When was the first nuclear weapon created?
21785#52
Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the Manhattan Project were divided over the use of the weapon. The role of the two atomic bombings of the country in Japan's surrender and the U.S.'s ethical justification for them has been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades. The question of whether nations should have nuclear weapons, or test them, has been continually and nearly universally controversial.Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were conducted at various sites around the world from 1945 to 1980. Radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing was first drawn to public attention in 1954 when the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test at the Pacific Proving Grounds contaminated the crew and catch of the Japanese fishing boat "Lucky Dragon". One of the fishermen died in Japan seven months later, and the fear of contaminated tuna led to a temporary boycotting of the popular staple in Japan. The incident caused widespread concern around the world, especially regarding the effects of nuclear fallout and atmospheric nuclear testing, and "provided a decisive impetus for the emergence of the anti-nuclear weapons movement in many countries".
Nuclear weapon
242883#3
In January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and it quickly became unsafe for Jewish scientists to remain in the country. Leó Szilárd fled to London where he proposed, and in 1934 patented, the idea of a nuclear chain reaction via neutrons. The patent also introduced the term critical mass to describe the minimum amount of material required to sustain the chain reaction and its potential to cause an explosion. (British patent 630,726.) He subsequently assigned the patent to the British Admiralty so that it could be covered by the Official Secrets Act. In a very real sense, Szilárd was the father of the atomic bomb academically.
Also in 1934, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie discovered that artificial radioactivity could be induced in stable elements by bombarding them with alpha particles; Enrico Fermi reported similar results when bombarding uranium with neutrons.
History of nuclear weapons
42195952#3
The novel then goes back in time to 1898, when the Marie Curie and her husband discover radioactivity. The story presents a brief timeline that continues up into the 1930s, when James Chadwick discovers neutrons and the discovery of nuclear fission. The novel takes a shift, and begins to discuss the political environment. Leo Szilard becomes troubled as he sees the dangers that these nuclear weapons could produce, and travels with Eugene Wigner to talk with Albert Einstein about the possibility of Nazi scientists creating a bomb. News soon reaches the United States president, who authorizes the precursor to the Manhattan Project. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States founds covertly Los Alamos National Laboratory and other cities to create nuclear weapons. The scientists and their families are sworn to secrecy. Soon, the scientists at Los Alamos discover how to create a nuclear chain reaction, leading to the development of the first atomic weapons: Little Boy and Fat Man.
Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb
22158#2
Research into the development of nuclear weapons was initially undertaken during World War II by the United States (in cooperation with the United Kingdom and Canada), Germany, Japan, and the USSR. The United States was the first and is the only country to have used a nuclear weapon in war, when it used two bombs against Japan in August 1945. After surrendering to end the war, Germany and Japan ceased to be involved in any nuclear weapon research. In August 1949, the USSR tested a nuclear weapon, becoming the second country to detonate a nuclear bomb. The United Kingdom first tested a nuclear weapon in October 1952. France first tested a nuclear weapon in 1960. The People's Republic of China detonated a nuclear weapon in 1964. India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, which prompted Pakistan to develop its own nuclear program and, when India conducted a second series of nuclear tests in 1998, Pakistan followed with a series of tests of its own. In 2006, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test.
Nuclear proliferation
38404161#4
The United Kingdom became a nuclear power in 1952, and their nuclear arsenal peaked at just under 500 nuclear weapons in 1981. France became a nuclear power in 1960, and French nuclear stockpiles peaked at just over 500 nuclear weapons in 1992. China developed its first nuclear weapon in 1964; its nuclear stockpile increased until the early 1980s, when it stabilized at between 200 and 260. India became a nuclear power in 1974, while Pakistan developed its first nuclear weapon in the 1980s. India and Pakistan currently have around one hundred nuclear weapons each. Pakistan's nuclear stockpile has increased rapidly, and it is speculated that Pakistan might have more nuclear weapons than the United Kingdom within a decade.
Historical nuclear weapons stockpiles and nuclear tests by country
41468251#39
Some other types of weapons outlined and developed during the 1950—60s were designed as carriers for nuclear weapons – among them, the Saab A36, a strategic bomber, Bandkanon 1, a 155 mm artillery piece, and Robot 08, an anti-ship missile. These claims have been circulating since the times when the defense studies were still classified. There were certainly first drafts concerning the physical shape of Swedish nuclear weapon when the Saab A36 was under development, but the project A36 was soon abandoned in favor of the Saab AJ 37 Viggen when the first detailed military (rather than merely physical or technical) studies were conducted in 1961–62. Thus, even if the A36 was not designed to be an integral part of the nuclear weapons program itself, it was constructed specifically as a nuclear weapons carrier. A36 pilots were to specialize in this task.
