Who invented the atomic bomb? The History of the Atomic Bomb

The one who invented the atomic bomb, did not even imagine what tragic consequences this miracle-invention of the 20th century can bring. Before this superweapon experienced the inhabitants of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a very long journey was made.

A start

In April 1903, his friends gathered in the Paris garden of the famous French physicist Paul Langevin. The reason was the defense of the thesis of a young and talented scientist Marie Curie. Among the distinguished guests was the famous English physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford. In the midst of the fun the light was put out. Maria Curie announced to everyone that there will be a surprise. With a solemn look Pierre Curie introduced a small tube with radium salts, which shone with green light, causing extraordinary delight among those present. In the future, the guests heatedly discussed the future of this phenomenon. Everyone agreed that radium would solve the acute problem of energy shortage. It all inspired new research and further perspectives. If they were then told that laboratory work with radioactive elements would lay the foundation for the terrible weapons of the 20th century, it is not known what their reaction would be. It was then that the history of the atomic bomb that killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians began.

Leading Game

On December 17, 1938, the German scientist Otto Gunn received irrefutable evidence of the decay of uranium into smaller elementary particles. In fact, he managed to split the atom. In the scientific world, this was regarded as a new milestone in the history of mankind. Otto Gunn did not share the political views of the Third Reich. Therefore, in the same year, 1938, the scientist was forced to move to Stockholm, where together with Friedrich Strassmann he continued his scientific research. Fearing that fascist Germany would be the first to receive a terrible weapon, he wrote a letter to the President of America with a warning about it. The news of a possible lead was greatly alarmed by the US government. The Americans began to act swiftly and decisively.

Who created the atomic bomb? American Project

Even before the outbreak of World War II, a group of American scientists, many of whom were refugees from the German fascist regime in Europe, were charged with developing nuclear weapons. Initial research, it should be noted, was conducted in Nazi Germany. In 1940, the government of the United States of America began financing its own program to develop nuclear weapons. For the implementation of the project, an incredible amount of $ 2.5 billion was allocated for those times. To the implementation of this secret project, outstanding physicists of the twentieth century were invited, among which there were more than ten Nobel laureates. In total, about 130 thousand employees were involved, including not only military but also civilians. The team of developers was led by Col. Leslie Richard Groves, the scientific leader was Robert Oppenheimer. It is he who is the one who invented the atomic bomb. In the Manhattan area, a special secret engineering corps was built, which is known to us under the code name "Manhattan Project". Over the next few years, the scientists of the secret project worked on the problem of nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium.

The unarmed atom of Igor Kurchatov

Today, every student can answer the question of who invented the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union. And then, in the early 30-ies of the last century, nobody knew this.

In 1932 Academician Igor Kurchatov was one of the first in the world to begin studying the atomic nucleus. After gathering around like-minded people, Igor Vasilyevich created the first cyclotron in Europe in 1937. In the same year he and his associates create the first artificial cores.

In 1939, IV Kurchatov began to study a new direction - nuclear physics. After several laboratory successes in studying this phenomenon, the scientist receives at his disposal a classified research center, which was named "Laboratory No. 2". Today, this secret facility is called Arzamas-16.

The focus of this center was a serious study and the creation of nuclear weapons. Now it becomes obvious who created the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union. At that time, there were only ten people in his team.

The atomic bomb is

By the end of 1945, Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov manages to collect a serious team of scientists numbering more than a hundred people. The best minds of various scientific specializations came to the laboratory from all over the country to create nuclear weapons. After the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Soviet scientists understood that this could be done with the Soviet Union. "Laboratory No. 2" receives from the leadership of the country a sharp increase in funding and a large influx of qualified personnel. Laurentii Pavlovich Beria is appointed responsible for such an important project. The enormous works of Soviet scientists have paid off.

Semipalatinsk testing ground

The atomic bomb in the USSR was first tested at a training ground in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). On August 29, 1949, a nuclear device with a capacity of 22 kilotons shook the Kazakh land. Nobel laureate, physicist Otto Hantz, said: "This is good news. If Russia has nuclear weapons, then there will be no war. " It is this atomic bomb in the USSR, encrypted as an item No. 501, or RDS-1, that liquidated the US monopoly on nuclear weapons.

Atomic bomb. The year 1945

Early on the morning of July 16, the Manhattan Project conducted its first successful test of an atomic device, a plutonium bomb, at the Alamogordo test range in New Mexico.

