78 Nuclear fission and the Manhattan Project

The discovery of nuclear fission led to big changes in society, technology, and science. Arguably, the most impactful was the Manhattan Project. But first, to fully understand the Impacts of the Manhattan Project, we have to go over the history of nuclear fission itself. While doing that some missing voices will also come into play.

    The Discovery of Nuclear Fission.

In 1934 Enrico Fermi started to bombard Uranium atoms with neutrons in hopes of creating new atoms heavier than Uranium at the time. Intrigued by the results, Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner and German chemist Otto Hahn continued to grow upon Fermi’s findings. For the next 4 years, they worked on this research. In their findings, they realized that the products produced weren’t heavier atoms they were actually fission fragments this happens because when the neutron hits the uranium it splits creating two smaller atoms along with a lot of energy.  Soon scientists realized that you could create a chain of these reactions and in 1942 Enrico Fermi on December 2, 1942, had the first self-sustaining fission reaction. Countries realized that they could weaponize the energy released by the fission reactions. This marked the beginning of the Manhattan Project.

The Manhattan Project

Concerned by the findings of nuclear fission, Hungarian-German physicist Leo Szilard and Italian physicist Enrico Fermi drafted a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, emphasizing the potential of nuclear energy and urging the United States to initiate its research.   This marked the beginning of the Manhattan Project. Under the orders of the president, in 1942 the Corps of Engineers Manhattan district was where the project initially started. Later that year Leslie R. Groves was placed in charge of operations of the Manhattan Project. He helped recruit famous scientists including but not limited to, J Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller.

In 1943 The Los Alamos National Laboratory opened.  J Robert Oppenheimer was appointed as director of this laboratory. The laboratory grew into a small city with thousands of people living in Los Alamos lab. The research done at the laboratory was mainly theoretical as the materials weren’t available, which meant that there was no way to test their findings. They needed an Isotope of Uranium, Uranium-235 to be exact. This isotope of Uranium needed to be separated from other isotopes of Uranium.  An Enrichment site opened in Oak Ridge, Tennessee the only job of this site was to enrich and separate enough Uranium- 235 to create a nuclear weapon.

In 1945, after years of research at Los Alamos and enrichment at Oak Ridge, they created enough uranium to make only one bomb. In order to test this bomb they needed to find another fuel source.

In 1940 a new element, Plutonium, was discovered. Scientists realized that like Uranium- 235 Plutonium could be used to fuel the bomb, but unlike Uranium-235 Plutonium didn’t need to be enriched it could be made in a lab.  By bombarding Uranium with neutrons plutonium could be created. In order to do this though a nuclear reactor is required. This is what Enrico Fermi’s team in Chicago sought to do. Finally, on December 2nd, 1942, the world’s first controlled nuclear fission reaction was achieved underneath the University of Chicago’s football field.  The first controlled fission reaction meant that a nuclear reactor was created. Using rods to absorb neutrons prevented them from uncontrollably splitting other atoms. This also meant that Plutonium could readily be made leading to the fact that an alternative fuel source for the nuclear bomb was found.

The Trinity test and the dropping of the Bombs. 

After years of research and hard work, It was time to test the results. The Trinity Test stands as a landmark event in human history, marking the successful detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. Conducted on July 16, 1945, in the desolate desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico. At 5:29 a.m., the bomb, nicknamed “Gadget,” exploded with an unprecedented and blinding flash of light, unleashing an intense heat and shockwave that engulfed the surroundings. The blast produced a mushroom cloud soaring to a height of over 7 miles, signifying the immense power of nuclear fission. The success of the Trinity Test validated years of arduous research and development, paving the way for the subsequent use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and fundamentally altering the course of global history, ushering humanity into the nuclear age with both awe and trepidation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wki4hg9Om-k

 (Restored Live footage of the Trinity Test)

After the success of the Trinity test President Harry. S. Truman was faced with an important decision. At this time World War II was coming to an end. The war in Europe had come to a close as Nazi Germany surrendered earlier that year, but the Pacific battlefront was still raging as Japan was still fighting. On August 6th, 1945 the Uranium-235 fueled atomic bomb named “Little Boy” was dropped on the Japnese city of Hiroshima. Even after the bombing Japan refused to surrender. Three days later on August 9th a second atomic bomb fueled by Plutonium was dropped on another Japanese city, Nagasaki. Between both of the bombs over 200,000 people were killed while thousands of others had to deal with radiation poisoning. Japan immediately surrendered after the second bomb thus ending  World War 2.

Missing Voices

There are hundreds of missing voices on the topic of Nuclear fission and the Manhattan Project.  For example, Lise Meinter wasn’t given a Nobel Prize even though she was a main contributor to the discovery but her partner Otto Hahn was given a Nobel prize. Another example would be Leona Libby, she played a part in helping Enrico Fermi build the first nuclear reactor and later she played a major part in having nuclear fission as a fuel source. There are many other missing voices and it is our job to try to uncover most if not all of them.

Conclusion and Connections to STS

In conclusion, the Manhattan Project played a big role in the way society viewed nuclear fission. Without the Manhattan Project, nuclear power wouldn’t have been a viable fuel source for a multitude of things. It also helped laws and restrictions to monitor nuclear weapons. All in all,  the world wouldn’t be what it is today without nuclear fission and the Manhattan Project.

AI Use

I used Chat Gpt to help write the Trinitty test section. OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

Works Cited 

Curley , R. (2023, December 7). Manhattan project. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Manhattan-Project

Doeden, M. (2017). The Manhattan Project . Minneapolis : Lerner Publications TM. December 9, 2023, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.libproxy.clemson.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=0433a02a-dfde-4ab9-9e97-6cdd32f08bfe%40redis&bdata=#db=nlebk&AN=1651311

Reed, C. (2014, September 11). The Manhattan Project. Clemson University Libraries – Login. https://iopscience-iop-org.libproxy.clemson.edu/article/10.1088/0031-8949/89/10/108003

TretKoff, E. (2007, December). December 1938: Lise Meitner & Otto Frisch discover nuclear fission. American Physical Society. https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200712/physicshistory.cfm

YouTube. (2019). Trinity Test Latest HD Restoration. YouTube. Retrieved December 9, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wki4hg9Om-k.