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President Roosevelt approves production of the atomic bomb following receipt of a National Academy of Sciences report determining that a bomb is feasible.
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Congress passes the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act authorizing the Bureau of Mines to build energy research laboratories.
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President Roosevelt dies. Harry S. Truman becomes President.
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Los Alamos scientists successfully test a plutonium implosion bomb in the Trinity shot at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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The implosion model plutonium bomb, called Fat Man, is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Five days later, Japan surrenders.
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North Korea invades South Korea. The Korean War begins.
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President Truman approves a $1.4 billion expansion of Atomic Energy Commission facilities to produce uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons.
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The Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 located at the National Reactor Testing Station near Arco, Idaho, produces the first electric power from a nuclear reactor.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated President.
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President Eisenhower delivers the “Atoms for Peace” speech at the United Nations launching efforts to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy both at home and abroad.