Manhattan project

Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the actual bombs.

Pronunciation

Manhattan Project: /mænˈhætən ˈprɒdʒɛkt/

Etymology

The project was named after the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because much of the early research was done in New York City.

Related Terms

• Nuclear fission: The process that powers a nuclear bomb.
• Little Boy: The codename for the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.
• Fat Man: The codename for the type of atomic bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States on 9 August 1945.
• Trinity test: The first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army on 16 July 1945.
• Albert Einstein: The physicist whose letter to President Roosevelt helped initiate the project.
• Enrico Fermi: The physicist who created the world's first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1.
• J. Robert Oppenheimer: The physicist who led the Los Alamos Laboratory during the Manhattan Project.
• Leslie Groves: The United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the entire project.

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