into being the atomic bomb , the monstrous and magnificent nature of which affects humans in every aspect of their contemporary lives , whether or not they realize it . The Project was the moment of turbulence that changed everything and redefined humanity and defined the modern era . Martin Sherwin , co-author of American Prometheus , a biography of J . Robert Oppenheimer , asserts in the PBS film The Bomb that , “ It is the most important issue that we face .” Robert S . Norris , author of several histories of the atomic bomb , comments in the same film , “ The bomb has receded in the public ’ s imagination , but it ’ s still there .” However , contemporary cultural imagery reveals that the public has not , in fact , forgotten that the effects of the Project that still looms , cloud-like , over our consciousness .
The development and use of the atomic bomb clarified for humanity — in the wake of the Holocaust , Japanese war crimes , and firebombing in Europe — the explicit understanding that human-caused mass destruction is entirely possible . Project scientists believed their work was designed to win WWII . Most people who worked on the Project in any capacity , in every nationwide location that participated in the bomb ’ s creation , did not know precisely to what they were contributing . Many scientists in Los Alamos did not know exactly how what they were building would be used . Those who did have an awareness that their work was to build a powerful new weapon to help in the war effort were forbidden by the U . S . military from speaking about their work outside the secret confines of the science laboratory in Los Alamos . 2 Scientists were not to explain to their friends or spouses why they had left their comfortable academic positions to move to a high desert 2
This paper does not address Oak Ridge , TN or Hanford , WA . 26