Was Atomic bomb developed in Chicago?

Answer 1

The atomic bomb was not developed in Manhattan, but was developed by the Manhattan Project. The project was headed by General Leslie R. Groves Jr. with Robert J. Oppenheimer as scientific director and had several development sites across the United States. The primary facilities were Los Alamos, New Mexico, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the Hanford Site in Washington state.

The reason the project was named Manhattan Project was that its original administrative offices were in Manhattan, at the existing US Army Corps of Engineers offices, until they were relocated to Oak Ridge, Tennessee when adequate facilities for such offices had been built. But the name Manhattan stuck (probably partly because it made a good "cover", hiding the purpose/location of the project - as the name "Radiation Lab" obscured the project working on RADAR).

Answer 2

Nowhere, Manhattan Project was a codename not a location. The bombs were designed and built in Los Alamos, NM. The complete Manhattan Project involves locations in about a dozen different states.

The name Manhattan Project originated in that the first administrative offices for the US atomic bomb research project were in the Manhattan District offices on the 18th floor of 270 Broadway of the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Manhattan NYC. However as General Groves took over and reorganized the project and it began to expand the administrative offices were relocated to the Oak Ridge, Tennessee offices of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

However the name Manhattan stuck and was also viewed as an ideal cover as the project no longer had any connection to Manhattan NYC.

Answer 3

It was distributed across the entire US:

• Design in Los Alamos, NM
• Reactor development in Chicago, IL and Oakridge, TN
• Fissile material preparation in Oakridge, TN and Hanford, WA
• Non-nuclear components were contracted out to multiple companies across the country
• Miscellaneous research & development was performed at many University labs across the country
• Bomber crew training was at Wendover, UT
• Final assembly and test of plutonium gadget was at Trinity test site, in what is now White Sands Missile Range, NM
• Final assembly of the actual combat bombs was on Tinnian in the Pacific
• etc.

Answer 4

Los Alamos, NM was where the design was done. Other parts of the work were done in secret sites in about a dozen states.

Answer 5

No, the first prototype graphite moderated reactor was developed in Chicago but the atomic bomb was developed in Los Alamos.

Answer 6

Los Alamos, NM