How significant was the contribution of Robert J. Oppenheimer to the Manhattan Project?

Robert J. Oppenheimer contribution to the Manhattan Project was significant in that fact that he was head off the project as scientific director, as he was able to bring theories and knowledge off his work and that off other scientists. Yet Oppenheimer was not the only person to have a significant contribution to the project, people like General Leslie M. Groves he was the primary military leader in charge of the Manhattan Project he was the person that put Oppenheimer in charge of the project. The people and their work at the University of Chicago, two president of the USA, who both say yes to the project, the testing and then final bomb, and the many people who work for the project and under Oppenheimer. Places that were selected, also had a significant because they allowed it to be done in secret, in areas that allow all year building and working and so the weather would not stop them, so they could build and test the first Atomic bomb.

Robert J. Oppenheimer contribution to the Manhattan Project was significant as he was the director of the Manhattan Project, head of Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, also known as "the father of the atomic bomb." Oppenheimer became infolded with the atomic programme on the start of war world 2, when he was invite to take over fast neutron calculations, in 1942 when the US Army took over the project and renamed Manhattan Engineering District, or Manhattan Project. General Leslie M. Groves was appointed project director, who then appointed Oppenheimer as scientific director, which was view as security risk, because of Oppenheimer’s left wing wanderings, and links with the communist, they thought that he was pass information on then and in turn on to the Russia. One off Oppenheimer first act at Los Alamos where he was base, was to host a summer school for the bomb theory, they busied themselves calculating what needed to be done, and in what order to make the bomb, this is significant in that he brought all the minds of top physics, to look at what they had to do, and it show because at this summer school Edward Teller put forward the remote possibility that the bomb would generate enough heat to ignite the atmosphere. This concerned Oppenheimer enough, to meet with Arthur Compton in Michigan to discuss the situation. This shows significant as Oppenheimer got a problem pointed out to him, so he went out to found if it could happen and if so how likely would it be for it to happen. Oppenheimer also helped in looking for a centralized site, because of all the different universities and laboratories across the country, were working on a part of it, presenting a problem for both security and cohesion. Oppenheimer was drawn to a space near New Mexico, near his ranch. Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Los Alamos lab was quickly built on the site of a private boy’s school. This is where Oppenheimer assembled a group of the top physicists of the time, called luminaries, they included Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, Robert R. Wilson, and Victor Weisskopf as well as Hans Bethe, and Edward Teller. The significant of this was that Oppenheimer brought together the greatest minds in physics, in one place, to work on the same thing, which would of been hard as these men would of had different view, on what should of been done, and how it should of, and to bring these men together and put them in a place when they had to work together and quick, would of been hard and that why Oppenheimer had a significant contribution to the project as he was able to do this. Oppenheimer was noted for the mastery of all scientific aspects of the project and for his efforts to control the inevitable cultural conflicts between scientists and the military. He was an iconic figure for the men working on the project and a figurehead of what they were working towards. Victor Weisskopf says that

"He did not direct from the head office. He was intellectually and even physically present at each decisive step. He was present in the laboratory or in the seminar rooms, when a new effect was measured, when a new idea was conceived. It was not that he contributed so many ideas or suggestions; he did so sometimes, but his main influence came from something else. It was his continuous and intense presence, which produced a sense of direct participation in all of us; it created that unique atmosphere of enthusiasm and challenge that pervaded the place throughout its time."

General ...

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General Groves ones noted that Oppenheimer was "absolutely essential to the project" These two views coming from two people that worked on the project shown that Oppenheimer was significant to the project, and that maybe the building of the bomb may not off been don’t so quickly if another person had Oppenheimer Job.