The money invested in the project was not wasted. The first atomic explosion in the history of mankind was made at 5:30 am.

"We did the work of the devil," Robert Oppenheimer later said, the one who invented the atomic bomb in the US, later called the "father of the atomic bomb."

Japan does not surrender

By the time of the final and successful testing of the atomic bomb, Soviet troops and allies finally defeated fascist Germany. However, there remained one state, which promised to fight to the end for domination in the Pacific Ocean. From mid-April to mid-July 1945, the Japanese army repeatedly carried out air strikes against allied forces, thereby inflicting heavy losses on the US Army. At the end of July 1945, the militaristic government of Japan rejected the Allied demand for surrender according to the Potsdam Declaration. In it, in particular, it was said that in the event of disobedience, the Japanese army expects rapid and complete destruction.

The President agrees

The US government kept its word and began a purposeful bombardment of Japanese military positions. Air strikes did not bring the desired result, and US President Harry Truman decides on the invasion of American troops in Japan. However, the military command dissuades its president from such a decision, stating that the invasion of Americans will entail a large number of victims.

At the suggestion of Henry Lewis Stimson and Dwight David Eisenhower, it was decided to apply a more effective way of ending the war. A big proponent of the atomic bomb, Secretary of the US President James Francis Byrnes, believed that the bombing of Japanese territories would finally end the war and put the US in a dominant position, which would positively affect the future course of events in the postwar world. Thus, US President Harry Truman was persuaded that this is the only correct option.

Atomic bomb. Hiroshima

As the first target was selected a small Japanese city of Hiroshima with a population of just over 350 thousand people, located five hundred miles from the capital of Japan, Tokyo. After arriving at the US naval base on the island of Tinian, the modified B-29 "Enola Gay" bomber, an atomic bomb was placed on the aircraft. Hiroshima was supposed to experience the action of 9 thousand pounds of uranium-235.

This unprecedented weapon was intended for civilians in a small Japanese town. The bomber commander was Colonel Paul Warbild Tibbets Jr.. The US atomic bomb had a cynical name "Kid". On the morning of August 6, 1945, at approximately 8:15, the American "Kid" was dropped on Japanese Hiroshima. About 15 thousand tons of TNT destroyed all life within a radius of five square miles. One hundred and forty thousand inhabitants of the city perished in a matter of seconds. The surviving Japanese died a painful death from radiation sickness.

They were destroyed by the American atomic "Kid". However, the devastation of Hiroshima did not cause Japan's immediate surrender, as everyone had expected. Then it was decided to another bombardment of Japanese territory.

Nagasaki. The sky is on fire

The American atomic bomb "Tolstyak" was installed on board the B-29 aircraft on August 9, 1945, all the same, at the US naval base in Tinian. This time, the commander of the aircraft was Major Charles Sweeney. Initially, the strategic target was the city of Kokura.

However, the weather conditions did not allow the implementation of the planned, interfering with large clouds. Charles Sweeney went into the second round. At 11 o'clock 02 minutes the American atomic "fat man" absorbed Nagasaki. It was a more powerful destructive air strike, which by its strength, several times exceeded the bombing in Hiroshima. Nagasaki experienced an atomic weapon weighing about 10 thousand pounds and 22 kilotons of TNT.

The geographical location of the Japanese city has reduced the expected effect. The thing is that the city is in a narrow valley between the mountains. Therefore, the destruction of 2.6 square miles did not disclose the full potential of American weapons. The test of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki is considered a failed Manhattan project.

Japan has surrendered

At noon on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of his country in a radio address to the people of Japan. This news quickly spread around the world. In the United States of America began the celebration of the victory over Japan. The people rejoiced.

September 2, 1945 on board the American battleship "Missouri", anchored in the Tokyo Bay, was signed by an official agreement to end the war. Thus ended the most brutal and bloody war in the history of mankind.

For six long years the world community was on this remarkable date - from September 1, 1939, when the first shots of Nazi Germany were made on the territory of Poland.

Peaceful atom

In total, 124 nuclear explosions were conducted in the Soviet Union. Characteristic is that all of them were implemented for the benefit of the national economy. Only three of them were accidents, resulting in the leakage of radioactive elements. Programs for the application of peaceful atom were implemented only in two countries - the United States and the Soviet Union. Atomic peaceful energy knows an example of a global catastrophe, when on April 26, 1986 , at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a reactor explosion took place.