Einstein Urges FDR: Build the Atomic Bomb
Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd sent a stark warning to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about Nazi Germany's potential atomic capabilities, directly triggering the launch of the Manhattan Project. This urgent correspondence set in motion a massive industrial effort that produced the first nuclear weapons and fundamentally altered the trajectory of global warfare and geopolitics.
August 2, 1939
87 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Leó Szilárd
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Albert Einstein
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Manhattan Project
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Albert Einstein
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Leo Szilard
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Einstein–Szilard letter
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Manhattan Project
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Zeit des Nationalsozialismus
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Nuclear weapon
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President
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What Else Happened on August 2
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