Posted on
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Enrico Fermi nearly discovers nuclear fission while bombarding uranium with neutrons. The sample was wrapped in aluminium foil, preventing him from detecting the splitting of the atom
Soviet Union (USSR) tests its first atomic bomb
The first nuclear reactor to provide electricity to a national grid opens in Calder Hall, England
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| Albert Einstein |
1905
E = mc2, Albert Einstein establishes equivalence of mass and energy
1911
Ernest Rutherford probes the structure of the atom
1932
James Chadwick discovers neutrons
1934
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| Enrico Fermi |
1941
Manhattan Project begins at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US
1942
Manhattan Project achieves first controlled nuclear fission reaction in a basement in Chicago, US
1945
16 July - first atomic bomb is tested in Los Alamos
6 August - US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
9 August - US drops another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan
1949
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| Atomic Bomb |
1952
The world's first hydrogen bomb is tested by the US on a remote Pacific Ocean atoll. The nuclear fusion device is 500 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki
The United Kingdom detonates its first atomic bomb
1954
US launches first nuclear-powered submarine
1956
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| First Nuclear Reactor |
1957
United Nations establishes the International Atomic Energy Agency, its nuclear watchdog
1959
US operationally deploys first intercontinental ballistic missile
1960
France tests its first nuclear bomb
1964
China tests its first nuclear bomb
1968
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is signed
1974
India detonates a "non-weapon" nuclear explosion underground
1979
Israel and South Africa suspected of jointly testing a nuclear bomb
A cooling problem causes the meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, US
1980
Last known atmospheric nuclear test is conducted by China
1986
The reactor meltdown and explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the USSR (now Ukraine) becomes the worst nuclear accident in history
1991
The Cold War, which started after World War Two, ends with the collapse of the USSR. Disarmament accords follow during the 1990s, ending the US-Soviet nuclear arms race
1998
India conducts five nuclear weapons tests and Pakistan conducts six
1999
US Senate rejects Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
70 people are exposed to radiation in the Tokaimura nuclear facility in Japan
2002
North Korea claims it has a nuclear weapons programme
2003
North Korea withdraws from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Libya ends its nuclear weapons programme
2004
Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is exposed as supplying a global black-market in nuclear technology
2005
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review meeting in May ends with no agreement
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