Smyth was commissioned to write the report by Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., the director of the Manhattan Project. The Smyth Report was the first official account of the development of the atomic bombs and the basic physical processes behind them. It also served as an indication as to what information was declassified; anything in the Smyth Report could be discussed openly. For this reason, the Smyth Report focused heavily on information, such as basic nuclear physics, which was either already widely known in the scientific community or easily deducible by a competent scientist, and omitted details about chemistry, metallurgy, and ordnance. This would ultimately give a false impression that the Manhattan Project was all about physics.

Also known as the "Smyth report."

Introduction -- Statement of the problem -- Administrative history up to December 1941 -- Progress up to December 1941 -- Administrative history 1942-1945 -- The metallurgical project at Chicago in 1942 -- The plutonium production problem as of February 1943 -- The plutonium problem, January 1943 to June 1945 -- General discussion of the separation of isotopes -- The separation of the uranium isotopes by gaseous diffusion -- Electromagnetic separation of uranium isotopes -- The work on the atomic bomb -- General summary.