On August 2nd 1939, just before the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify U-235 with which might in turn be used to build an atomic bomb. It was shortly thereafter that the United States Government began the serious undertaking known only then as the Manhattan Project. Simply put, the Manhattan Project was committed to expedient research and production that would produce a viable atomic bomb.
1895
LOC
Cloud chamber for tracking charged particles is invented. Wilhelm Roentgen discovers x-rays. The world immediately appreciates their medical potential. Within five years, for example, the British Army is using a mobile x-ray unit to locate bullets and shrapnel in wounded soldiers in the Sudan.
1911
Georg von Hevesy conceives the idea of using radioactive tracers. This idea is later applied to, among other things, medical diagnosis. Von Hevesy wins the Nobel Prize in 1943.1913
Radiation detector is invented.1925
First cloud-chamber photographs of nuclear reactions.1927
Herman Blumgart, a Boston physician, first uses radioactive tracers to diagnose heart disease.December 1938
Two German scientists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, demonstrate nuclear fission.August 1939
Albert Einstein sends a letter to President Roosevelt informing him of German atomic research and the potential for a bomb. This letter prompts Roosevelt to form a special committee to investigate the military implications of atomic research.September 1942
Courtesy Outlawlabs
The Manhattan Project is formed to secretly build the atomic bomb before the Germans.
