THE INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
Causes
The Germans were motivated to gain an absolute advantage against the allies in WWII by designing projects to further advance its technology. Other than the development of atomic bombs, the Germans also worked on bioweapons, rockets, and poisonous gas. This weapon proliferation soon began amongst other countries in the war. For the Americans, they feared that the Nazis would be the first to own nuclear weapons, as Berlin scientists Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and Fritz Strassman have already discovered the nuclear fission. The fission reactions were the precursors to the atomic bombs because the strong energy created from the fission allowed for more possibilities in the area of nuclear energy.
The description
Although the Germans were the first to discover nuclear fission, it was not the first to discover the formula for atomic bombs due to its low budget. Just when the nuclear fission was discovered, Americans started the Manhattan project in 1939. It was a high budget(2 billion), topic secret project directed by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to develop atomic bombs. In addition to the project, Americans captured top chemists and physicists from Germany to learn about the production of nuclear fission. This action was a huge loss to Germany because the knowledge from a generation of scientists was lost. Eventually, Americans were able to produce atomic bombs and successfully tested it on July 16, 1945 (Trinity test). The atomic bombs were able to instantly kill thousands because firstly, the huge waves of winds created by the explosion would immediately kill anyone within 3 miles. Secondly, the visible and infrared radiation from the thermal radiation resulted in flash bums, which was the burning of skins.
The significance
One of the most direct significances of the invention of the atomic bomb would be the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan. Due to the Pearl Harbor attack made by the Japanese, President Harry Trueman decided to drop “Fat man” on Nagasaki, and “Little boy” on Hiroshima, killing 120,000 in total. Although Japan did surrender in the end, the sufferings resulted from the bombings scarred the nation for years. Not only did atomic bombs result in direct effects, but they also caused indirect effects as well. For instance, it led WWII to an end by forcing Japan to surrender. In addition, it brought an end to Japan’s aggressive militarism by prohibiting the country to possess any offensive military. Furthermore, Scientific breakthroughs in nuclear medicine as well as nuclear power would not be possible without nuclear fission. On the other hand, there were many negative impacts from the atomic bombs. For instance, it led to a series of nuclear proliferation and arms race around the world, which ultimately became the crucial motivation behind the Cold War.