"We have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history - and won." - President Harry Truman Up until August 6th, occasional bombs, which did no great damage had fallen on Hiroshima. Many cities roundabout, one after another were destroyed, but Hiroshima itself remained protected. There were daily observations of planes over the city, but none of them dropped a bomb. The citizens wondered why they alone, had remained undisturbed for such long a time. There were fantastic rumors that the enemy had something special in mind for this city, but no one had dreamed that the end would come in such a fashion as on the morning of August 6th. Undoubtedly, the atomic bombing of World War II was the most significant military event that ever took place in history. Not only was it the beginning of what we know as the Manhattan Project and nuclear power, it was the most devastating attack in military history, which led to post-war controversy. This is the story of World War II, and the catastrophic events that followed...On the 2nd of August, 1939 some scientists wrote to President Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify Uranium-235, a highly unstable element, which might in turn be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known only then as the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was designed to research and production that would produce a usable atomic bomb. Robert Oppenheimer was appointed to lead the day to day running of the project. The team of scientists who worked on the atom bomb worked 6 days a week and often 18 hours a day, and by 1945, the project had nearly 40 laboratories and factories which employed 200,00 people. The total cost of the Manhattan project was $2-billion which is about the equivalent of $26 billion today. During the time of the development of the bomb, the many scientists who contributed to the project were...
