Lecture 3 Part 1: From Trinity to the Cuban Missile Crisis Flashcards
The Manhattan Project
1939
What was it?
A development during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons, lead by US
The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US $2 billion
The Manhattan Project
Types of bombs
First bomb
Two types of atomic bombs were developed concurrently during the war: a relatively simple gun-type fission weapon and a more complex implosion-type nuclear weapon.
Despite the Manhattan Project’s tight security, Soviet atomic spies still penetrated the program.
The first nuclear device ever detonated was an implosion-type bomb at the Trinity test, conducted at New Mexico’s Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range on 16 July 1945
Trinity (nuclear test)
what and when
Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.
It was conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 am on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project.
The test was of an implosion-design plutonium device,
informally nicknamed “The Gadget”, of the same design as the Fat Man bomb later detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings
Aug. 5, 1945 - “Little Boy,” the first combat atomic bomb went off
Little Boy was a gun bomb
On the morning of the bombing, an estimated 348,000 people were in Hiroshima
Lasted 43 seconds
1 million degrees Celsius
2 square miles.
A firestorm incinerated everything within 6,000 feet of ground zero
60,000 to 80,000 people died, 50,000 effected
FAT MAN BOMB
NAGASAKI
The second nuclear bomb that would be dropped on Japan was nicknamed Fat Man for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
From plutonium, not uranium: failed as the plane had no fuel
NAGASAKI: Urakami Valley basin
Without the topographical protection, the area of damage probably would’ve been five times larger.
Estimates range as high as 100,000
THE END FOR JAPAN? Soviet vs Japan war
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and a day after that, Fat Man exploded over Nagasaki - 8th August
Early on Aug. 10, Japan relayed its desire for peace to the United States, and at noon on Aug. 15, Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender to the Japanese people
A few of the world’s most deadly nuclear bombs…
Tsar Bomba (RDS-220 hydrogen bomb) - 50Mt: It was exploded by the Soviet Union on 30 October 1961
B41 nuclear bomb - 25Mt - most powerful thermonuclear weapon ever fielded by the United State
Mk-17/EC-17 - 10Mt to 15Mt - heaviest thermonuclear nuclear weapon ever made by the US
October 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis
The threat of nuclear war became increasingly apparent.
President Kennedy did not dare to invade Cuba, because that action could have started a world war - yet he could not let the missile sites be completed. With his advisers, he decided on a naval blockade to prevent Russian ships delivering the missiles for the Cuban sites.
US bombers were put in the air carrying nuclear bombs; preparations were made to invade Cuba
Everybody thought the world was going to come to an end
The ships heading for Cuba turned back, and Khrushchev sent a telegram offering to dismantle the Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade Cuba
US missile sites in Turkey were dismantled in November 1962
In 1963, a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed.
In 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed - the superpowers promised not to supply nuclear technology to other countries.
KEY PEOPLE
John F. Kennedy (President of the United States) Nikita Khrushchev (Leader of the Soviet Union)
