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Beginnings of the bomb
In 1938, inside a laboratory in Berlin, Germany, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and Fritz Strassman discovered nuclear fission, which was how nuclear bombs worked. https://www.history.com/articles/atomic-bomb-history -
USA begins to work
The famous scientist, Albert Einstein, sent a letter to US president FDR. He authorizes the Manhattan project. -
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan project was the efforts of many scientists working in secret to create a nuclear bomb out of the fear that the Nazis might get one first. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
After a successful test in New Mexico the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. "Little Boy," as it was called began to prompt Japanese surrender, however, when they did not surrender the US dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, ending the war. https://www.history.com/articles/the-manhattan-project -
Close calls
Crazy facts:
In 1961 two nuclear bombs fell from a US plane on US soil, one bomb landed in a Tabaco field and another parachuted to the ground.
In 1966 a US bomber broke apart mid air and three nukes fell on Spain
In 1968 we accidently dropped a nuke on Greenland. -
Cold war
After the end of WWII a new superpower emerged that made itself rivals with us and made nuclear weapons. The soviet union began to make Intercontinental ballistic missile and the most powerful atomic bomb the tsar bomb. This was the most dangerous times the world had ever seen. https://explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer/document/2326423158?searchid=1748459467&accountid=3541 -
Fall of the USSR
The fall of the Soviet Union (USSR) was a historic landmark, ending the most terrifying part of history and the peak of the atomic age. After Russia, under the control of Boris Yeltsin, seceded from the USSR Gorbachev dissolved the Union. https://explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer/document/2326423158?searchid=1748459467&accountid=3541 -
Doomsday clock
The doomsday clock is measured every year to see how far we are from a nuclear war. We are a few minutes from midnight. Midnight means WWIII. https://www.history.com/articles/the-end-of-civilization-7-moments-in-the-history-of-the-doomsday-clock -
New Nuclear powers
In addition to the USA other countries gained nukes too. Russia received the old nukes from the USSR and made new ones, China and North Korea both gained nukes and dislike us. Pakistan, India, the UK, France, and Israel all have them too. https://explore.proquest.com/sirsdiscoverer/document/2255004874?searchid=1748460220&accountid=3541 -
Atomic bombs today
After the end of WWII other countries began to develop nuclear weapons. The cold war was the peak of the atomic age where the US and the Soviet Union fought to become the worlds greatest superpower. After the fall of the Soviet Union nuclear bombs began to be less scary to us. Now several countries have nuclear weapons and they have become far more powerful. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/70th-anniversary-trinity-test-there-are-16000-nuclear-weapons-world-180955944/