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The History and Science of the Atomic Bomb

Timeline of the History Leading to the Creation of the Atom Bomb

Atomic science began with the Ionian Greek, [Thales of Miletus] (634-546 B.C.). He contributed by noting the power of attraction in electricity long before electricity was discovered. He was followed by the "father of the atom", [Democritus] (460-370 B.C.). Democritus argued that all matter must consist of a number of pieces called "atoms" derived from the Greek word "atomon." This word actually means indivisible. The Roman, [Titus Lucretius] (98-55 B.C.), developed the atomic theory in 79 B.C.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the study of atomic theory was almost lost.

• 
  Thales of Miletus
• 
  Democritus
• 
  Titus Lucretius

17th Century Contribution

[Galileo](1564-1642)was named father of modern physics through his observations of falling objects

• 
  Galilei Galileo

How did Galileo[6] change modern science?

18th Century Contribution

Isaac Newton(1643-1727) brought forth physical laws

• 
  Isaac Newton

19th Century Contribution

John Dalton (1755-1844) developed the first useful atomic theory of matter, 1803

Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856) Avogadro's Principle, distinction between the atom and the molecule, 1811

Jons Berzelius (1779-1848) undertook the measurement of atomic weights

[Michael Faraday] (1791-1867) provided foundation for electro-technology

• 
  John Dalton
• 
  Amedeo Avogadro
• 
  Jons Berzelius
• 
  Michael Faraday

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)atoms were the foundation stones of the universe

Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) systematized knowledge of mechanics, electricity,and heat in the formation of the laws of energy

[Dimitri Mendeleev] (1834-1907) discovered the periodic system of elements

William Konrad Röntgen (1845-1923) discovered X-rays

• 
  James Clerk Maxwell
• 
  Lord Kelvin
• 
  Dmitri Mendeleev
• 
  William Konrad Röntgen

[Antoine Henri Becquerel] (1852-1908) discovered radioactivity

Max Planck (1858-1947) established the law of radiation; theory of quanta and the modern understanding of the electronic structure of matter

[Marie Curie] (1867-1934), [Pierre Curie] (1859-1906) husband and wife team; realization that the atom has a core, or nucleus, quite different from the shell of the atom; nuclear physics

• 
  Antoine-Henri Becquerel
• 
  Max Planck
• 
  Pierre and Marie Curie in the lab

J.J. Thomson (1856-1940) discovered the electron, 1897

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) wrote the mass-energy conversion equation, 1905

[Mileva Maric](1875-1896) believed to have helped Einstein in many of his discoveries prior to their divorce

• 
  J.J. Thomson
• 
  Albert Einstein
• 
  Mileva Maric, Einstein's first wife

Max von Laue (1879-1960) interpreted the crystalline structure of matter, clue to the secrets of atomic structure

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) named the proton, 1920

Niels Bohr responsible for the planetary conception of the atom, 1922

James Chadwick discovered the third fundamental particle of the atom, the neutron, 1932

• 
  Max von Laue
• 
  Ernest Rutherford
• 
  Niels Bohr
• 
  James Chadwick

Enrico Fermi bombarded uranium with slow neutrons and created new elements, 1934

Otto Hahn discovered the fission of uranium and thorium in medium heavy atomic nuclei while working with Strassman and Meitner, 1938

Fritz Strassmann discovered the fission of uranium and thorium in medium heavy atomic nuclei while working with Hahn and Meitner, 1938

Lise Meitner discovered the fission of uranium and thorium in medium heavy atomic nuclei while working with Hahn and Strassman, 1938

• 
  Enrico Fermi
• 
  Otto Hahn
• 
  Lise Meitner

The Manhattan Project

In August 1939, Leo Szilard and and Eugene Wigner drafted a letter signed by Albert Einstein written to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The letter was written in an effort to inform the United States that through the work of Joliet of France, Fermi and Szilard of the United States, it was evident that it may be possible to set off nuclear chain reaction in mass amounts of uranium ore thus creating "extremely powerful bombs of a new type". In the letter he urged Roosevelt to start stockpiling uranium ore from Canada and increase funding and industrial support to expedite the research on nuclear chain reactions.

Leo Szilard.

Irene Joliet-Curie.

President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

UC Berkeley physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer led the Allied scientific effort at Los Alamos.

Letter to Roosevelt from Albert Einstein.

Roosevelt responded to Einstein thanking him for the information and that he was consulting with others on the possibilities of the element uranium.

Roosevelt's response to Albert Einstein.

Not long after Roosevelt's response, the United States began working on the Manhattan Project. The project was kept extremely secret, even the vice-president of the United States did not know about it until after Roosevelt's death. The name came from the origination location of the project which was Manhattan. The person in charge of the project was Robert Oppenheimer. He was the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Although there were multiple locations involved in the development of the atomic bomb,Los Alamos is where the Gadget was tested. It was July 16, 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated. The codename for the event was Trinity.

• 
  the Gadget
• 
  Fat Man design
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  Tower the Gadget was dropped from
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  Jack Aeby's photo is the only known fully exposed color photograph of detonation

Trinity[40], the first nuclear bomb detonation in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Project sites

A selection of US and Canadian sites important to the Manhattan Project. Click on the location for more information.

References