Events
German troops occupy Norway,
seizing the world's only heavy-water
production plant at Vemork.Frisch and Rudolf Peierls submit
a memorandum to the British
government estimating the critical
mass of uranium 235 needed for an
atomic bomb and urging a bomb research project.German scientists fail to observe
neutron multiplication in the reactor i
n Hamburg.Using the Berkeley cyclotron,
Philip Abelson and Edwin McMillan
demonstrate that neutrons captured
by uranium 238 lead to the creation of elements 93 and 94, neptunium and plutonium.Based on experiments with a
natural uranium reactor, the
Germans reject graphite as a moderator.Glenn Seaborg discovers new
element (atomic number 94), which
they call plutonium.American physicists confirm that
plutonium is fissionable, thus
usable for a bomb.British 'MAUD' Committee reports
that a weapon could be made with
22 pounds of pure uranium 235.President Roosevelt authorizes
the Manhattan Engineering District.
The secret U.S. project to build an
atomic bomb, later to be called the
Manhattan Project, is put under the direction
of the Office of Scientific Research and Development.Brigadier General Leslie Groves
is put in charge of the Manhattan
Project. He recruits J. Robert Oppenheimer
as Scientific Director.Construction of a uranium
isotope separation plant begins
at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.Enrico Fermi at the University
of Chicago produces the world's
first controlled and sustained nuclear
fission reaction.Planning begins for construction of
reactors at Hanford, Washington, to
breed plutonium for a bomb.Oppenheimer moves the bomb
development to a secret laboratory
located at Los Alamos, New Mexico.Bohr presents his memorandum
on intentional control of nuclear
weapons to Roosevelt.First batch of spent fuel obtained
from Hanford reactors.The ALSOS mission obtains documents
implying that the German's rate of
progress toward a bomb had diminished.First plutonium reprocessing
begins at Hanford.First uranium 235 separated
at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.The Franck Report is sent to
Secretary of War Stimson.U.S. explodes the world's first atomic
bomb, the Trinity test, at Alamogordo, New Mexico.Little Boy, an uranium bomb,
was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
Between 80,000 - 140,000 people are killed.Fat Man, a plutonium bomb, was
dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
About 74,000 people are killed.Bernard Baruch presents the
Acheson-Lilienthal plan to internationalize
the atomic energy. It is rejected by the U.S.S.R.First subsurface detonation
by U.S. is achieved at Bikini Atoll
in the Pacific.Demonstrations are held in
Times Square, New York, against
nuclear testing.President Harry S. Truman
signs the Atomic Energy Act. Its
purpose is to control the development
and production of nuclear weapons and
to direct the research and development
of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.The Soviet Union achieves its
first nuclear chain reaction in
Moscow.Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) takes over nuclear
weapons program from the Army.The United Kingdom
authorizes the development
of nuclear weapons.Under the direction
of William Penney, the UK
begins design of its plutonium
bomb.The United Kingdom
builds its first atomic reactor.NATO established.Soviet Union detonates its first
atomic bomb, Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk in
Kazakhstan. It is a copy of the
Fat Man bomb and has a yield of 21 kilotons.General Advisory Committee of the
AEC recommends that the more
powerful atomic bombs should be
built rather than hydrogen bombs.Germany, Italy, and Japan sign
the Tripartite Pact creating the
Axis Alliance.Germany and the Axis Powers
attack Russia with a huge force
of over four million troops.The Japanese attack the US Navy
in Pearl Harbor. The next day the US
enters World War II on the side of the Allies.The US Navy defeats the Japanese
navy at the Battle of Midway, first
defeat in 350 years.D-day and the Normandy invasion.
Allied forces invade France and push
back the Germans.D-day and the Normandy invasion.
Allied forces invade France and push
back the Germans.US President Franklin Roosevelt
dies. He is succeeded by President
Harry Truman.Adolf Hitler commits suicide
as he knows Germany has lost
the war.Germany surrenders
to the allies.Japan surrenders to US general
Douglass MacArthur and the Allies.Americans declared neutrality in
the European war, due to skepticim
of the Allied propaganda.Japan and Russia sign a neutrality.The US extends aid to the Soviet Union.Germany and Italy declare war on the US.As more than 40,000 Japanese
troops come ashore north of Manila,
American general Douglas MacArthur
orders a retreat to Bataan.U.S. War and Navy Departments
announce that commanders of the
forces in Hawaii at the time of the Pearl
Harbor attack will be court-martialed for dereliction of duty.In the first American raid on
the Japanese mainland, 16 B-25
carrier-launched bombers led by
Lt. Col. James Doolittle strike Tokyo,
Kobe, Yokohama, Nagoya and Yokosuka.A Japanese submarine shells the
military depot at Fort Stevens, Oregon
in the first attack on the U.S. mainland.US wins at Battle of the Bismarck Sea and forces Japanese to add submarines.US P-38 Lightning pilot intercepts
the bomber carrying Japanese Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto and shot it down.Japanese launch last and largest
Banzai charge into American Lines.Americans attack Japanese installations in Manila.Americans attack Japanese in Manila.American fire bombers come to
Japanese Cities and hundreds of
Napalm bombs were dropped over
multiple days.Japanese sign ceremonial surrender
terms aboard the USS Missouri.Periods
U.S. conducts atomic tests
at Eniwetok Atoll.
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