The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. It began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion (the equivalent of about $26 billion now). Although it operated under a tight blanket of security, it was penetrated by Soviet atomic spies. The first device ever detonated was an implosion-type nuclear weapon in the Trinity test (pictured), conducted at New Mexico's Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range on 16 July 1945. Project personnel participated in the Alsos Mission in Europe, and in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war the Manhattan Project conducted weapons testing in Operation Crossroads, developed new weapons, established the network of national laboratories, supported medical research into radiology, and laid the foundations for a nuclear navy. It was replaced by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project in 1947.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1769:
Spanish friar Junípero Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá (pictured), the first Franciscan mission in the Alta California region of New Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Diego_de_Alcal%C3%A1
1790:
U.S. President George Washington signed the Residence Act, selecting a new permanent site along the Potomac River for the capital of the United States, which later became Washington, D.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.
1931:
Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie signed the nation's first constitution, the first time in history that an absolute ruler voluntarily sought to share sovereignty with his subjects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Constitution_of_Ethiopia
1965:
South Vietnamese Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao—an undetected communist spy—was hunted down and killed after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyen Khanh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pham_Ngoc_Thao
2008:
Sixteen infants in Gansu Province, China, were diagnosed with kidney stones due to tainted milk powder; overall 300,000 infants were affected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
quisling: (pejorative) A traitor who collaborates with the enemy. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quisling
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
To my mind, the expression of divinity is in variety, and the more variable the creation, the more variable the creatures that surround us, botanical and zoological, the more chance we have to learn and to see into life itself, nature itself. ... we need variety. We came from that, we were born from that, it's our world, the world in which we became what we have become. --Sheri S. Tepper https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper
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