The Finishers The use of the two atomic bombs in early August of 1945 was among the huge turning points that lead to the end of World War Two. The organization responsible for the research and development of these nuclear weapons was known as the Manhattan project. The development of this bomb changed the way scientists, as well as the rest of the world, looked at nuclear energy. It also help in bringing along one of the biggest arms races in history, the cold war. So why was this atomic bomb produced? It all started with the discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938. This is what made the idea of creating an atomic bomb a very possible theory. The Manhattan project was created in 1942 “During its four years of existence the Manhattan Project mobilized over 120,000 people—including most of the United States' physicists, chemists, engineers, doctors, and technicians, along with a small group of outstanding German/Austrian refugee scientists—into 37 top-secret installations.” (Avery, 383) This made the Manhattan project as big as the auto industry at the time. Basically, the creation of the atomic bomb was inspired by the fear that Germany would make one first, which is what they were on track of doing. On August 6, 1946, a Boeing B-29 Bomber named the Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, and dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan. “Little Boy” exploded 2,000 feet above Hiroshima in a blast equal to 15 kilotons of TNT, destroying five square miles of the city. On the August 9, 1945, another B-29 piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, dropped fat boy over Nagasaki, Japan. This bomb, known as fat boy, was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, but due to the terrain of the city the destruction radius was less. The blast was equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT. By the end of 1950 the death toll of the