First successful explosion of the atomic bomb, in Amogordo, New Mexico.
The Manhattan Project
Before the war had begun in 1939, a group of American scientists that were mostly refugees from Europe's fascist regimes, were concerned about the research of nuclear weapons happening in Nazi Germany. In effect, the U.S government began to fund there first atomic weapons development program, Which was under responsibility of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and the War Department. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers were put on task to build top secret facilities in order to start researching and developing nuclear materials. This secret facility was known as "The Manhattan Project" because of the engineering corps Manhattan district.(History.com/themanhattanproject)
The next few years scientists researched and began producing the elements necessary to create such bombs. The two main elements that they planned to use and that seemed most powerful at that time were uranium(235), and plutonium(239). In Los Alamos, New Mexico, a team of scientists led by Robert Oppenheimer worked on these materials into a working nuclear bomb. On the morning of July 16, 1945, the Manhattan Project successfully detonated their first atomic weapon, which was the plutonium bomb at Almogordo, New Mexico.(History.com/bombingofhirshimaandnagasaki)
Before the war had begun in 1939, a group of American scientists that were mostly refugees from Europe's fascist regimes, were concerned about the research of nuclear weapons happening in Nazi Germany. In effect, the U.S government began to fund there first atomic weapons development program, Which was under responsibility of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and the War Department. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers were put on task to build top secret facilities in order to start researching and developing nuclear materials. This secret facility was known as "The Manhattan Project" because of the engineering corps Manhattan district.(History.com/themanhattanproject)
The next few years scientists researched and began producing the elements necessary to create such bombs. The two main elements that they planned to use and that seemed most powerful at that time were uranium(235), and plutonium(239). In Los Alamos, New Mexico, a team of scientists led by Robert Oppenheimer worked on these materials into a working nuclear bomb. On the morning of July 16, 1945, the Manhattan Project successfully detonated their first atomic weapon, which was the plutonium bomb at Almogordo, New Mexico.(History.com/bombingofhirshimaandnagasaki)