For nuclear physics to progress in a short time from the basic science discovery of fission in $1939$ to its successful application as a weapon of mass destruction against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and most of their citizenry in $1945$

A$.$ we only had to sit back and wait for a pure science to run its steady natural course of development to its inevitable conclusion

B$.$ new cities were built, remarkable and diverse scientific talent was sequestered for years, novel industrial$-$scale technologies were invented and made to work, and an astronomical amount of money was spent, entirely hidden from any democratic oversight, questioning, or discussion

C$.$ physicists had to put their own egos and ideas aside and simply follow the scientific genius of J$.$ Robert Oppenheimer and the political will of General Leslie Groves, the two men responsible for the overall plan to build the first atomic weapon