I chose to do my history day project on The Manhattan Project because it is a great demonstration of scientific, political, and social broken barriers. I found out about what it was a few months before I needed to start looking at a topic for history day and it was instantly the best candidate for the project.
I began my research by looking at the more broad aspects of the topic and figuring who, what, where, and why it was. I looked at historical context, timelines of the process, and what happened after the process. I began with simple web articles, then branched into scholarly articles, videos, and primary sources. After getting the simple and basic information about the topic, I figured out what I needed to look for. After deepening my knowledge about The Manhattan Project, I got a basic idea of what my claim and subclaims would be.
I chose to do a website this year because I was able to spend more time gathering my research and proving my point rather than making it look pretty. If a mistake was made, I could always hit the undo button and try again. This was my first year trying a website and using the NHD web central website creator. It was all super confusing to navigate and get a sense of what I was doing. After watching videos, I started to get a feel of how the website creator worked. I definitely gained skills with website making, coding, and tech skills.
I put my entry together by starting with an establishment of the thesis and some context; the viewer needs to know what they’re gonna be reading about. I wanted to establish the who, what, where, when, and why before the viewer read into how it broke barriers. If they have an understanding of the topic, they will be more likely to agree with the statement that I am making. I included images, videos, and quotes throughout to broaden the argument that I'm making.
The Manhattan Project clearly relates to the theme of “Barrier Breakers in History” because it demonstrates barriers broken in science, politics and society. Scientists that participated in The Manhattan Project used nuclear fissioning, which had been discovered just a few years before, to create a weapon of mass destruction that would put an end to World War II. The scientific advancements led to the creation of nuclear energy, which is much more effective than other sources of power. The Manhattan Project also led to the creation of nuclear weapons, which greatly increased the power of militaries all across the world. There are thousands of nuclear warheads around the world that have the power to cause global chaos. Also, The Manhattan Project led to the creation of nuclear weapons that can cause world destruction, thus giving everyone a feeling of fear that knows about it. The fears have caused countries with atomic bombs to not use them because of the power that they yield.