Swedish nuclear weapons program
1917497#0
The nuclear weapons debate refers to the controversies surrounding the threat, use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the Manhattan Project were divided over the use of the weapon. The only time nuclear weapons have been used in warfare was during the final stages of World War II when United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945. The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender and the U.S.'s ethical justification for them have been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades.
Nuclear disarmament refers both to the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world. Proponents of disarmament typically condemn a priori the threat or use of nuclear weapons as immoral and argue that only total disarmament can eliminate the possibility of nuclear war. Critics of nuclear disarmament say that it would undermine deterrence and make conventional wars more likely, more destructive, or both. The debate becomes considerably complex when considering various scenarios for example, total vs partial or unilateral vs multilateral disarmament.
Nuclear weapons debate
40463147#12
North Korea replied in regard to the nuclear issue in order to draw attention to the “unique security environment” that is threatened and blackmailed by the largest nuclear state. It sought to draw attention to certain points: In 1957 the United States introduced the first nuclear weapon into South Korea and thus began a presence of nuclear weapon in the land; in the 1970s the number of nuclear weapons reached over 1,000 on the Korean Peninsula alone and thereby made the Korean peninsula the most densely populated nuclear weapons zone; in 2002 the U.S. administration named the D.P.R.K. as part of the axis of evil and gave a “strong message” to the entire international community that the country is to be eliminated; and the “same administration” listed the D.P.R.K. onto its list of nuclear pre-emptive strikes and that, compounded with all these nuclear weapons, the U.S. and South Korea “every year take part in military drills as mentioned several times in the current session. In March 2013 when the situation was almost on the brink of war and it was the time when the international community realised how dangerous the situation was, [which] means [an] outbreak of nuclear war.” This also occurred with a massive arms build-up of nuclear weapons carried by the aircraft carrier , submarines and the B52 across the ocean. These events were viewed as blackmail and culminated in threatening the survival of the Korean nation as a whole (north and south). As a result of the unique security environment, the D.P.R.K. has no option but to go nuclear to defend its people and not allow “nuclear weapons to drop over the hills of the people. The nuclear deterrent made a great contribution to lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula and the world.” In addition, in accord with “the last speaker,” North Korea made a few more points: Israel has no justification to talk of another country as a full-fledged nuclear state; it is a “cancer in middle east;” it is “disturbing peace and security and shifting blame on all other regional countries;” and Israel and the U.S. are “making noise” about the D.P.RK. but are “mum and quiet and silent over the nuclear weapon of Israel.
General debate of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly
22153#9
In the United States, where Fermi and Szilárd had both emigrated, the discovery of the nuclear chain reaction led to the creation of the first man-made reactor, the research reactor known as Chicago Pile-1, which achieved self-sustaining power/criticality on December 2, 1942. The reactor's development was part of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to create atomic bombs during World War II. It led to the building of larger single-purpose production reactors, such as the X-10 Pile, for the production of weapons-grade plutonium for use in the first nuclear weapons. The United States tested the first nuclear weapon in July 1945, the Trinity test, with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki taking place one month later.
Nuclear power
7639155#74
In August 1939, Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein sent the Einstein–Szilárd letter to Roosevelt, warning of the possibility of a German project to develop nuclear weapons. Szilard realized that the recently discovered process of nuclear fission could be used to create a nuclear chain reaction that could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Roosevelt feared the consequences of allowing Germany to have sole possession of the technology, and authorized preliminary research into nuclear weapons. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt administration secured the funds needed to continue research and selected General Leslie Groves to oversee the Manhattan Project, which was charged with developing the first nuclear weapons. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to jointly pursue the project with the Quebec Agreement, and Roosevelt helped ensure that American scientists cooperated with their British counterparts.
Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
10979#73
In August 1939, Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein sent the Einstein–Szilárd letter to Roosevelt, warning of the possibility of a German project to develop nuclear weapons. Szilard realized that the recently discovered process of nuclear fission could be used to create a nuclear chain reaction that could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Roosevelt feared the consequences of allowing Germany to have sole possession of the technology, and authorized preliminary research into nuclear weapons. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt administration secured the funds needed to continue research and selected General Leslie Groves to oversee the Manhattan Project, which was charged with developing the first nuclear weapons. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to jointly pursue the project, and Roosevelt helped ensure that American scientists cooperated with their British counterparts.
Franklin D. Roosevelt