Welcome to the Atomic Archive. This site explores the complex history surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb - a crucial turning point for all mankind. AJ Software & Multimedia presents this site as an online companion to its latest CD-ROM, Atomic Archive: Enhanced Edition.
Contents
This Month In Atomic History
| 1939 | August 2 - Szilard, Wigner, and Teller obtain a letter from Einstein on the possibility of a uranium weapon; Roosevelt receives the letter on October 11, 1939 from Sachs. More>> |
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| 1944 | August 26 - Bohr presents his memorandum on intentional control of nuclear weapons to Roosevelt. More>> |
| 1945 |
August 6 - "Little Boy"- an uranium atomic bomb, was dropped on Hiroshima killing over 140,000 people. More>> August 9 - "Fat Man"-a plutonium atomic bomb, was dropped on Nagasaki killing over 75,000 people. More>> |
| 1949 | August 29 - First Soviet detonation, at Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan. More>> |
| 1953 | August 12 - First Soviet fusion device exploded on a tower in Siberia. More>> |
| 1963 | August 5 - Limited Test Ban Treaty signed. More>> |
| 1995 | August - The U.S. announces a total ban on all U.S. nuclear weapon testing. |
| 2000 |
August 12- Russian nuclear submarine Kursk -- carrying a crew of 118 -- sank in the icy waters of the Barents Sea August 21- Norwegian and British deep-sea divers open the submarine's rear escape hatches only to find the chamber inside flooded. No survivors found on Russian sub; rescue called off. |
Latest News
A Visit to the Atomic Testing Museum
The museum, a partnership between the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation and the Desert Research Institute, is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and is located just east of the Las Vegas strip. The goal of the museum is to preserve and foster public accessibility to the history associated with the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and the Nation's nuclear weapons testing program. To learn more, click here.
Cold War: A Brief History
For more than forty years, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union directly threatened each other with nuclear weapons. This period of time is referred to as The Cold War. This section explores the major events of this period including; the development of the hydrogen bomb, the nuclear arms race, détente, nuclear proliferation and the nuclear world after the end of the Cold War. To learn more, click here.
