Eric at the National Museum
of Nuclear Science & History
A large-scale Periodic Table
of Elements in the entry
Today we are focusing on
Uranium & Plutonium.
Atomic theory goes back to the Greek philosopher Democritus. The theory was refined and built upon throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Experimentation added more information and by X-Rays were discovered in 1895.
X-Ray machines were used to
measure people's feet
for shoes.
Numbers on watches & alarm
clocks were coated with radium
to make them illuminate at night.
After Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, anti-Jewish laws deprived Jews of their civil rights. More restrictions followed, making life in Germany untenable and leading many Jews to relocate. Among the emigres were scientists. Experiments with nuclear materials continued in countries around the world. In 1938, nuclear fission was achieved in Berlin, Germany.
Following the Hahn-Straussmann fission experiment, Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt, detailing the military uses of nuclear generated explosions and asking for funding.
America entered World War II on December 8, 1941. The Manhattan Project geared up to develop the atomic bomb.
was taken over to house the
atomic bomb development
group.
Emigre scientists working in
England Otto Frisch, Rudolf
Peirles, Josef Rotblat working
in England with James Tuck
contributed to the Manhattan
Project.
The high grade uranium needed to develop the atomic bomb was refined in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a remote area with access to abundant water, rail lines, usable roads and vast amounts of electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Little Boy, long & green, was
dropped on Hiroshima on
Fat Boy, stubby & yellow was
dropped on Nagasaki on
The Atomic Age had begun. Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. The United States continued its atomic bomb program and it needed uranium.
The Uranium Cafe sign
in Grants, New Mexico.
Uranium was mined from 1947 through the early 1960s in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado, pumping much needed money into the local economies.
Uranium colors these
pieces of glassware.
Uranium jewelry was
very popular & continues
to be sought after by
collectors
to be sought after by
collectors
The wartime Civil Defense
Program retooled to provide
guidance to U.S. citizens
during the Cold War.
The Duck and Cover Program included commercials and duck and cover drills in the schools.
Some Americans built or
bought bomb shelters &
stocked them with supplies
to wait out nuclear fallout.
Although a fearful time, the Atomic Age was entertaining....
Roy Rogers foils uranium
thieves in Bells of Coronado.
Uranium miner "Blix" Waterberry
wanders onto a nuclear
test range & becomes...
The Super Atomic Geiger
Counter was just one of the
atomic toys kids clamored for.
There was lots of atomic stories to read.
More bombs were being built and mounted on planes, rocket launchers, warships and in submarines. Silos were built around the country to house Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.
The Davy Crockett is a
bazooka-type missile with
a W54 warhead.
The Trident I C-4 is a
submarine launched
ballistic missile.
American and Russian nuclear stockpiles grew, and there were nuclear weapons accidents, called Broken Arrows, 32 in all since 1950.
Other countries wanted "the bomb" too. The United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have nuclear weapons.
Starting in the early 1960s non proliferation treaties were negotiated between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Over time, more countries became signatories. Six nations negotiated a treaty with Iran, just this year, to slow that country's nuclear program.
Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia have been decommissioning their nuclear weapons and storing the fissile materials.
On the domestic side, nuclear power generation provides electricity for the U.S. power grid. There are currently 61 nuclear power plants with 99 reactors. Nuclear power generation also carries risks. On March 28, 1979 a series of mechanical and human failires at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania led to a partial reactor core meltdown and atomic particles were released into the atmosphere.
Eric and I learned a lot at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. We both wish we had visited this museum before the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. The information presented here provided context for the development of the atomic bomb in the labs there.
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