Splitting The Atom?
Beginning with Einstein's Theory of Relativity, physicists around the world speculated about the possibility of harnessing the energy of the atom. New theories such as Quantum Physics opened the door to splitting the atom.
Germany's Race For An Atomic Weapon
In 1933, Adolph Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany and advanced his plans for an Aryan nation. Jewish scientists such as Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, and others fled Germany. Many physicists who remained in Germany began work on a nuclear weapon.
The Manhattan Project
Leo Szilard composed a letter to President Roosevelt urging him to begin a program developing an atomic weapon. Szilard convinced Einstein to cosign the letter. They feared that if Germany developed an atomic weapon first, it have terrible consequences. Franklin Roosevelt agreed and the Manhattan Project began in 1942. The challenge of the Manhattan Project, to turn theory into an actual bomb. The war in Europe ended by May in 1945 but the war continued in the Pacific.
“No one had ever done what the scientists (of the Manhattan Project) at Los Alamos were trying to do. Although we knew how to split atoms and create fission due to the work of Enrico Fermi and others, making an actual bomb was a wartime project that was very difficult. It was an effort that required people of serious intelligence who could make great leaps of intuition and brilliance, and Oppenheimer had those kinds of abilities.” Tom Nichols (Email to authors)
Oppenheimer said, “We were aware of what it (Germany’s development of the bomb) might mean if they beat us to the draw.”