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After being convinced by several scientists escaping Europe that Germany may be developing a nuclear weapon (they were not) FDR approves the Manhattan Project. This project was to develop a nuclear weapon to be used against Germany.
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Enrico Fermi, an Italian physicist, starts a graphite pile that was built by him and his colleagues underneath the squash court at the University of Chicago. It was constructed fo uranium and graphite blocks in what was called a pile (it wasnt called a nuclear reactor until 1956). What resulted was the first man-made self sustaning nuclear chain reaction.
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After severall years of work, the Los Alamos Labritory (part of the Manhattan Project in charge of development) detonates Trinity, the first nuclear weapon. The device is an implosion device with a yield of 21KT detonated in the New Mexico desert.
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Little Boy, a gun type device, detonates over the Japanese city of Hiroshima killing about 100,000 people. It was also the first Atomic bomb to be used in war.
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Fat Man, an implosion device like Trinity, detonates over Nagasaki killing roughly another 100,000 people. The explosion had a yield fo about 22 KT and effectively ended the war. It was the second and last nuclear weapon to be used in war.
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Russia tests RDS-1 (Joe-1 to US), a Fat Man replica. Detected by flights over Russia with specially equiped planes.
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Brits tested a Fat Man replica (Operation Hurricane?) on a ship west of Australia.
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Ivy Mike is detonated on Enewetak Atol with a yeild of 10.4 MT. The detonation vaporized the island it was on and was more than 1000 times more powerful than Little Boy
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Castle Brovo is detonated at Bikini Atol. Although it had an expected yield of 5 MT, the actuall yeild was 15 MT making it the largest American nuclear test... on accident. Radioactive debris from the test showered a Japanese fishing boat crewed by 24 men (one later died), which infuriated the Japanese.
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RDS-37 caught Russia back up with the US. The blast yield was dialed back to 1.6 MT. Even so, killed 3 observors when a building collapsed at a "safe" distance.
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The Brits tested Green Granite in Operation Grapple on Christmas Island.
Yield: 300 KT -
Blue Jeroba is detonated in the african sahara surrounded by the Algerian War. It was also the only Nuclear test to occur in 1960. Yield: 70KT
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Tsar Bomba (Big Ivan to its creatiors) was designed only as a ploy to scare the Americans, not to actually be a useful weapon. Although it was designed to have a yeild of 100 MT, it was dialed back to 50 MT. Even after this cut, the shockwave broke windows in Finland. It remains as the largest man-made explosion ever.
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Codenamed 596, the first chinese test was an implosion model.
Yield: 22KT -
Chinas first H-bomb is detonated just 2 years 2 months in Western China with a force of more than 150 times the power of Little Boy.
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India tests a bomb and reported a yeild of 12-15 KT.
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Closes the testing to date for the USSR/Russia. Official count: 715 tests (estimated 969 actuall devices)
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Britain finishes with "just" 45 tests.
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This test signaled the end of an era from July 16, 1945 to September 23, 1993. Official count: 1054 tests, 2 attacks (estimated 1151 actuall devices.
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France ends with a count of 210 tests
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North Korea detonates a bomb with an estimated yeild of less than 1 KT. The explosion was confirmed by seisomographs picking up the shockwave from the underground test.
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Reports say North Korea detonated an underground atomic bomb as strong as Little Boy.
