1905
• E=mc2, Albert Einstein establishes equivalence of mass and energy
1911
• Ernest Rutherford probes the structure of the atom
1932
• James Chadwick discovers neutrons
1934
• Enrico Fermi nearly discovers nuclear fission while bombarding uranium with neutrons. The sample was wrapped in aluminium foil, preventing him from detecting the splitting of the atom
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1941
• Manhattan Project begins at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US
1942
• Manhattan Project achieves first controlled nuclear fission reaction in a basement in Chicago, US
1945
• 16 July – first atomic bomb is tested in Los Alamos
• 6 August – US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
• 9 August – US drops another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan
1949
• Soviet Union (USSR) tests its first atomic bomb
1952
• The world’s first hydrogen bomb is tested by the US on a remote Pacific Ocean atoll. The nuclear fusion device is 500 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki
• The United Kingdom detonates its first atomic bomb
1954
• US launches first nuclear-powered submarine
1956
• The first nuclear reactor to provide electricity to a national grid opens in Calder Hall, England
1957
• United Nations establishes the International Atomic Energy Agency, its nuclear watchdog
1959
• US operationally deploys first intercontinental ballistic missile
1960
• France tests its first nuclear bomb
1964
• China tests its first nuclear bomb
1968
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is signed
1974
• India detonates a “non-weapon” nuclear explosion underground
1979
• Israel and South Africa suspected of jointly testing a nuclear bomb
• A cooling problem causes the meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, US
1980
• Last known atmospheric nuclear test is conducted by China
1986
• The reactor meltdown and explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the USSR (now Ukraine) becomes the worst nuclear accident in history
1991
• The Cold War, which started after World War Two, ends with the collapse of the USSR. Disarmament accords follow during the 1990s, ending the US-Soviet nuclear arms race
1998
• India conducts five nuclear weapons tests and Pakistan conducts six
1999
• US Senate rejects Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
• 70 people are exposed to radiation in the Tokaimura nuclear facility in Japan
2002
• North Korea claims it has a nuclear weapons programme
2003
• North Korea withdraws from Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
• Libya ends its nuclear weapons programme
2004
• Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is exposed as supplying a global black-market in nuclear technology
2005
• Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review meeting in May ends with no agreement
Adapted from Â鶹´«Ã½ print edition, 16 July 2005
