J. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie R. Groves
The Manhattan Project was the code name given to the efforts of the United States, Great Britain and Canada to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II.
Numerous countries involved in World War II sought to develop a nuclear weapon. Scientists in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States worked to create a bomb capable of ending the war swiftly. These scientists focused on nuclear fission as the means to make such a bomb. At the same time, German scientists were also working to develop such a weapon.
In the United States, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie R. Groves spearheaded the drive to create this weapon. Groves formally named the attempt the "Manhattan Engineering District," since his headquarters was located in Manhattan, New York, although the effort became better known as the "Manhattan Project." Oppenheimer and Groves concentrated research efforts in Hanford, Washington, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, although numerous other centers, including the Battelle Institute in Columbus, Ohio, participated in the development of the bomb. Eventually 130,000 people participated in the Manhattan Project.
