the Manhattan project
"The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country."
-Robert Oppenheimer
-Robert Oppenheimer
Albert Einstein writing his letter to President Roosevelt
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The Manhattan Project was the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt explaining that large amounts of power and chain reactions of great magnitude could make EXTREMELY deadly bombs. Roosevelt started by making an advisory committee on uranium and put Lyman J. Briggs as the head of that committee. Robert J. Oppenheimer led the scientific efforts on the Manhattan project. Oppenheimer was given the job of calculating the mass for the needed uranium for the two bombs. Briggs suggested to fund limited research on isotope separation. A lot of research had to go into the study of uranium because the slightest difference in atomic weight could mean a LOT in nuclear physics.
On August 13,1942, General Marshall, who was a part of the top policy group to oversee the project, moved to New York City to set up the Manhattan Engineer District. By the time Truman became president, Japan was near defeat. The first bomb was successfully tested and ready by July 16,1945 at the cost of $2 million dollars.