The development of the atomic bomb required an enormity of combined scientific knowledge, industrial technology, engineering skill, and governmental organization and funding. Its creation was not resultant of one single discovery but rather, depended upon decades of progress in the fields of physics, mathematics, and chemistry to name a few, which was not available to us before the 20th Century.
One of the fundamental comprehensions of this process was that of the atom itself. Scientists first had to understand that atoms were comprised of smaller particles and that their nuclei contained an enormous amount of energy. Research conducted by Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Enrico Fermi, among others, helped explain how atoms behave and nuclear reactions work. The discovery of nuclear fission revealed that a chain reaction could produce an explosion with a tremendous yield. The Manhattan Project, as it would be called, did not take place at a solitary site but was spread out in multiple locations across the United States, and employed some 40,000 scientists and workers. This undertaking is a testament to the nation’s industrial might, requiring mining operations, transportation and communication networks, and electrical grids to power huge facilities such as at Oak Ridge and the Hanford Site.
The results of the Manhattan Project left humanity and the world an indelible legacy. It ushered in the nuclear age and, after the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, civilization realized it now had the means of destroying itself, forever changing the political landscape and leading directly to the arms race of the Cold War. Aside from military application, the project also accelerated advances in nuclear energy as well, giving us nuclear power plants and cancer radiation treatment. So in many ways, that Manhattan Project demonstrated both the awesome and potential power, as well as the dangerous consequences of modern science, proving knowledge could not only rapidly transform the world, but also that technological progress has the power to create threats as well. The catastrophes or near-disasters at Chernobyl, Three-Mile Island, and Fukushima Daiichi show us the dangers of human thoughtlessness when wielding such power as harnessing atomic forces. I believe this quote by Raymond Burr’s character in Godzilla 1985 best summarizes this sentiment, “the reckless ambitions of man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences” (Chexpir, 1985).
Sources
[Waldo Chexpir]. (2018, November 14). Godzilla 1985 Ending [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRfKl8xoskI