Nuclear Science in World War II
Nuclear Science
World War II accelerated breakthroughs in nuclear physics, transforming theoretical discoveries into unprecedented military power. The discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 demonstrated the immense energy stored within atomic nuclei. Recognizing the potential for catastrophic explosive devices, allied powers launched the Manhattan Project and Britain's Tube Alloys, while Germany initiated its own Uranverein project. Scientists advanced uranium enrichment, plutonium production, and critical mass calculations, culminating in the creation of the first atomic bombs. The successful Trinity test and subsequent deployments over Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war and introduced the nuclear age, permanently altering global diplomacy and warfare.
People
Birth
Death
Origin
Age (Death)
| 1878 | |
|---|---|
| 1879 | |
| 1891 | |
| 1897 | |
| 1897 | |
| 1901 | |
| 1903 | |
| 1904 |
Timeline
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Element |
| Year | Nuclear Science |
|---|---|
| 1878 |
Birth of Lise Meitner (Period: November 7, 1878, Location: Vienna (Austria))
|
| 1879 |
Birth of Otto Hahn (Period: March 8, 1879, Location: Frankfurt am Main (present-day Germany))
|
| 1891 |
Birth of James Chadwick (Period: October 20, 1891, Location: Bollington, Cheshire, England)
|
| 1897 |
Studying Chemistry at the University of Marburg
Birth of John Cockcroft (Period: May 27, 1897, Location: Todmorden, England)
Birth of Patrick Blackett (Period: November 18, 1897, Location: London (Kensington), England)
|
| 1901 |
Birth of Mark Oliphant (Period: October 8, 1901, Location: Adelaide (Kent Town), South Australia, Australia)
|
| 1903 |
Birth of Ernest Walton (Period: October 6, 1903, Location: Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland)
|
| 1904 |
Research under William Ramsay
Birth of Otto Robert Frisch (Period: October 1, 1904, Location: Vienna (present-day Republic of Austria))
|
| 1905 |
Research with Ernest Rutherford
|
| 1907 |
Start of Joint Research with Lise Meitner
|
| 1908 |
Start of Research at the University of Manchester
|
| 1912 |
Appointment as Head of Radioactivity Department at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry (Otto Hahn)
|
| 1913 |
Beta Ray Research in Germany
Marriage (Otto Hahn, Edith Junghans)
|
| 1914 |
World War I
Outbreak of World War I and Internment in Ruhleben
Studying Mathematics at the University of Manchester
Enlistment in the Royal Navy
Battle of Falkland Islands
|
| 1915 |
Interruption of Studies and Military Service due to World War I
Studies at Methodist College Belfast
Second Battle of Ypres and Participation in Chemical Warfare
|
| 1916 |
Battle of Jutland
|
| 1917 |
Discovery of Protactinium
|
| 1919 |
Transition to Electrical Engineering and Work at Metropolitan-Vickers
Studying Physics at the University of Cambridge
Start of Physics Research at the University of Adelaide
|
| 1920 |
Nuclear Research at the Cavendish Laboratory
|
| 1921 |
Doctorate at the University of Cambridge (James Chadwick)
Research under Rutherford
Discovery of Nuclear Isomerism
|
| 1922 |
Irish Civil War
Postponement of University Entrance Examination due to Irish Civil War (Ernest Walton)
Admission to Trinity College Dublin (Ernest Walton)
Studying Physics at the University of Vienna
|
| 1923 |
Appointment as Professor at King's College Cambridge (Patrick Blackett)
|
| 1924 |
Admission to the University of Cambridge
Marriage (Patrick Blackett, Constansa Bayon)
|
| 1925 |
Demonstration of Artificial Nuclear Transmutation
Marriage to Rosa Wilbraham
Marriage (Mark Oliphant, Rosa Louise Wilbraham)
Marriage (James Chadwick, Aileen Maud Stewart-Brown)
Marriage (John Cockcroft, Eunice Elizabeth Crabtree)
|
| 1927 |
Master's Degree at Trinity College (Ernest Walton)
Start of Research under Rutherford
Transfer to the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Research in Berlin
|
| 1928 |
Development of the Cockcroft-Walton Accelerator
Accelerator Research with Cockcroft
|
| 1930 |
Research with Otto Stern
|
| 1931 |
Doctorate (Ernest Walton)
|
| 1932 |
Success of Artificial Nuclear Transmutation
Construction of Particle Accelerators
Artificial Disintegration of Atomic Nuclei
Nuclear Transmutation by the Cockcroft-Walton Experiment
|
| 1933 |
Appointment as Professor at Birkbeck College (Patrick Blackett)
Discovery of Helium-3 and Tritium
Nuclear Fusion Research
Persecution of Jewish Researchers by the Nazis and Lise Meitner's Exile (Otto Hahn)
Establishment of the Nazi Regime and Expulsion from Germany
Emigration to London (Otto Robert Frisch)
|
| 1934 |
Return to Trinity College Dublin (Ernest Walton)
Uranium Research by Neutron Irradiation
Research at the Institute for Theoretical Physics (Niels Bohr Institute)
Marriage to Winifred Wilson
Marriage (Ernest Walton, Winifred Isabel Wilson)
|
