http://www.atomicarchive.com/ atomicarchive.com explores the complex history surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb. en-us http://backend.userland.com/rss webmaster@atomicarchive.com (Chris Griffith) webmaster@atomicarchive.com (Chris Griffith) http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/docs/41naz.html The heavy water production plant, Norsk-Hydro, at Vemork, Norway was captured by German troops. Heavy water was required to conduct nuclear fission experiments and denial of the Norwegian plant's output would cripple the German atomic bomb research effort. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/FrischPeierls.shtml Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls submit a memorandum to the British government estimating the critical mass of uranium 235 needed for an atomic bomb and urging a bomb research project. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/oppy_index.shtml At the height of McCarthyism, Oppenheimer's politics during the 1930s came under scrutiny and ultimately led to his undoing at the hands of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1953. He asked for a security hearing to review the charges, which went on for four weeks and heard testimony from 40 witnesses including Oppenheimer. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page10.shtml This was Britain's first test of a radiation implosion thermonuclear bomb design. The device, named Green Granite Small, weighed 10,000 lbs and used a modified Red Beard primary (called "Tom") and a lead-encased lithium deuteride secondary (called "Dick"). Most of the yield was from the secondary, providing evidence of successful radiation implosion, but the yield was far below the predicted value (about 1 megaton was expected). Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty9.shtml SALT I is the common name for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks from 1969-1972 between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which resulted in a number of agreements relating to the offensive nuclear arsenals of the two nations, the arms race. SALT I is also used as a short-hand for the interim treaty resulting from the talks. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page17.shtml India conducted its first nuclear detonation, described by India as a "peaceful nuclear explosion." This test, which may have only been partially successful, demonstrated a claimed yield of perhaps 12 kilotons. It is reported that Western intelligence estimated the probable yield at 4-6 kilotons. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty11.shtml President Gerald Ford and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev sign the Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes (PNE) Treaty. It prohibits peaceful nuclear explosions which were not covered by the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT), with yields exceeding 150 kilotons. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Reports/India/index.shtml On May 11, 1998, India shocked the world by conducting three underground nuclear tests in the Rajasthan Desert in western India. Two days later, India conducted two more sub-kiloton tests. Pakistan further increased global tensions when they conducted five nuclear tests on May 28. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01 http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty21.shtml Bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Russia. each country would be limited to 1,700 to 2,200 strategic nuclear warheads. Chris Griffith 2008-05-01