Albert Einstein

- Albert Einstein had theories about mass and energy that were key to creating the atomic bomb.

- Einstein was scared because he thought that the Nazis would learn how to make it first

- Einstein then mailed the President of the the U.S. About the bomb and this started the creation of the Manhattan Project

The Manhattan project

- The Manhattan Project was the name for the development program of the Atomic Bomb.

- The project started small but as the bomb was becoming a reality the government added more scientists and more funding.

- The most ironic thing about the project was that most of the scientists were defected Germans. At the end of the project there was around 200,000 workers and had reached 2 billion dollars of funding.

The Trinity nuclear test

- On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated in the New Mexico desert.

- This explosion was equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT. Scientists figured that the center of the explosion was three times hotter than the center of the Sun

" We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world." - President Harry Truman

Deciding to drop the bomb

- By the time the first atomic bomb was made, World War II was over in Europe. Japan was defeated but did not surrender.

- America didn't want to invade because they estimated 500,000 to 1 million US and Allied soldiers would die in the invasion. So the US decided to drop the Atomic Bomb

HiroshIma

- On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb named The Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

- The bomb was dropped by the plane Enola Gay which was piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets.

- The bomb was over 10 feet long and weighed around 10,000 pounds. A small parachute was attached to the bomb so the plane could fly away from the launch site in time.

Nagasaki

- Even after the bombing of Hiroshima the emperor of Japan Hirohito he still decided not to surrender.

- On August 9, 1945, another atomic bomb, The Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

The surrender

- Six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Emperor Hirihito and Japan surrendered to the US forces.

- The Emperor announced this to Japan and this was the first time Japan heard his voice.