During World War II, the United States developed a program to harness the power of fission. This project that they created would eventually become known as the Manhattan Project, and the product of this project would be the creation of the first atomic bomb. Let's go back to 1939, when World War II was just beginning in Europe. Adolf Hitler prepared German youth for an invasion of Poland. Meanwhile, European scientists, who had personal knowledge of Hitler's despotism, feared the rising Nazi tide. Famous scientists like Fermi, Einstein, Frisch, and Teller fled to America to escape Hitler's racial persecution. These foreign-born scientists would play a vital role in the drama set in a small New Mexico town. At that time, the principle of nuclear fission was known in the scientific world. If Hitler used this knowledge to build a fission bomb, the atomic bomb might already be within reach of the German war machine. Three Hungarian physicists: Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, and Edward Teller called on Albert Einstein to help write a letter to FDR urging the government to support fission research. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay As the war raged, foreign-born and American scientists at many American universities continued their research on the atom. In Chicago, under the football field, Fermi and his colleagues made history with graphite, bricks and a little uranium. Fermi's successful chain reaction and Frisch and Pile's idea of ​​neutron bombardment changed everything. A compelling report from a British research committee provoked an immediate reaction among military leaders. Their report was clear: a fission bomb was possible. If the British achieved so much, perhaps the Germans did too? The U.S. government realized that fission research needed to be intensified. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill decided to consolidate their research efforts in America under the direction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. General Leslie Groves was chosen to lead the Manhattan Project. Before that, he had been responsible for all construction of the U.S. military during World War II. This involved the construction of military camps and hospitals, airports and bases as well as aircraft and munitions manufacturing plants. He even saw the construction of the Pentagon. This return to overseeing complicated projects was what made him a logical choice to lead the secret city of Los Alamos. The civilian leader chosen to lead the science team was completely different from Groves. Robert Oppenheimer was known by many titles at Los Alamos, such as "Oppie" or "the Spirit of Los Alamos", but he is probably best known as "the father of the atomic bomb". He oversaw scientific research and design of nuclear weapons. Robert Oppenheimer, renowned for his research into the structure of the atom, was a kind and discreet scientist. At the time Groves was appointed, Oppenheimer was a notable physicist who taught at the California Institute of Technology, as well as at UC Berkeley. He was seen as a captivating and charismatic person who led the project and could capture people's attention and influence their interest through his passion. As a born leader, he was considered the spirit of Los Alamos, so much so that the residents praised him for their ability to exist andlive their lives as they do. Oppenheimer of course had his drawbacks as a leader; he had no experience as an administrator before and he had previous ties to communist causes, which was slightly alarming. However, Groves still made him city leader. I believe their differences in leadership styles made Groves and Oppenheimer an effective pair. I notice an interesting comparison between the leadership put in place here and the leadership put in place in the theater, with Oppenheimer acting as director and Groves acting as stage manager. Many people think of a director as the divine creator of a show, telling the actors where to go and how to say their lines, but more often than not, that's not the case. The director's job is to create a creative environment for the actors and give them the freedom and tools to construct their part of the show, whatever it may be. In this way, they are the “first among equals,” allowing everyone to create their own character, but guiding them in how to shape it within the play as a whole. Directors often need to establish trust between actors so that they can create freely, and it is the director who must maintain order. The stage manager plans everyone's day, alerts people when they make mistakes in their lines, calls people when they are late and tracks how often this happens, and maintains a sense of order in the room so so that the director and other actors can do their job. jobs. Groves was quoted as saying, “…who cares if they like you or not? The goal was for everything to go well. » It's the same mindset that a stage manager follows. They don't need to create a creative environment, they create the rules by which people operate within it. Both are necessary to creating good theater, in a pseudo good cop/bad cop scenario, one to give freedom to create and the other to give guidelines of professionalism within which to work. The Manhattan Engineering District included nine universities and laboratories around the world. UNITED STATES. The secrecy that researchers imposed on themselves often made communication between laboratories difficult and awkward. So Oppenheimer, with his colleagues, addressed Groves, who was now a brigadier general. They informed him that a new laboratory was needed where people and equipment could be brought together for a more productive exchange of information and ideas. The search for a suitable location began. The area had to benefit from a climate allowing exterior work all year round. It needed to be kept away from all coasts to reduce the risk of attack. It had to be almost uninhabited for safety and security reasons, but had to be close to a road and railway. Construction began in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to create buildings, laboratories, and meeting places for the illusion of normalcy. Scientists began arriving from all over the United States and England and disappeared from the world. Los Alamos was such a closely guarded military secret that people outside the Manhattan Project didn't even know it existed. Residents were prohibited from using the word "Los Alamos." Scientists used pseudonyms when traveling out of town, such as Enrico Fermi becoming "Eugene Farmer" and Niels Bohr becoming Nicholas Baker. People were working 6 days a week at very late hours on projects that they couldn't discuss with each other outside of the labs. The only entrance and exit.