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| | | Atomic Timeline - Definition This timeline relates to the events leading to the development of nuclear weapons which derive destructive energy from the release of atomic energy in nuclear weapons and atomic bombs. At the beginning of the 20th century scientists realized the atom could be split and the atom's elementary building blocks the electron, proton, and neutron were mapped which led to the discovery of nuclear fission transforming the atom into a new and powerful source of energy. | |
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| | 1704 | Isaac Newton: modelled the atom using billiard balls | |
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| | 1789 | Martin Heinrich Klaproth discovered Uranium. | |
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| | 1862 | Mechanical submarine invented by NarcĂs Monturiol i Estarriol | |
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| | 1866 | Dynamite invented by Alfred Nobel | |
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| | 1869 | Mendeleev produces the Periodic Table | |
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| | 1873 | James Clerk Maxwell: introduced the electro magnetic field around atoms | |
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| | 1885 | The Balmer series - light was shot through hydrogen and the light spectrum that came from it was studied | |
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| | 1887 | Heinrich Hertz: discovered radio (electric waves) | |
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| | 1895 | Roentgen discovers X-rays. Cloud chamber for tracking charged particles is invented | |
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| | 1896 | Henry Becquerel: finds radioactivity | |
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| | 1897 | J.J. Thompson: discovered electrons using cathode rays, showed that glowing matter wasn't light waves | |
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| | 1898 | Pierre and Marie Curie discover the first radioactive elements: radium and polonium | |
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| | 1899 | E. Rutherford: publishes discoveries on radiation, including alpha and beta particles | |
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| | 1900 | Planck develops quantum theory | |
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| | 1903 | Rutherford and Soddy work on spontaneous decay and radioactivity, half lives and the amount of energy released | |
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| | 1905 | Albert Einstein introduces his special theory of relativity and the mathematical formula E=mc2, or energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared, which demonstrates that mass can be converted into energy | |
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| | 1911 | George von Hevesy conceives the idea of using radioactive tracers | |
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| | 1913 | Niels Bohr introduced the first atom model, the mini solar system | |
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| | 1926 | Robert Goddard experiments with liquid-fueled rockets. | |
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| | 1932 | The Neutron is discovered. James Chadwick exposes the metal beryllium to alpha particles and discovers the neutron
Ernest O. Lawrence and M. Stanley Livingston publish the first article on "the production of high speed light ions without the use of high voltages." | |
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| | 1934 | Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie discover artificial radioactivity | |
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| | 1937 | 5-million-volt Van de Graaff generator built and used as a particle accelerator in atom smashing
Alan Turing develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine | |
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| | 1938 | German scientists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, demonstrate nuclear fission | |
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| | 1939 | 1939 Atomic Timeline - September - WW2 starts September 1, 1939
1939-1945 Manhattan Project. The top-secret atomic energy program, known as the Manhattan Project, employed scientists under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer to develop the first transportable atomic bomb and produce the plutonium and uranium-235 necessary for nuclear fission | |
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| | 1942 | December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi achieves a controlled nuclear chain reaction with a demonstration reactor, called the Chicago Pile 1 | |
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| | 1945 | Atomic Timeline August - 1945 - August 6: The United States drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima - ( US B29 Super fortress bomber, called the 'Enola Gay') A 20 kiloton bomb 'Little Boy' kills 80,000
- August 9: The United States drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki in Japan (US Superfortress 'Bockscar' bomb was called Fat -Man) The 22 kiloton 'Fat Man' bomb killed 70,000 people)
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| | 1954 | Atomic Energy Act of 1954 - The U.S. Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 allowing the Atomic Energy Commission to license private companies to use nuclear materials and build nuclear power plants
First nuclear power plant begins operation in the Obninsk Scientific Center, Russia | |
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| | 1955 | The USS Nautilus SSN 571 - the first nuclear-powered submarine | |
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| | 1957 | The United States sets off first underground nuclear test in a mountain tunnel in the desert 100 miles from Las Vegas
Radiation is released when the graphite core of the Windscale nuclear reactor in England catches fire
The first U.S. large-scale nuclear power plant begins operating in Shippingport, Pennsylvania | |
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| | 1965 | The first nuclear reactor is operated from outer space | |
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| | 1979 | Three Mile Island incident resulted in a partial meltdown of the core but only a minor release of radioactive material into the atmosphere | |
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| | 1986 | Chernobyl - The Chernobyl nuclear disaster exposed millions of people to radioactive isotopes | |
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