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Klaus Fuchs
British physicist Klaus Fuchs gives his agent Alexander Feklisov a detailed description of the "classical super", a design to build the hydrogen bomb. -
"Layer Cake"
Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov begins development. "Layer Cake" was a concept for the hydrogen bomb. -
Lewis Strauss writes to President Truman
Atomic Energy Commissioner Lewis Strauss writes to President Truman urging him to give highest priority to hydrogen bomb development. -
Hydrogen Bomb Decision
President Truman announces his decision to develop the hydrogen bomb. -
Opposition
Twelve leading U.S. physicists, including Hans Bethe, speak out against President Truman's decision to build the hydrogen bomb. -
Design Flaws
U.S. mathematicians Stanislaw Ulam and Cornelius Everett conclude their calculations on Edward Teller's design. The plan appears not to work. -
New Design
U.S. mathematician Stanislaw Ulam proposes radically new design for the hydrogen bomb. Edward Teller embraces and refines the concept. -
The "George" Test
U.S. conducts the "George" test in the Pacific. A large fission bomb that triggers the first thermonuclear reaction. -
Marshall Holloway
U.S. physicist Marshall Holloway is named leader of hydrogen bomb project. -
"Hurricane"
First British nuclear test, code-named "Hurricane," is conducted off the northwest coast of Australia. -
United States Tests First Hydrogen Bomb
The United States detonates the first thermonuclear bomb on Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. -
Arrest of Lavrentii Beria
Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the Communist party, authorizes arrest of Lavrentii Beria, head of the secret police and the Soviet bomb project. -
"Operation Big Stick"
General Edmundson leads "Operation Big Stick." The mission requires him to take twenty B-36s, armed with nuclear weapons, to Okinawa in Japan. -
USSR Announcement of H-Bomb
Soviet Premier Georgii Malenkov announces that the USSR possesses a hydrogen bomb. -
First Soviet Thermonuclear Test
First test of a Soviet thermonuclear device (Andrei Sakharov's "Layer Cake") takes place. -
Oppenheimer Hearing
President Eisenhower orders a "blank wall" be placed between U.S. physicist Robert Oppenheimer and atomic secrets, after Oppenheimer is accused of being a Soviet spy -
"Bravo"
"Bravo" hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific, at Bikini Atoll. -
Oppenheimer Hearings Cont.
Atomic Energy Commissioners vote against U.S. physicist Robert Oppenheimer and uphold withdrawal of security clearance. -
Soviet Military Exercise
44,000 Soviet troops take part in a military exercise involving
the dropping of an atomic bomb. -
UN Conference
In Geneva, the first UN conference begins on the peaceful use of atomic energy. -
Soviet Two Stage Weapon Test
First Soviet thermonuclear bomb is dropped in Kazakhstan from an aircraft in test, with a force equivalent to 1.6 megatons of TNT. -
US Opposition to Nuclear Disarmament
U.S. explains its opposition to nuclear disarmament at UN stating that atomic weapons are a "powerful deterrent to war." -
SIOP 62
The Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff complete SIOP 62. This war plan calls for the launch of more than 3,000 nuclear weapons to attack in the first few hours of conflict, targeting 1,000 separate targets in the Communist bloc. -
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
The treaty goes into effect.
