book

Nuclear Weapons - Power of Destruction

21 Pages 2168 Words 1557 Views

The hottest day of August 1939 is drawing to a close, and the most famous scientist in the world is on his holiday vacation in Long Island, New York, typing a warning letter to the U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, that will dramatically change the course of human history forever. Albert Einstein has gathered enough evidence to prove that scientists in Nazi Germany have figured out how to use his famous equation E = mc2 to create nuclear weapons by splitting uranium atoms. He is terrified to think of the possible outcome if the Nazis succeed in the creation of such weapons. In his letter, he urges the U.S. government to start investing in a nuclear program that outruns the Nazis, as he writes, “Sir. The element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of this situation seem to call for quick action on the part of the administration. The new weapons that could be created might have a massive power of destruction capable of obliterating entire cities within seconds” (Einstein. par. 1). Only eight weeks after these previous lines are inked on blank paper, somewhere in the wilderness of New Mexico the president approves the first top-secret nuclear program of its kind, code-named “The Manhattan Project.” Its one and only mission is creating the first atomic bomb before any other country on the planet. From Einstein’s letter, the biggest and most remarkable collaboration between science and the military, planet Earth has ever seen, is born. This brought together the most brilliant minds in the scientific world, leading them to succeed in the creation of the first atomic bomb in July of 1945. Even though by the time of the creation of this bomb Nazi Germany has already surrendered, the war against Japan on other side of the world is still raging, and several generals and politicians in the U.S. believe that using this bomb could bring the war to a quick end. Two months after the first atomic bomb came to life in the arid dessert of New Mexico, the cloudless, blue-skied morning of August 6th 1945 in the city of Hiroshima, Japan did very poorly in warning its citizens that a terror beyond their darkest nightmares was about to be unleashed upon them all. As the encyclopedia Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Effects of the Atomic Bomb reads, “ At 8:15 A.M. the first atomic bomb was dropped, it fell through the air for forty-three seconds, and then a single neutron started Einstein’s chain reaction Obliterating the everything in its path within seconds” (Swaine, 22). As the news of this new super powerful weapon spread across every corner of the world, fear seemed to claw its invisible talons into the minds of the Japanese generals and politicians, yet they did not surrender. Therefore, only three days later the U.S. army deployed, “ a second, bigger atomic bomb over the port city of Nagasaki. It killed approximately 40 thousand people instantly”(Swain, 29). As the hours passed, the number of casualties escalated very quickly and months after the detonation of these two weapons, several thousand died from the effects of radiation and fire, “Just 0.6 grams of mass converted into energy laid waste a city” (Rhodes, 67). Almost 90% of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were completely destroyed and as a result of this catastrophic event, The Empire of Japan surrendered, putting an end to the Second World War. The United States immediately became the first world power after coming out victorious in bloodiest war in history. However, it had unintentionally started a race for nuclear power, giving birth to the most evil type of arsenal the world had ever seen. Almost seventy years after the first nuclear weapon was born, about nine different nations in the world have struck gold and managed to get access to nuclear power. Different organizations such as the International Atom

Read Full Essay