General Leslie M. Groves was appoint as the military director of the nascent Manhattan Engineer District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, he name it Manhattan himself, as it was Crops practice of naming districts after their headquarters city. Groves was important in most aspects of building the bomb, this included choosing of the sites with him finally deciding on Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Los Alamos, New Mexico and Hanford Engineering in Washington State as the primary sites for theoretical research and materials production. Groves made critical decisions on prioritizing the various methods of isotope separation, acquiring raw materials needed by the scientists and engineers, and in creating the army air force bomber unit which would deliver the finished bombs to their targets. This work may of been more significant to the project, then the work of Oppenheimer due to if it was not for this Oppenheimer would not of be able to work as well as he did, nor have what his needs for the first atomic bomb, plus this project was a military project, for the final produced to be used in war, so he would had more of an importance to the government for it to be built at that time, compared if it was only a scientific project for use commercial reason, for power, which the government during the time of war would of wanted resource to use on other project, so without the help of Groves it would of them hard for Oppenheimer to get what he wanted. General Grove was not only involved with the building of the bomb, but also in collecting intelligence on German atomic research and helped determine which cities in Japan were chosen as targets. Which is also significant as they wanted to keep an eye on what Germany was doing, and if it was possible for them to build an atomic weapon, and to be able to use it in the European theatre of war, and there was also fears that on the landings on D-Day June 6th 1944, that the Germanys would use radioactive barrier, against the troops, and letter where send to General Dwight. D Eisenhower and the Chief Surgeon office, to form a plan if this were to happen. He also had to deal with the security of the project, and the fear that information would fall into the hands of the Russia’s, but they still manger to steal some important information, this is significant because he not only trying to get people to give him information on the Germanys, but stop the Russia’s from stealing, Oppenheimer did not have to deal with any of this, his main though was on the project. Groves was the one that appoint Oppenheimer, against the advice of everyone he consulted, but he liked Oppenheimer for his brilliant, charismatic leadership was decisive in creating workable designs and getting them transformed into usable bombs. You could say that Groves’s biggest contribution to the project was imparting his own driving energy and determination to get the bomb built as quickly as possible to the program in general. He was the key leader to the project as he took a slow paced poorly coordinated, theoretical and laboratory research effort of a few universities, into the fast paced highly articulated, truly massive juggernaut involving thousands of scientists, engineers, technicians, workmen, and soldiers, as well as hundreds of companies and governmental organizations in the United States and the World. This is way Groves was more significant to the project then Oppenheimer was as he changed it from a slow paced project not getting much done, to the project that everyone know it as this big project working as quickly as possible to build the bomb and finish the war.

The work of the University of Chicago was significant at the start of the project, as their work in a small laboratory as this is where Stagg Field were expanding understanding of atomic theory , the first controlled nuclear reaction occurred. Though at the time not under the control of the project, if it was not for their work, the project may of never went ahead and then there may of never been an atomic bomb, or another country would have built it, or without their work the project may of taken at lot longer than it did. Oppenheimer also worked at the University of Chicago, he was asked in 1942 to take over research on fast neutron calculations, key to calculations about critical mass and weapon detonation at University of California, Berkeley. To show that the man who to was to be appointed scientific director of the entire project show this place had a significant contribution as the work there went on to help them build the bomb. The university was also a part of looking at if the bomb would work, Edward Teller made some of the initial calculation, and his figures indicated that the bomb would, indeed, create enough heat to ignite the earth’s atmosphere. Which Oppenheimer immediately called a halt to the meeting and sought out Arthur H. Compton, who was his immediate superior. Which shows that they looked at everything that could have happened and then sought out to see if would happen. This shows the significant of the work at the University as the sought out what to do, and looked at all possible outcomes, as well as all theoretical consideration. The scientists at the Berkeley looked at and determined that there were many possible ways of arranging the fissile material into a critical mass, to look at which would the most efficiency as the bomb exploded, which is also significant as they wanted the most efficiency shape and would exploded the best.

