I'm surprised that the cost of development was only $800 million — the equivalent of $13.6 billion today. That's minuscule by the standards of congressional spending.
Compare it to another engineering project of national importance: the Apollo mission to land man on the moon. It cost $25.8 billion between 1960 and 1973, or $257 billion in 2020 dollars[1].
Both were massive and urgent projects, but the atomic bomb cost 5% of what Apollo cost. An unexpected bargain.
Compare it to another engineering project of national importance: the Apollo mission to land man on the moon. It cost $25.8 billion between 1960 and 1973, or $257 billion in 2020 dollars[1].
Both were massive and urgent projects, but the atomic bomb cost 5% of what Apollo cost. An unexpected bargain.
[1] https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/cost-of-apollo