1942

September 23
Colonel Leslie Groves is promoted to Brigadier-General and put in charge of the Manhattan Project. He recruits J. Robert Oppenheimer as Scientific Director.

November 16
Groves and Oppenheimer select the site of the boys' school Los Alamos in New Mexico for the project. Oppenheimer tours the United States recruiting top scientists and persuading them to move to New Mexico. Edward Teller is among the first group of 100 to accept.

December 2
Enrico Fermi and his team at the University of Chicago produce the world's first controlled and sustained nuclear fission reaction. Leo Szilard and Fermi originate the method of arranging graphite and uranium which makes the reaction possible.