History
History
This section provides an overview of the history of the Manhattan Project, the key organizations involved, the science behind the bomb, and more.
Pakistani Nuclear Program
Amid a bitter rivalry with India, Pakistan became a nuclear power after testing its first bombs in 1998.
Peaceful Nuclear Innovations
Nuclear science has many peaceful implications for science and technology.
Plutonium
Plutonium was first produced and isolated on December 14, 1940 at the University of California, Berkeley.
Post-Cold War World
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 created a number of problems for the international community with regards to nuclear weapons.
Potsdam: The Crossroads of Atomic Science and International Diplomacy
The Potsdam Conference was attended by representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union in July 1945.
Project Alberta
Project Alberta, also known as Project A, was a division of the Manhattan Project created to plan and carry out all the necessary steps for making the atomic bombs operational.
Project Silverplate
Project "Silverplate" was the code name for the program to produce a special version of the B-29 capable of delivering the atomic bomb.
Provisional Engineer Detachment
Members of the Provisional Engineer Detachment (PED) played an integral part in the construction, operation, and maintenance of the “Secret City” of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa
After World War II, the tension between communist and democratic forms of government strained relations between the Soviet Union and the United States and provided the ideological underpinnings of the Cold War. These tensions almost boiled over into full on conflict several times, especially as nuclear arms proliferation and testing advanced rapidly during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both nations found it critical to expand their spheres of influence, largely by promoting leadership in the “Third World” that would be sympathetic to their causes.