Who Was Involved in the Manhattan Project?

Who was involved in the Manhattan Project? The Manhattan Project was the code name given to the task of building the first atomic bomb. There were many people assigned to the task of building this first bomb. So, who exactly was involved in the Manhattan project?

The extensive list of people who were involved in the Manhattan Project contains the names of a number of scientists who were the greatest minds of their time. The list of scientists who worked on this program for the government included:

• Brigadier General Leslie Groves: He was in charge of the project and ensuring the project’s secrecy. He was not a scientist.
• Robert Oppenheimer: A scientist from the United States.
• David Bohm: A scientist from the United States.
• Leo Szilard: A scientist from Hungary.
• Eugene Wigner: A scientist from Hungary.
• Rudolf Peierls: A scientist from Germany.
• Otto Frisch: A scientist from Germany.
• Neils Bohr: A scientist from Denmark.
• Felix Bloch: A scientist from Switzerland.
• James Franck: A scientist from Germany.
• James Chadwick: A scientist from Britain.
• Emilio Segre: A scientist from Italy.
• Enrico Fermi: A scientist from Italy.
• Klaus Fuchs: A scientist from Germany.
• Edward Teller: A scientist from Hungary.
• Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt were responsible for requesting the project in the first place.

Albert Einstein was not a scientist and he was not involved with the actual creation of the atom bomb. However, he did have some involvement with the Manhattan Project because he was one of the first to inform the government of the intentions of the Germans to build this sort of weapon after fleeing from Germany during the first World War.

A Little More About the Manhattan Project

Many people were involved in the Manhattan Project and had various roles. The Manhattan Project came to life during the time of the first World War involving the Germans.

• During this period, Albert Einstein fled to the United States for his safety.
• Once in the U.S., he and two other scientists wrote a letter to the United States government to inform them that the Germans were working on creating an atom bomb, a bomb capable of doing more damage than any previous bomb in the past.
• Franklin Roosevelt who was President at the time learned of these intentions and put together a group of scientists to develop the first atom bomb.
• Once the bombs were constructed they were tested in the deserts of New Mexico and proven to be successful.
• However, before the atom bomb could be used against the Germans the war was ending.

Using the Atomic Bomb

The first atom bomb was not used until World War II. Harry S. Truman decided to ignore the pleas of the scientists who had created the bomb along with 70 other scientists to not use this bomb on moral grounds.

However, Truman dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. To this day the effects of that bomb are still being felt in Japan as nearly 200,000 people have died from this bomb alone and its side effects.

A second bomb was dropped just a few days later on Nagasaki, Japan killing over 100,000 people instantly. The day after the second atom bomb was dropped, Japan surrendered and this marked the end of World War II.