The Manhattan Project was the code name for the secret US-led programme to develop an atomic bomb during the Second World War (1939-45). Hugely expensive and employing the best scientific minds from Europe and the United States, the project was successful. After a single test, two bombs were dropped, one on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki in August 1945. The bombs caused instant devastation and tremendous loss of life, but they did bring Japan's surrender. The atomic bomb had won the war, but the world was transformed overnight, and subsequent generations were left with the lingering spectre that humanity could now literally destroy itself.
More about: Manhattan ProjectDefinition
Timeline
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Aug 1942The secret US Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb begins.
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16 Jul 1945The Trinity nuclear test takes place in the Jornada del Muerto desert, New Mexico, USA when the device known as "the gadget" is detonated, heralding the Atomic Age.
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6 Aug 1945The ‘Enola Gay’, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
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9 Aug 1945The ‘Bockscar’, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
