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The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" |
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Manhattan Project History
Early Government Support
October 1939 to August 1942
| "Experiments in the physics laboratory at Columbia University reveal that conditions may be found under which the chemical element uranium may be able to liberate its large excess of atomic energy, and that this might mean the possibility that uranium might be used as an explosive that would liberate a million times as much energy per pound as any known explosive. My own feeling is that the probabilities are against this, but my colleagues and I think that the bare possibility should not be disregarded." - George B. Pegram; Professor of Physics; Columbia University; Letter of introduction for Enrico Fermi to carry to the Dept. of the U.S. Navy in Washington, DC; March 1940. |
| By late 1939,
several independent investigations into the "uranium
question" were being conducted by laboratories across the United
States including Berkeley, Columbia, Princeton, and the University of
Minnesota.
There was no question that the United States Government would have to get involved in order to coordinate and fund the "project" if it was to have any chance of succeeding. Einstein's letter and the resulting Uranium Committee were important first steps. However, there still lacked an overall "sense of urgency" amongst Briggs' committee and other government officials. Several things were impeding a decisive move forward:
Counteracting this "thread of negativity" was a strong group of scientists who had fled Nazi Germany and left behind several able colleagues. They felt that Germany had a two year head start and could very well be on their way to producing a "usable" weapon by as early as 1942 - 1943. Although America would commit millions of dollars to research in the ensuing few months, it was not until a group of British scientists issued a report (see the MAUD Report) outlining the feasibility of producing a nuclear weapon that the United States finally "stepped up to the plate" and took charge.
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