Preceden

Technology and Sciences in WW2

Main

Peenemunde Research Center Opens

1938

Peenemunde research center opens on the Baltic Sea for experiments in military rocketry.

Discovery of Nuclear Fission by Germans

February, 1939

The discovery of nuclear fission by German scientists is reported in the British science journal.

World’s Fair in New York City

February 1939

World’s Fair in New York City promises a new world of futuristic technology and prosperity.

Einstein warns Roosevelt

2 August 1939

Einstein warns Roosevelt - Three European scientists who fled the Nazi threat persuaded Albert Einstein to warn US President Franklin D Roosevelt that Germany may be developing a nuclear weapon. Einstein wrote a letter to the President, outlining these concerns.

WW2 Begins

September 1939

First German Enigma coding machine captured by British

February 1940

Britain Studies Nuclear Weapons

April 1940

Great Britain forms a committee to study the feasibility of a nuclear weapon.

U.S. Studies Nuclear Weapons

12 June 1940

President Roosevelt creates the National Defense Research Committee to study the feasibility of a nuclear weapon

German Blitz on London begins

September 1940

“Battle of the Beams”, jamming radio navigation and etc begins.

President Roosevelt creates “National Defense Research Committee”

September 1940

President Roosevelt creates “National Defense Research Committee”, later Office of Scientific Research and Development, to mobilize the nation's scientists and engineers to work for the war effort.

Tizard Mission brings “cavity magnetron” to US

September 1940

Tizard Mission brings “cavity magnetron” to US hidden in a suitcase on a civilian ocean liner, thus transferring British microwave radar invention to US.

Tizard Mission

19 September 1940

Tizard Mission brings a British microwave radar invention to the U.S. through hidden ways

MIT Radiation Laboratory Opens New Research Topic

November 1940

MIT Radiation Laboratory opens to research microwave radar based on British magnetron technology.

Britain Reports Atomic Bomb possible

May 1941 - August 1941

The British forward a report to America’s nuclear weapon committee that indicates an atomic bomb is feasible

British attacking German Enigma codes

May 1941

British begin regularly breaking German military’s Enigma codes

Britain Expands Nuclear Research

October 1941

Great Britain creates a division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, code-named Tube Alloys, to supervise its nuclear energy research.

U.S. Begins a Nuclear Bomb Program

October 1941

U.S. begins a crash program to develop an atomic bomb, code-named the Manhattan Project. It is the largest research and development project in American history

Anti-Aircraft Technologies Development

10 December 1941

Japanese aircraft sink British Warships and this spurs the development of anti-aircraft technologies

Germany abandons its nuclear weapons program

1942

Germany abandons its project to develop nuclear weapons, nonetheless, the Allies are unaware of this

U.S. War Department Takes over Manhattan Project

September 1942

Atomic pile goes critical.

2 December 1942

In an important breakthrough, an atomic pile assembled in Chicago by Manhattan Project scientists, demonstrates that it can produce both energy and the new element plutonium

Roosevelt Announces “Unconditional Surrender” Policy

January 1943

6,000 radar sets designed by MIT RAdiation Laboratory delivered to US military

June 1943

British jam German radar from air

24 July 1943 - 25 July 1943

British use small strips of reflective metal to jam German radar from the air for first time over Hamburg.

Use of Colossus begins

December 1943

Colossus computer begins operating in England at Bletchley Park for code-breaking purposes

Use of H2X begins

March 1944

US begins using H2X bombing radar to locate ground targets from the air through clouds or at night.

Allies agree to use bomb against Japan

19 September 1944

Allies agree to use bomb against Japan. Roosevelt and Churchill secretly agree to the military use of the atomic bomb against Japan when the weapon becomes available.

Bomb fuel production in the U.S.

1945

Bomb Fuel Production at the Manhattan project’s giant complex bomb fuel is produced

Roosevelt dies and Truman becomes president

12 April 1945

Franklin Roosevelt died and Harry Truman becomes president. Trueman knows nothing about the atomic bomb project.

Truman Briefed about bomb project

25 April 1945

Interim committee urges bomb’s use

14 June 1945

Interim committee urges bomb’s use - They agree that the atomic bomb should be used on Japan without warning.

Atomic bomb tested

16 July 1945

Formal order to use Bomb issued

25 July 1945

General Thomas T. Handy issues a formal order to use the bomb after August 3rd

Truman, Stalin and the Bomb

25 July 1945

Truman tells stalin about a weapon with unusual destructive force