Manhattan Project History

The Pajarito Plateau has been home to a number of inhabitants who have each uniquely shaped the landscape and history of the area.

Los Alamos’s residents organized many different means of recreation and leisure.

What was the Manhattan Project?

As early as 1939, the U.S. government began to organize and fund nuclear research.

On December 2, 1942, Chicago Pile-1 went critical, creating the world’s first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

Some of the terms encountered when perusing the website can be confusing or obscure. This glossary is provided to assist readers and learners of Manhattan Project history.

The US accomplished what other nations thought impossible. How did the United States achieve the remarkable feat of building an atomic bomb?

By late 1939, there was still a lack of an overall "sense of urgency" among other government officials on atomic research.

The Frisch-Peierls Memorandum was an important assessment confirming the feasibility of an atomic bomb.

General Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer were a study in contrasts, yet both were key to the Manhattan Project's success.