As recently as 1930, even famous physicists like Ernest Rutherford and Albert Einstein knew that there were enormous amounts of energy inside atoms, but had not no way to free her. Things began to change rapidly from the 1930s. In 1932, Sir John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton were able to cause a nuclear reaction for the first time using artificially accelerated particles, and then in 1934, Irène Curie, Frédéric Curie and Enrico Fermi separately produced artificial radioactivity by colliding atoms with alpha particles and neutrons. Coupled with the possibility of a chain reaction producing a huge amount of released energy, people began to realize that nuclear fission could be used as a powerful weapon.US history.org March 2014On August 2, 1939, a Jewish refugee Hungarian in the United States, Leo Szilard wrote a letter to Albert Einstein, urging President Franklin Roosevelt to start funding atomic research so that they could use the research as a weapon. (Gene Dannon 1996) The letter reached Roosevelt's office in September, who approved the scientists' appeal for help and authorized the creation of the Uranium Committee under Lyman Briggs, who began research programs at the Naval Research Lab of Washington, DC in 1939. In 1940, the Uranium Committee was absorbed into the larger National Defense Research Committee. Progress was slow, due to the low sense of urgency since the United States had not yet entered the war.US history.org March 2014Meanwhile, British scientists also embarked on a similar mission. In March 1940, at the University of Birmingham, research by Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls eventually led to the Scientific Survey of Air Warfare's discovery that a uranium bomb could be...... middle of paper ......lt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. Print “Einstein to Roosevelt, August 2, 1939.” Letter from Einstein to Roosevelt, August 2, 1939. Np, nd Web. March 9, 2014. Broad, William J. “Why They Called It the Manhattan Project.” The New York Times. The New York Times, October 29, 2007. Web. "Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: History: Pre-Cold War: Manhattan Project". Key Questions: Nuclear Weapons: History: Before the Cold War: Manhattan Project. Np, and Web. March 7, 2014. “The Manhattan Project.” The Manhattan Project. Np, and Web. March 1, 2014. “The first atomic bomb explosion, 1945.” The first atomic bomb explosion, 1945. Np, nd Web. March 9, 2014.Np, nd Web. .Np, sd Web. .Np, and Web. .