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Further, their moral concerns about the death and destruction caused by their weapon became more amplified only as public debate over atomic weapons grew in the post-Hiroshima world. While some scientists did seek to substitute nonlethal demonstrations for combat deployment, their objectives were varied. Close reading of primary documents reveals that although a few scientists voiced moral concerns, the true nature of their opposition has frequently been overstated and misinterpreted. Received historical wisdom holds that various Manhattan Project scientists opposed the Bomb’s operational use. The idea that a single bomb could destroy an entire city seemed to threaten everyone. Afterward, many people worldwide condemned using a weapon of such tremendous destructive power against civilians. Robert Oppenheimer ominously quoted the Bhagavad-Gita, but he did not oppose the use of the first atomic bomb, developed in the United States’ Manhattan Project and dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Robert Oppenheimer at the Trinity Test of the First Atomic Bomb, 16 July 1945 “I am become Death, The shatterer of worlds.” Dissent Within the Manhattan Project Scientist Community

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