That was a truly amazing period in American history. Just think about the coordination of the hundreds of people involved. Think of guts, perseverance and fortitude required to so quickly bring a test weapon to fruition where it could be used to kill Japs. It saved tens of thousands of American lives and ended a world war. That is American greatness.
Indeed it did.
Yes, amazing what could be accomplished then. Today, in the time it took to develop and deploy atomic weapons we'd be lucky to get the idea out of committee.
There were traitors back then giving the atomic bomb secrets to the communists just like today to the Iranians.
I’d like to point out that the Nuking that ended the war ALSO saved the lives of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS of Japanese lives.
The United States emerged the VICTOR in the war and the killing stopped right then and there.
Remember, where/when our enemy was VICTORIOUS the real KILLING got under way for real.
Environmental studies would have to be conducted, we'd find some lizard there and wouldn't be able to build the place.
Some idiot would leak the project to the nyt or wapo.
Your remarks fit with what I was going to add to the thread anyway, which is why I'm posting it as a reply to you.
While waiting for the explosions, the scientists took dollar bets on how big the yield from the bomb would be. Edward Teller took 45,000 tons of TNT, Oppenheimer bet 3,000 tons, Rabi bet 18,000 tons, Hans Bethe had 8,000 tons, and Enrico Fermi took side bets on incinerating the state of New Mexico or the entire planet.
And:
As to what became known as the Bomb (with a capital B), it went on to end World War II and became the centerpiece of the Cold War, reshaping our world forever.
This was an interesting article. The above reminded me that the Torah itself begins with a "big bet" -- the one englarged letter bet -- a "capital B" so to speak. For anyone interested...
בראשית
The letter bet ("house") normally has a value of 2, but it is also used to represent 2000, alpaim [אַלְפַּיִם]:
'ב
As such, 2000 is a"big bet" (a big house) - the representative number of years for the exceedingly long exile [since the destruction of the second Temple]. It is also the numeric value of the United States of America [ארצות הברית של אמריקה], who is often symbolized by her birth year 1776. I mention this because the sum of 1776 is found strategically doubled within the description of the first light on the first day of Creation, which is the place of the big bet, the "Big Bang", 2 B or not 2 B:
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning [בראשית] God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good" = 1776
"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness." = 1776
Additionally, July 16th in non-leap years (e.g. 1945) is the 197th day of the year. The account of the first day of Creation (Gen 1:1-5) is composed of 197 [Hebrew] letters.
Gen. Thomas Farrell:
The lighting effects beggared description. The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun. It was golden, purple, violet, gray, and blue. It lighted every peak, crevasse and ridge of the nearby mountain range with a clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#Detonation
This turned out to be yet another excellent adventure through history, because Israel - Isidor Isaac Rabi (born Israel Isaac Rabi) - won the bet:
The observers set up a betting pool on the results of the test. Edward Teller was the most optimistic, predicting 45 kilotons of TNT (190 TJ).[75] He wore gloves to protect his hands, and sunglasses underneath the welding goggles that the government had supplied everyone with.[74] Teller was also one of the few scientists to actually watch the test (with eye protection), instead of following orders to lie on the ground with his back turned.[76] He also brought suntan lotion, which he shared with the others.[77]
Others were less optimistic. Ramsey chose zero (a complete dud), Robert Oppenheimer chose 0.3 kilotons of TNT (1.3 TJ), Kistiakowsky 1.4 kilotons of TNT (5.9 TJ), and Bethe chose 8 kilotons of TNT (33 TJ).[75] Rabi, the last to arrive, took 18 kilotons of TNT (75 TJ) by default, which would win him the pool.[78]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)#Personnel