Fat Man Assembly Tinian 1945

The Manhattan Project was a research and development programme during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with support from the United Kingdom and Canada. The project began in 1939 and ended in 1945 with the successful testing of the first atomic bomb. The project was named after Manhattan, New York, where much of the research took place. The Manhattan Project is considered one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th century and had a profound impact on the world's political landscape. The Manhattan Project was launched in response to fears that Nazi Germany was developing nuclear weapons. The project was kept highly secret and involved thousands of scientists, engineers and support staff working at various sites across the United States. The most famous site was the Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, where the bomb was designed and assembled. The first successful test of an atomic bomb took place on 16 July 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The bomb was then used in war for the first time on 6 August 1945, when the United States dropped it on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands of people instantly. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, causing even more casualties. The use of atomic bombs in Japan is still controversial, with some arguing that it was necessary to end the war quickly and others condemning it as a horrific act of violence against innocent civilians. After the war, the Manhattan Project was officially disbanded, but many of the scientists involved went on to work on other nuclear weapons programmes. The knowledge gained from the Manhattan Project also paved the way for advances in nuclear energy and medicine. But it also sparked a global arms race and heightened tensions between nations with nuclear capabilities.