History of the Atomic Bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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| Leo Szilard |
- In 1939, Leo Szilard, one of the world's top physicists, had heard that German scientists had split the Uranium-235 atom.
- Worried that the Nazis were working on an atomic bomb, Szilard convinced Albert Einstein to send a letter drafted by Szilard to President Roosevelt warning him about "extremely powerful bombs of a new type..."
- Roosevelt set up a scientific committee to study the issue, and the committee met up with British scientists who had already been working on the atomic bomb.
- The Manhattan Project: the American program to build the atomic bomb
- Headed by Leslie R. Groves
- The atomic bomb was built at a secret laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico
- On December 7, 1941, the day which shall live in infamy, a US naval station, Pearl Harbor, was bombed by the Japanese in Hawaii.
- Allowed the US to even contemplate using the atomic bomb
- After World War II ended in 1945, the US still felt aggression towards Japan and the Manhattan Project was underway.
- On July 26th, 1945, the US, United Kingdom and the Republic of China demanded the surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration under the threat of "prompt and utter destruction"
- On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima
- B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay
- 8:15 a.m.
- Destroyed 76,000 buildings
- 80,000-120,00 people died instantly
- On August 9th, 1945, the United States dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki
- 35,000-74,000 people died
- August 15th, 1945, V-J Day, Japan surrendered
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| This bomb was used during the Trinity Test, the experiment in which the first atomic bomb was detonated. |
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| The Manhattan Project Team |