| 1935 |
Nobel Prize in Physics (James Chadwick)
Construction of Cyclotron at the University of Liverpool
|
| 1937 |
Transfer to the University of Manchester
Appointment as Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham
|
| 1938 |
Hughes Medal (Ernest Walton)
Discovery and Naming of Nuclear Fission
Theoretical Interpretation of Nuclear Fission
|
| 1939 |
Participation in the Tube Alloys Project
Radar Research during World War II
Decline of Invitation to Participate in Wartime Research during World War II
Microwave Radar Development
Microwave Radar Research
Nuclear Research during World War II
Research at the University of Birmingham
|
| 1940 |
Liverpool Air Raid and Nuclear Research
MAUD Report
Promotion of Nuclear Reactor Safety
Participation in the MAUD Committee
Anti-Aircraft Defense Research in the Battle of Britain
Operations Research during World War II
Royal Society Royal Medal (Patrick Blackett)
Nuclear Research at the University of Liverpool
Frisch-Peierls Memorandum
Anglo-American Scientific and Technical Cooperation via the Tizard Mission
|
| 1942 |
Convoy Escort Research in the Battle of the Atlantic
|
| 1943 |
Quebec Agreement and British Participation in the Manhattan Project
Participation in the Manhattan Project
Dispatch of British Scientists to the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project at Los Alamos
|
| 1944 |
Montreal Laboratory and Chalk River Reactor Development
Leadership of the Canadian Atomic Energy Research Project
Hahn's Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Otto Hahn)
|
| 1945 |
Knighthood (Francis Bacon)
Activities in the UN Atomic Energy Commission
Post-War Research at the University of Manchester
Promotion of Proton Synchrotron Construction at the University of Birmingham
Participation in Nuclear Abolition and Peace Movements
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Otto Hahn)
Dragon Experiment - World's First Prompt Criticality
Farm Hall Internment
Trinity Nuclear Test
Trinity Test
Witnessing the Trinity Test
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Shift to Nuclear Weapons
|
| 1946 |
Director of the Harwell Atomic Energy Research Establishment
Appointment as Erasmus Smith Professor (Ernest Walton)
President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society
Head of Nuclear Physics Division at Harwell Atomic Energy Research Establishment
|
| 1947 |
Research on Earth's Magnetic Field and Paleomagnetism
Advice on India's Science and Technology Policy
Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Cambridge
|
| 1948 |
Appointment as Master of Gonville and Caius College (James Chadwick)
Criticism of Nuclear Weapons Policy and Writing Activities
Nobel Prize in Physics (Patrick Blackett)
First President of the Max Planck Society
|
| 1950 |
Participation in the Irish Pugwash Movement
Construction of Accelerator at Trinity College
Cooperation in Establishing the Irish Pugwash Group
Transfer to the Australian National University
Research Activities and Science Administration at the Australian National University
|
| 1951 |
Nobel Prize in Physics (John Cockcroft)
Nobel Prize in Physics (Ernest Walton)
Marriage (Otto Robert Frisch, Ursula "Ulla" Blau)
|
| 1953 |
Appointment as Head of Physics Department, Imperial College (Patrick Blackett)
|
| 1954 |
Establishment of the Australian Academy of Science
Head of the Cavendish Laboratory
|
| 1955 |
International Activities on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy
|
| 1957 |
Participation in the Pugwash Conferences
Göttingen Manifesto
Participation in the Göttingen Manifesto
Windscale Fire
|
| 1959 |
First Master of Churchill College
Co-founding of the Association of German Scientists
|
| 1960 |
Development of SWEEPNIK
|
| 1961 |
Chancellor of the Australian National University
|
| 1962 |
Retirement from the Australian National University (Mark Oliphant)
|
| 1965 |
Appointment as President of the Royal Society (Patrick Blackett)
|
| 1967 |
Death of John Cockcroft
|
| 1968 |
Death of Otto Hahn
Death of Lise Meitner
|
| 1969 |
Establishment of Laser-Scan Ltd.
Creation of a Life Peerage
|
| 1971 |
Appointment as Governor of South Australia (Mark Oliphant)
|
| 1972 |
Retirement from University Professorship (Otto Robert Frisch)
|
| 1974 |
Retirement from Trinity College (Ernest Walton)
Death of Patrick Blackett
Death of James Chadwick
|
| 1978 |
South Australian "Salisbury Affair"
|
| 1979 |
Death of Otto Robert Frisch
|
| 1993 |
Donation of Nobel Medal and Mementos to Trinity College
|
| 1995 |
Death of Ernest Walton
|
| 2000 |
Death of Mark Oliphant
|
Map
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Element |
Europe
World
Related Links
| Group | List |
|---|---|
| Western Europe | British Politics French Politics Jewish relief Nuclear Science |
| Central Europe | Nazi Germany Weimar Republic German Anti-Nazis Warsaw Ghetto Arts & Music |
Comments