"Manhattan Project" is a 1985 song by Canadian progressive rock band Rush, named for the WWII project that created the first atomic bomb. The song appeared on Rush's eleventh studio album Power Windows in 1985. "Manhattan Project" is the third track on the album and clocks in at 5:07. It was released as a single (also in 1985) and reached #10 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart.

Lyricist Neil Peart read "a pile of books" about the Manhattan Project before writing the lyrics so that he had a proper understanding of what the project was really about. The song consists of four verses, addressing the following:

1) A time, during the era of World War II,
2) A man, a scientist (such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the assumed scientist),
3) A place, Los Alamos in New Mexico,
4) A man, Enola Gay, the bomber, and pilot and mission commander Paul Tibbets.

The chorus refers to the explosion as "the big bang", in allusion to the start of a new universe following the singular event, although the absolute reference is the use of Fat Man and Little Boy, America's two nuclear bombs to bring an end to the Pacific conflict with Japan ("shot down the rising sun"), which only happened after both were dropped, repeating the theme of the verses marking when and/or where "it all began."

Rush performed the song live on their Power Windows Tour, Hold Your Fire Tour, and Presto Tour before it was dropped. It was brought back live over twenty years later on the Clockwork Angels Tour where the band played it with a string ensemble.

Live performances of the song are included on the A Show of Hands concert film, the live album of the same name, and on the Clockwork Angels Tour live album and concert film.

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