The work at the sites of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford Site and Los Alamos, New Mexico, was significant in that the contribution that the three sites made to the project like the work at Hanford Washington was where the plutonium necessary for the project, in the testing and build of the bomb. At Hanford the plutonium made was to build the first atomic bomb which was tested at the Trinity site and then used in the Fat Man bomb. If it was not for this site then there would have not been enough plutonium made at other sites from the project to work on testing and building at the same time, and there it would of took longer from then to get enough plutonium. Oak Ridge in Tennessee also played a significant contribution to the project, as this was the site that the separation of fissile isotope uranium-235 from natural uranium, and was also used to produce plutonium first as a pilot plant which then lead to the building of the Hanford site. This is significant as it was a test plant to see if plutonium could be produced, and then if so if they could do on the mess production they needed, as they did at the Hanford site. Los Alamos, New Mexico, was Oppenheimer was the laboratory's first director, hosted thousands of employees in secret including many Nobel Prize-winning scientists. This site centralized facility to coordinate the scientific research of the Manhattan Project, also the work of this culminated in the creation of three atomic bombs, one which was tested at the Trinity, and the other two Fat Man and Little Boy which were used in the bombing of Japan. This site was significant as if it wasn’t for the work at Los Alamos nothing would of happened, as this site brought it all together, it used the minds of some of the greatest scientists and got thing together, it fair to say that the other to site played a big role, but if it was not of Los Alamos then there work would of been in vain, as they would of produced plutonium but then not know what to do with it, were Los Alamos know what to do and put forward the plans for the first atomic bomb.

Two President of the USA had a role to play in the project, it was a letter sent to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from Leo Szilárd and Einstein, which warmed of the Third Reich might be developing nuclear weapons based on their own research, from Roosevelt formed a committee to investigate this matter and granted Enrico Fermi's University of Chicago neutron experiments $6,000, which marked the first steps towards the Manhattan project, which shows that if was not for FDR getter the letter which put the first steps toward the project, but it was FDR who give it the go ahead to build the atomic bomb before Germany did. It is say that Einstein later showed some regret to sending the letter because five years later the USA dropped the First atomic bomb on Japan. Yet it was down to President Harry S. Truman who give the final go ahead to drop the bombs and end the war, after founding out about the project Truman said

"Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."

Truman let the use of the bombs after Japanese Empire rejected the Potsdam Declaration, it was a no win situation for him, it was use the bombs kill 100,00s people, or have an all out invasion of Japan which would of cost more lives. Eleanor Roosevelt said that Truman made “the only decision he could” and the bomb use was necessary "to avoid tremendous sacrifice of American lives." Yet Professor Gar Alperovitz, have argued that the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary and inherently immoral. They are both significant as they let the project go ahead, FDR give the first funding to a labs that then lead to the project, and for Truman one of his first act in office was to give the go ahead to use the first atomic bomb. Truman said

"...We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction."

They had no idea that utter destruction would lead to the first atomic bomb. After the Hiroshima bombing, President Truman announced, "If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth."

Therefore Oppenheimer did have a significant contribution to the Manhattan project as he was scientific director, and was able to get the first atomic bomb built and tested as well as getting people from all different walks of live, be military or scientific background to work together and get the job done, it’s fair to say he play a really big role in the project, who know what would of happened if he never worked on it, be you can’t say it was only down to him what got the job done, you had General Leslie M. Groves who was military director of the project and had more power then Oppenheimer, it was said that Groves "...planned the project, ran his own construction, his own science, his own Army, his own State Department and his own Treasury Department." He had a lot of power in the project and had the freedom to whatever as long as the job got done. You also have the work of the people at University of Chicago and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford Site and Los Alamos, New Mexico, as the work they did lead to the building and testing. The president that was in office of the time of building the project had a role to play, FDR in starting it all off and giving the go ahead, and Truman giving the go ahead to use the bombs. Oppenheimer was noted for saying when he sees the bomb being tested, he thought of a verse from the Hindu holy book, the :

If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one...

Years later he would explain that another verse had also entered his head at that time:

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that one way or another."

Show what must people though and still thing of the bomb, the destroyer of worlds, so yes Oppenheimer did have a significant contribution to the Manhattan project, but yet if it was not for the work of the thousands who work on it the atomic bomb may never of been built, so yes he did if you look at what he did, which was a great deal for the project, but you can’t count out the other people that worked on the atomic bomb programme.

Paul Robinson word count 3070