How did humans know that atomic bomb could be a thing?

Question

Like we all who built it first and all, but how did the humans know that such a weapon could be possible to build with so much capability? Was there research from older scientists and physicists that led to the idea that such a thing was possible and only needed to be built?

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Answer 1

> Was there research from older scientists and physicists that led to the idea that such a thing was possible

That’s basically all of science. It’s what they mean when they say discoveries are made on the shoulders of giants.

That said, the discovery that introduced the idea of atomic bombs was quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics was able to explain a lot about how atoms and radioactive decay it worked. Using it, scientists were able to understand that a lot of energy existed in larger atoms and when they decay, they could release a lot of energy. And anything that releases a lot of energy at once can be made into a bomb…