Manhattan Project

American  

noun

1. U.S. History. the unofficial designation for the U.S. War Department's secret program, organized in 1942, to explore the isolation of radioactive isotopes and the production of an atomic bomb: initial research was conducted at Columbia University in Manhattan.

---

Manhattan Project British  

noun

1. (during World War II) the code name for the secret US project set up in 1942 to develop an atomic bomb

---

Manhattan Project Cultural  

1. The code name for the effort to develop atomic bombs (see also atomic bomb) for the United States during World War II. The first controlled nuclear reaction took place in Chicago in 1942, and by 1945, bombs had been manufactured that used this chain reaction to produce great explosive force. The project was carried out in enormous secrecy. After a test explosion in July 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (see also Hiroshima) and Nagasaki.

---

Etymology

Origin of Manhattan Project

Extracted from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Manhattan District and DSM (Development of Substitute Materials) Project

Example Sentences

How China built its ‘Manhattan Project’ to rival the West in AI chips.

From MarketWatch

During World War II, Vannevar Bush ran the Office of Scientific Research and Development, which funded research for radar, guided missiles and even the Manhattan Project.

From The Wall Street Journal

If you saw Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film “Oppenheimer,” you might remember the character of Vannevar Bush, one of the bosses who oversaw the Manhattan Project.

From Salon

It was, after all, the fear of a Nazi bomb that first catalyzed the Manhattan Project that would create the American bombs.

From Salon

The Manhattan Project that they had joined on the basis of a belief that they were in an existential arms race with Nazi Germany had, by then, revealed itself to be a distinctly one-sided contest.

From Salon