History Logo
ShowsThis Day In HistoryScheduleTopicsStories
  • History Classics
  • Live TV
  • Your Profile
Your Profile
History
  • Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
  • Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
  • Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
  • Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
  • Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
Email Updates
  • Live TV
  • History Classics
  • Shows
  • This Day In History
  • Schedule
  • Topics
  • Stories
  • Videos
  • History Podcasts
  • History Vault
  • Shop
  • History Travel

Nuclear Weapons

Topics

See All

Thermonuclear explosion at Bikini Atoll, March 1954. The unexpected spread of fallout from the test led to awareness of, and research into, radioactive pollution.

Featured

Atomic Bomb History

Nuclear Bombs and Hydrogen Bombs A discovery by nuclear physicists in a laboratory in Berlin, Germany, in 1938 made the first atomic bomb possible, after Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassman discovered nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, the nucleus of an atom of radioactive material splits into two or more smaller nuclei, which causes […]

Read moreRead more about Atomic Bomb History
Manhattan Project The giant 44 acre K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, where the uranium for the first atomic weapon was produced. 1945. The town of Oak Ridge was established by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Clinton Engineer Works in 1942 on isolated farm land as part of the Manhattan Project. The site was chosen for the X-10 Graphite Reactor, used to show that plutonium can be extracted from enriched uranium. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

Manhattan Project

America Declares War The agencies leading up to the Manhattan Project were first formed in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after U.S. intelligence operatives reported that scientists working for Adolf Hitler were already working on a nuclear weapon. At first, Roosevelt set up the Advisory Committee on Uranium, a team of scientists and military […]

Read more
Image labeled '4.0 Sec' of the first Nuclear Test, codenamed 'Trinity', conducted by Los Alamos National Laboratory at Alamogordo, New Mexico circa 1945. (Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images).

The Trinity Test

The Manhattan Project Beginning in 1939, some American scientists–many of them refugees of fascist regimes in Europe–advocated the development of ways to use nuclear fission for military purposes. By late 1941, the federal government’s Office of Scientific Research and Development, headed by scientist Vannavar Bush, took control of the project. After the United States entered […]

Read more
HISTORY: The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, World War II

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Manhattan Project Even before the outbreak of war in 1939, a group of American scientists—many of them refugees from fascist regimes in Europe—became concerned with nuclear weapons research being conducted in Nazi Germany. In 1940, the U.S. government began funding its own atomic weapons development program, which came under the joint responsibility of the […]

Read more

Stories

See All

The first Soviet atomic bomb test, 1949. (Credit: Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images)

Featured

8 Spies Who Leaked Atomic Bomb Intelligence to the Soviets

These eight men and women (among others) shared atomic secrets that enabled the Soviet Union to successfully detonate its first nuclear weapon by 1949.

Read moreRead more about 8 Spies Who Leaked Atomic Bomb Intelligence to the Soviets
The Unsung Black Scientists of the Manhattan Project

The Unsung African American Scientists of the Manhattan Project

At least 12 Black chemists and physicists worked as primary researchers on the team that developed the technology behind the atomic bomb.

Read more

Photos: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Before and After the Bombs

Before the 1945 atomic blasts, they were thriving cities. In a flash, they became desolate wastelands.

Read more
Hiroshima, Then Nagasaki: Why the US Deployed the Second A-Bomb

Hiroshima, Then Nagasaki: Why the US Deployed the Second A-Bomb

The explicit reason was to swiftly end the war with Japan. But it was also intended to send a message to the Soviets.

Read more

This Day in History

See All

1983

The journal “Science” publishes first report on nuclear winter

Inventions & Science
1995

Russia activates its nuclear command systems for the first time

Cold War
1987

Superpowers agree to reduce nuclear arsenals

Cold War
1945

The first atomic bomb test is successfully exploded

World War II
1990

George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev agree to end production of chemical weapons

Cold War
1986

Test triggers nuclear disaster at Chernobyl

Natural Disasters & Environment
A+E NetworksOur Family of Brands
  • History Education
  • History Vault
  • Mobile/Apps
  • News
  • Shop
  • Share Your Opinion
Follow History
  • d
  • e
  • p
  • m
  • +
  • Biography
  • Crime and Investigation
  • History en Espanol
  • LRW
  • Military History
  • Ad Choices
  • Advertise WIth Us
  • Accessibility Support
  • Copyright Policy
  • Corporate Information
  • Employment Opportunities
  • FAQ/Contact Us
  • Privacy Notice
  • Cookie Notice
  • Terms Of Use
  • TV Parental Guidelines
  • Contact Us
  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Ad Choices
  • Accessibility Support

© 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.