What happens when a uranium atom is split? German physicists discovered dangerous uses of a uranium atom in 1939, including how to split the atom. Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, men of science, agreed that the current president needed to be informed of what could happen. Although these men weren’t taken seriously at first. They were eventually granted permission to research this topic further.
“In late 1941 the American effort to design and build an atomic bomb received its code name which was the Manhattan Project. At first the research was based at only a few universities, which were Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley, but a breakthrough occurred in December 1942 when Fermi led a group of physicists to make the first controlled nuclear chain reaction under the grandstands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. After this breakthrough funds were allocated more freely and the Manhattan Project advanced faster” (http://www.ushistory.org).
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After the project was right about finished, nearly $2 billion had been spent on research and development of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project employed over 120,000 Americans” (http://www.ushistory.org).
“Secrecy was very important in this project, neither the Germans nor the Japanese could learn of the project because the knowledge of the Manhattan Project