His first task was to calculate the mass of Uranium-235, which was the amount of uranium needed to sustain a chain reaction. He calculated this at Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley. In November of 1942 Oppenheimer became the appointed director of the Los Alamos laboratory, which is where they would design and construct the atomic bomb. General Leslie Groves elected him because he was an effective organizer and he could easily comprehend scientific ideology. In the end, Oppenheimer was managing more than 3,000 people, he was also tackling theoretical and mechanical problems at hand. After they dropped the bomb in Nagasaki, Japan and Hiroshima the war was essentially over. After seeing the mass destruction, however, Oppenheimer argued against the use of nuclear bombs and resigned from his post that …show more content…
Many scientists were Jewish so they fled to the United States, such as Albert Einstein. Eventually Roosevelt agreed to start construction of the atomic bomb. They named this the Manhattan Project. Truman decided to drop two atomic bombs before the Japanese surrendered. Many people were involved with the Manhattan Project. For example, Robert Oppenheimer, President Truman, and General Groves. This project was under extreme secrecy until the bombs were dropped. After seeing the devastation of the nuclear bombs Oppenheimer stepped down from his post and other scientists followed. They said the world was not yet ready for the use of nuclear