the necessity behind bringing World War II to a halt.